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

menu. “We should order that pizza now and while we wait, decide which movie to watch.”
    “This is a load off my mind. I worried you might turn out to be one of those closet gourmet cooks who can whip up—” She stopped and drew in a breath.
    “It sounds like you did a lot of worrying before coming tonight.”
    “It took me a while to work through a few hurdles,” she admitted.
    “Nothing too serious, I hope.”
    “Well, not really. After all, here I am—”
    “About to sit down in front of the seriously large TV.” He strode away and when he returned he handed her an ice-cold beer. “Think of this as the date you have when you’re not having a date. It’s what you wanted.”
    Since when did she know what she wanted? “You know what? I can go with the flow.” And she could go easy on herself, sit down, eat some pizza, watch a movie and not worry about making a positive impression. He’d never know she’d spent two hours deciding what to wear or that she’d made a last minute dash to the hairdresser.
    “Do you want to start again?”
    She cringed. “Please, no. I’d rather put the last few minutes behind us and get on with the pizza and movie.” She sank down on the edge of the sofa and slid back. “Wow, this is seriously comfortable.”
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
    “Size does matter. I love your big screen TV.”
    “You’re easily pleased.” Jack had almost forgotten he wasn’t alone. Apart from the brief discussion about which pizza to order and which movie to watch, Lexie hadn’t said much and now she’d waited until the final credits had rolled on before speaking.
    “This is going down as the best stay-at-home movie night I’ve ever had. Usually I have to listen to an ongoing commentary of the movie not to mention the endless requests for intermission time.” Lexie had stuck to her one beer and had managed to absently nibble her way through half the pizza. And, to add the proverbial cherry on top, she liked science fiction movies. Who would have guessed his sexy lingerie wearing troublemaker would turn out to be a science fiction fan?
    Jack took a deep drink of his beer and tried to erase the image of Lexie in her underwear. The boundaries had been defined. The line drawn on the sand. Barriers erected. Lexie wasn’t interested and… and neither was he. “You’re the perfect movie night guest.”
    She stretched and yawned. “Thank you for noticing. I take my movie experience very seriously and prefer to watch without interruptions, but now that it’s over, I’ll excuse myself and have a bathroom break.”
    That gave him a few minutes to do some quick thinking. He could try denying it, but the idea of asking Lexie as his date for his father’s wedding reception had been hovering in the back of his mind since Mason had reminded him of the perils they faced whenever they acquired a new stepsister. Lexie would be a perfect date. She’d be...
    She’d be unpredictable.
    Jack sat back and stared at the ceiling. He knew next to nothing about her.
    Okay. He hadn’t thought this through properly, but he really didn’t need to. Lexie had already told him she wasn’t interested in a relationship. Had that been a ruse? He chewed on the inside of his lip.
    There’d been that awkward, puzzling moment when she’d arrived, but despite her initial hesitation she’d relaxed and settled into their stay-at-home date without any further problems. And he was sure she’d enjoyed herself. He’d bet anything the moment he asked her to be his date she’d jump at the chance to dress up and go out, and he’d call himself all types of fool for letting doubt interfere.
    It really shouldn’t be this difficult and he couldn’t understand why he was complicating something that, as a reasonably confident man, should come second nature to him. As Mason had pointed out, he hadn’t asked anyone out on a date in months, but that didn’t mean he’d forgotten how it was done.
    He told himself to go with