Free Naked Truth by Delphine Dryden Page B

And she’d learned the hard way that you can’t fix somebody who doesn’t want to be fixed.
    Paul thought it was high time she learned what it was like to be with somebody who didn’t really need much fixing. Somebody who would value her as she should be valued.
    “You are going to let me drive you home, right?”
    * * * * *
    “See? You should have accepted my dinner invitation,” Paul said as he steered expertly along the dark two-lane road. “Just meeting for a few drinks was bound to lead to trouble.”
    Stella groaned and shifted in her seat just enough to glare at him. “Please don’t talk about food,” she said through clenched teeth.
    Her biggest fear at that moment was throwing up inside Paul’s car and ruining his leather upholstery. The alcohol magnified her usual carsickness by a horrific factor.
    “So I’m guessing that when you were living large in Chicago’s financial jungle you didn’t adopt the three-martini lunch habit?”
    “I never had time for lunch,” she confessed. “I was lucky if I got a chance to nuke a Lean Cuisine and eat it hunched over my keyboard. Which probably explains why I was thinner then. ” Looking morosely out the window, she forced down a wave of nausea by breathing through her nose and trying to send her mind to a happy place. “This isn’t the alcohol. Not entirely, anyway. I just get carsick easily.”
    Paul eyed her briefly before returning his gaze to the road. “If you were thinner it must not have been very flattering. You look perfect now.”
    Stella snorted, the humor distracting her from the nausea just a little. “Well played, Mr. Maddox.”
    “You said three and a half miles, we’re right about there. Is the turnoff coming up?”
    “See the red reflector on the right? That’s the edge of my property. The driveway’s coming up in another hundred yards or so.”
    “Big.”
    “The land is. The house is tiny. But I like it.”
    “Well, I’m glad I’m getting a chance to see it. If I recall, you always had pretty good taste. And you’ve got dogs, right? I love dogs, as you know.”
    “I’m sure you’ll love Kitty and Beau. Everybody does. Here’s the driveway.”
    Paul was already slowing down, easing into the sharp right turn onto the long asphalt driveway. “So what are they? With those names, I’m picturing little Westies or Bichons or something like that.”
    Stella just laughed. “Not exactly.”
    “Just park in front here? Hey, I like this. You got into modern architecture.”
    “I got lucky, actually. I mean I do like modern architecture, yes, but mostly I happen to know the architect and he happened to be selling his own house pretty cheap. Oh, standing up was a really bad idea.”
    She had opened the car door to get out as soon as Paul stopped the car, then had to lean against the side of the Jag to regain her equilibrium. Stella was determined not to throw up in front of Paul. Four appletinis was nothing she couldn’t handle. Or at least it would have been nothing on a full stomach, or if she ever drank anything more than the occasional glass of wine. The car ride on top of it, though, was almost too much. She let the chilly night air soothe her senses until her foggy head and queasy stomach started to clear.
    “Home sweet home,” she said after a moment, straightening up to find Paul waiting patiently next to her.
    “Let’s get you inside.”
    “Have I apologized?”
    “Several times. I’ve told you every time that no apology is necessary. This was all part of my evil plan to get you to invite me in. Here, give me those keys.”
    A weighty thump and a deep whuffling sound against the door startled Paul as he turned the key, and he looked back to see Stella smirking just a tiny bit.
    “Not teacup Poodles either, huh?”
    “Nope.”
    “Okay. Here goes, then.”
    “Don’t let them get past you,” Stella recommended. “They’ll run off and they’re impossible to catch. For obvious reasons.” She stepped forward to