Love Unlocked Read Online Free Page B

his pocket. Maybe he’d run another half a mile.
     
    ***
     
    Hudson’s request to paint her had been rattling around in Eve’s head for days, distracting her at the oddest moments. She’d been taken aback by the request, and her answer had been stilted; she was afraid she’d come off as horribly snobby and uptight.
    She’d wanted to say yes. The thought of posing for Hudson, clothed or not, was extremely erotic. What would it feel like to submit to his eyes, to his hands, as they searched out her secrets and put them on paper? He was more than talented; he was brilliant. She’d known it the first time she’d seen one of his paintings, before she ever knew his name or the sinfully handsome face behind it.
    Saying yes would have meant prolonged contact with a man who couldn’t be counted on to disappear before he got too close. Men usually did what she wanted them to, eventually, but with Hudson, one couldn’t know.
    Even though she’d come to Chelsea to start again, to make different choices and return some semblance of normality to her existence, there were still enough messy threads from her old life tangling up with the present that it made her think twice before adding one huge complication to the mix.
    And yet, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
    What she needed was a new project. She’d finished appointing the interior of the house with furniture, appliances, and gadgets. The upstairs had been entirely repainted, and the security system was well in place. Her paintings had not yet arrived, so her walls were still bare. She opened the French doors and looked over her backyard, neglected brown grass that melted into a copse of native trees, over which she could see a generous band of twinkling silver ocean. Time to turn to the exterior.
    With one hand, she pulled out her cell phone, scrolling down to the name of the contractor she’d met at the Home Depot in Pismo Beach. With the other, she started sketching the outlines of a deck. Nothing like endless home improvement projects to keep the mind and body off the subject of men.
    After making the appointment with the contractor, Eve lost track of time, perfecting her vision for the deck. The sound of her doorbell caused her to jerk her head up. She slid the plans into a neat stack and smoothed her hair. Always be prepared .
    The person on her doorstep was decidedly not Hudson. She was a woman of average height, slim build, but with hips and a fair amount of bosom. She wore her blond hair cropped close to her head, which made her look younger, but Eve guessed she was about thirty. She wore Levis and cowboy boots and a plain white tank top. Her arms were bronzed from sun exposure, and she had freckles on her nose. Her mouth was a generous slash and she smiled, holding up a jar of something the color of liquid amber.
    “Hi, neighbor, I’m Rue. I live back down the road at Honeydale Farm, and this is some for you. Honey, that is.”
    Eve couldn’t help the grin that split her face. “Would you like to come in for some coffee?”
    Rue moved nonstop, setting the honey on the kitchen bar, inspecting the top of the line espresso machine that Eve had recently mastered. “Fancy,” was her assessment, but she readily agreed to a cappuccino.
    “I didn’t know there was a farm nearby,” Eve commented as she readied her tiny porcelain cups for the rich brew. She had a set of eight, but so far had used but one, washing it in the sink since she didn’t have enough dishes to run the dishwasher. Reinventing oneself had been lonely so far. She hoped she didn’t sound desperate for company, but it didn’t matter. Rue continued to inspect the kitchen, chatting freely as she did so.
    “It’s not much of a farm, yet. I raise bees for honey and for renting to other farms, and we have some chickens, vegetables, a pig. I sell the honey at the farmers market in town, and we also sell to some fancy foodie places from Carmel to Santa Barbara.”
    “You’re a