Free Flipped! (Spinning Hills Romance 1) by Inés Saint Page A

spine.
    As impatient as he was to open it, Dan stilled, knowing that the one person who might be as thrilled as he was at this discovery was right next door. And she hated him.
    Dan stared at the envelope, a buzz running down his arm, his fingers itching to open it.
    Holly had looked disappointed when she’d told him she’d never found out why the McDowells sold the house so soon after it was built. She’d probably be eager to discover the contents of the letter. Not that he knew anything about her. Johnny was right about that.
    Dan slid a finger along the envelope. The contents might be a way into Holly’s good graces and a way to show Johnny he was sorry, without actually having to say the words.
    No, he didn’t come around often enough to know every detail about their lives. But he stayed away, in part, for them. Something his brothers would never understand.
    He stood at the kitchen window and looked toward the basement next door. The curtains were open and the light was on. Ella was coloring at the table. Holly was cleaning the kitchen. They looked so normal.
    He went to knock on her basement door before he could talk himself out of it.

CHAPTER 5
    H olly opened the door, holding a scruffy, barking, medium-sized mutt. She took one look at him and slammed the door in his face. He guessed she was still leaning against it, so he called out, “I found a letter addressed to Miranda McDowell inside one of the walls.” The door creaked open and Holly peeked out. He held up the envelope, and she stared at it as if it were the Hope Diamond. She stuck out a hand.
    He almost held back, but he couldn’t, not with such anticipation radiating from her. He handed it to her. “Don’t tell me what it says. I want to read it myself,” she said before turning and trying to shut the door in his face with her foot. His eyes slipped down when he held the door open. She wore a navy T-shirt and gray yoga pants that outlined a trim waist and a perfect butt. Disappointed in himself for noticing any part of her anatomy after all they’d been through, he jerked his head up.
    Noticing the door hadn’t shut, she glanced back at him. “Don’t worry. This nutty, basement-dwelling, irresponsible mom is also a history buff. I know how to handle old paper.”
    “I haven’t read it yet. I thought we could read it together.”
    She stared at him. “You want to read it together.” There was no tone to her voice, nothing by which he could gauge her reaction. Was she grateful? Appalled he wanted to read it with her? “Why?” she asked.
    “I know I insulted you, but I have a scar that will remind me of you for the rest of my life. All I’m asking is we read a letter together and call it even.”
    Guilt moved across her features, and she spontaneously reached up to brush a finger across the scar. He stared at her a moment, stunned at the response her light touch caused.
    “You won’t be scarred for life, and you had a hand in everything that happened,” she said, snatching her hand away. “Now tell me the truth. Why did you bring the letter here?”
    He shook his head. “I, uh, wanted to share it with someone who’d understand why it’s meaningful.” It was only one-third of the truth, but it was true nonetheless.
    “Why don’t I believe you?”
    “It’s the scar. It makes me look dishonest,” he answered, trying guilt again.
    “Go away.”
    “Wait.” He looked into her eyes. “Your mother taught me how to play checkers and how to read a map. She’d tell me about all the places she wanted to visit, and then we’d go to the library to read up on them. I hate that no one told me she was gone, and I hate that my lame joke about her hurt you. And I ran into your grandmother today. Hurting you also hurt her. Plus you’re Leo’s cousin, and Leo and I go way back.”
     
    Holly stared at Dan Amador. The judgmental, self-righteous jerk seemed to be telling the truth, but still she couldn’t trust him. He despised her , after