Suddenly in Love (Lake Haven#1) by Julia London Page A

a female for you—so soft, so fragrant. Venus flytraps, luring men into their jaws with beauty. Only this one wasn’t luring him into anything. She looked like she wanted to shoot him. With a bazooka.
    As she picked up her bag and stuffed the sketchbook into it, he noticed she was wearing a skirt today, one made with a lot of different fabrics. She also wore a long-sleeved silk top that was open at the neck and revealed a glimpse of a purple bra beneath. She had on kneesocks and oxford shoes, and was wearing a knit hat over her hair. If he didn’t know that she worked here with some designer, he’d wonder what the hell her story was—had her house burned down and these were all the clothes she had left? Was she a performer? Maybe blind to color and different fabrics? But at the same time, there was some conformity and cohesiveness in the different articles of clothing. It was weird, but he could see how they went together. He liked the way she looked. It was very cool in an off-the-reservation kind of way. Moreover, he liked her curves, her big, expressive eyes. The same eyes that were viewing him with not a little bit of loathing right now.
    “Hey, come on, I’m not as bad as you think,” he said, and unthinkingly touched her arm.
    She recoiled from his touch, grabbing her bag and clutching it tightly to her.
    “What?” Brennan asked, casting his arms open. “I said I was sorry.”
    Her gaze flicked over him. “Should I be honest?” she asked, backing away from him.
    “Sure, be honest. Be totally freaking honest.”
    “You seem kind of crazy.”
    “Okay,” he said, nodding. Maybe he did seem a little crazy to someone who didn’t know who he was. Hell, he’d been feeling a little crazy the last few weeks. “I’m not crazy, but I will concede that I may appear a little bit strange to someone who doesn’t know me.”
    “A little ?”
    “I’m not that strange,” he said defensively. “Trust me, I have a good reason.”
    “Whatever you say.” She stepped farther away from him.
    “Take it easy,” he said. “It’s not like I have a communicable disease.”
    She arched a dubious brow.
    “Will you lighten up? I’m not going to touch you. I’m not going to give you any reason to touch me. You don’t have to back off like you’re afraid of me.”
    “I’m not afraid of you,” she scoffed. A little too quickly, actually.
    Brennan frowned. “Why are you acting like I’ve got Ebola? I’m sorry I looked at your book, okay?” He held up his palms. “Truce.”
    She didn’t speak.
    Brennan sighed with exasperation. “What?”
    “Nothing.”
    “It’s obviously something.”
    She shrugged again and gripped her bag more tightly, backing up another step. “It’s your T-shirt.”
    He glanced down. “Yeah, it’s old. So it’s got a couple of holes. And a couple of stains. Okay, a lot of stains.” This shirt suddenly looked a lot dirtier than it had when he put it on.
    “And, perhaps you don’t know it, but . . . you stink.”
    Brennan looked up. “Excuse me?”
    “You stink ,” she said again. She’d made it almost to the kitchen door.
    “What are you talking about?” he asked, curious now.
    “I don’t know how else to say it. You smell.”
    Brennan looked at her blankly. In all his life, no one had ever said something like that to him. Never.
    “Ohmigod, are you going to make me say it again? Let’s just put it this way—if there were gas masks lying around, I’d be wearing one. Look, I’m sorry, Mr. Yates, fire me if you want, but I don’t want to get any closer to you. You’re rude and you stink and I really think you need to know that.”
    “Wow, okay,” he said, nodding. “Anything else, Miss Perfect?”
    “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully, studying him now. “I already mentioned the crazy part. No, I think that’s it. Crazy, stinky, and rude. Have a good day, Mr. Yates.” With that, she turned and disappeared into the hallway. He heard her rubber-soled shoes on the