Her Irresistible Troublemaker (A Town Named Eden Book 3) by Sonia Parin Page A

telling me a lot of stuff I don’t want to hear, so this is really good timing.”
     

Chapter Six
     
    While Ava dove straight into an engaging conversation with Mason Riley, Lexie sank down on the chair Jack pulled out for her and struggled to string a sentence together. She told herself it had to do with the element of surprise, of finding him at her local café… again, but it was most likely because since meeting him she’d been asking herself more questions than she had answers for. What if she opened her mouth and they all spilled out?
    “You’re looking very sporty today,” he said.
    “Don’t be fooled by the sneakers. They’re only for show. We’ve been on a bicycle ride.” Going from tongue-tied to pouring the words out made her cringe, but measuring and censuring her words would give her too much thinking time and she’d probably end up losing herself in his eyes, and that could spell disaster for her. “Don’t tell me you’re slogging it out again today.” Her eyes slid along his forearms and danced between one speck of paint and the other.
    “I’m putting in half a day and taking tonight off.”
    Knowing he wouldn’t be around that evening left her feeling inexplicably bereft. “Will you be catching up with your life?”
    “I’ll be kicking back and watching a movie. What are you getting up to tonight?”
    “Sundays are my winding down days. I always watch a movie, either at home or at the local cinema, depending on the weather.” She stopped to draw in a breath and nearly lost her train of thought. There was a softness in his eyes she hadn’t noticed before and—
    She shook her head. Best to steer clear of his lips. “If it rains, I prefer to stay home,” she continued, “And because I don’t have air-conditioning, on hot days I like to cool down in the comfort of a cinema.”
    “So what do you do when it’s not hot or cold?”
    She gave a huffy burst of laughter. “I have one of those indecisive nights and end up watching TV, hopping from channel to channel looking for something to hold my interest.”
    “You should come over.”
    Her breath hitched. “Um… did you say…”
    “Come over.”
    “To your place?”
    He nodded.
    “You and me. At your place. Together.”
    “Yes.”
    Her lips parted then closed before she could say yes with the eagerness she felt bubbling inside her. “Are you serious?”
    “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “It’s... out of the blue unexpected.”
    “Living on the edge strange,” he agreed.
    “And I’m not sure I even like you.”
    “Sure you do. Why else would you rescue me...” He leaned in as if about to impart a secret. “Twice now.”
    “Me? When?”
    “Now.” He looked over her shoulder at his brother. “And last night when you let me share your table.”
    “I feel like a caped crusader.” She gave Ava a discreet nudge but her friend seemed to be deep in conversation. Lexie shifted in her chair. The month she’d spent visiting her parents had broken up the tedium of spending her days and nights in her apartment. Usually, she stepped out for lunch and the occasional dinner but overall, her social life during the last twelve months had been...
    Uneventful. Boring.
    Monotonous.
    When she wasn’t working, she was avoiding herself and the barrage of thoughts that hovered in her mind by losing herself on the Internet, or dipping into the pile of books she couldn’t stop accumulating, or watching one of the many TV shows she enjoyed following. All solitary pastime activities.
    Good heavens, if she kept this up, her social skills would atrophy. She needed to introduce some variety into her life. Lexie knew Ava would agree. In fact, she’d probably say she was overdue for some much-needed stimulation, specifically, the type provided by men.
    “So you’re asking me out on a date.”
    He gave her a small smile. “I know you don’t like to date. Do we have to label it?”
    “It would help to know what I’m getting into. We’ve