Free Kisses to Remember by Christine DePetrillo Page B

knows trolls are trouble. Holden was definitely no troll. Wasn’t she searching for someone to fill Alex’s shoes?
    Wasn’t Holden actually wearing Alex’s shoes?
    Johanna huffed out a breath and stopped at the passenger side of her vehicle. She was being silly. She had to get her head on straight. Let Holden rest, hope he got his memory back, and send him off to Texas where he belonged. He really wasn’t a lost puppy. She couldn’t keep him.
    “This is what you drive?” Holden’s voice startled her.
    “Yeah.” She turned to face him. Mistake. He was even more handsome out in the sunshine. She focused on the slant of his eyebrows as his blue gaze swept over her beat-up Bronco. “Something wrong with my wheels, Mr. Lancaster?”
    “Ah, no. I just…” A faraway look washed across his face.
    “You just what?” Johanna touched his arm, and he snapped his gaze to her face.
    “I think cars are important to me somehow.”
    “Aren’t cars important to all men?” A loud creak echoed into the parking lot as she opened the passenger door for him. Why hadn’t she asked Ted to fix that?
    “Just because I can’t remember myself, doesn’t mean you should apply every male stereotype to me to fill in the blanks.” He got into the Bronco, wincing a little as he repositioned himself in the seat.
    “Right. Okay. So I shouldn’t expect you to leave the toilet seat up while you’re staying with me?” She liked the way the left side of Holden’s mouth turned up in a smirk as she closed the door. She walked to the driver side and slid into the seat.
    “I will make a special effort to put the seat down. Promise.” He held up his hand as if taking an oath.
    Johanna pushed the key into the ignition and started the aging Bronco. Now every grumble and groan of the engine embarrassed her. Kam never said anything about riding in the beast, but maybe the Y-chromosome didn’t truly get active until puberty. Ted never commented on the Bronco either. Maybe he just didn’t want to have to fix it.
    “This thing is going to make it to your house, right?” Holden patted the dashboard.
    “It has yet to fail me.” Johanna caressed the steering wheel. “Although, I don’t drive that often. Don’t have to.”
    “Why not?” Holden stretched out his right leg and rubbed his kneecap. The movement shouldn’t have hypnotized her, but it did.
    She blinked and reluctantly focused her gaze out the windshield. “Work from home. Don’t have to haul my butt anywhere each morning but down the hallway.”
    “What do you do?”
    “Is this the twenty questions portion of our encounter?” Johanna plunged her hand into her purse and pulled out her sunglasses.
    “I can’t remember me,” Holden said. “I may as well get to know you.”
    “Good point. Maybe me saying something will jog your memory.” She merged onto the highway and settled in her seat for the twenty-minute drive home. “I’m a graphic designer. Make promotional items for companies. In fact,” she glanced at him quickly, “I designed the logo for the company you may or may not work for.”
    “Donovan Electronics?” Holden pulled on his lower lip. “The doctor showed me the logo, but I didn’t recognize it.”
    “And the company doesn’t recognize you apparently.” That little tidbit still unsettled Johanna. It was like a splinter subtly irritating her flesh. And knowing the plane was no longer in her back field only added to the mystery…or the danger. “Maybe Holden Lancaster isn’t your real name?”
    He shook his head. “It’s my name. It’s the only thing I’m absolutely sure about. That and my birthday.”
    “Which is?”
    “July 31 st .” He said it with enough conviction to convince Johanna it was true.
    “My son’s is July 2 nd . Generally speaking, I like folks born in July.” She risked another glance in his direction, and his smile made a flash of heat zip through her body. Her hardly-used woman parts wiggled under the layer of dust