Read Boy Next Door (Parkside Avenue Book #2) for Free Online Page A

Stealing a glance at my watch, I wondered if I had time
to grab a quick one before Cora got back, and decided to risk it.
    Fifteen minutes later, I was
standing in her kitchen, wearing only my boxers and drinking a glass of milk,
when she returned.
    I heard her before I saw her. Her
small gasp of surprise caused me to turn in time to see her eyes graze over my
body, and a small ripple of satisfaction pulsed in my chest. Yeah, that’s
right, baby. Just say the word and it’s all yours.
    “Um, what are you doing?” she
asked, pointedly averting her gaze.
    I held the glass aloft. “Drinking
milk. You said I could help myself. Want some?”
    “Maybe what I should have said
was what are you doing in my house, naked?”
    “I’m not naked. I’m wearing
boxers.” I pinged at the waistband to stress the fact. “And I know you noticed
that.”
    “It’s hard not to.”
    “I don’t mind you checking me
out.”
    Her heels clicked along the tiled
floor as she slipped a leather strap from her shoulder and laid her handbag on
the table. “You haven’t answered my question.”
    “What was it again?”
    “Where are your clothes?”
    “On the back doorstep.”
    She stared down at her handbag
and fiddled with the clasp. “I’d rather they were on your body.”
    I moved closer hoping she’d look
at me again. A moment ago, I thought I’d seen a spark of interest, and I needed
to kindle it. “Are you sure? They were covered with soil. I was considering
your décor.”
    “How kind. Clearly my décor comes
before dignity.”
    Her bag was getting more
attention than I was, and I could tell she wasn’t buying my excuse. Perhaps the
shower hadn’t been such a good idea after all. Her refusal to meet my eye spoke
volumes, and I didn’t want to push my luck. I had to play it cool. Change of
tact, Johnny. “How did it go with the paperwork?”
    Her tone softened. “I signed.”
    “Was your husband there?”
    “No.”
    “Did you want him to be?”
    Creases formed over the bridge of
her nose. “No.”
    It wasn’t diplomatic, but I had
to know. “No love lost between you two then?”
    “I hate him with the fire of a
thousand volcanoes,” she said, surprisingly calmly.
    At any other time, I would have
laughed, and I did almost choke on my last mouthful of milk, before swallowing
it just in time. She had spunk, and I liked it, but this was a time that called
for sensitivity. “So you don’t still love him?”
    “I stopped loving him a long time
ago, the first time he cheated on me with my friend.”
    “Your friend? Not the one who was
here earlier?”
    “Of course not. An ex-friend.”
    “Understandable. So, why were you
crying?”
    She turned to lean on the edge of
the table, steadied herself, and exhaled. “I … Well if you must know, I’m
scared.”
    “Of what?”
    “The future. One minute I had a
husband and a family, and the next minute I didn’t. My girls are almost grown
up. They’ll both be gone shortly too, and then I’ll be alone. I’ve always been
a wife and a mother. I don’t know what else to do with my life.”
    I set my glass on the drainer and
stood before her. She looked up at me with those big, grey eyes, like a
frightened kitten. I took her hand and stroked my thumb across her knuckles. “You
can do anything you want. You’re talking as if your life is over. You’re thirty-nine
not eighty-nine. Look on this as a new beginning. You’re a free woman now, and
the first thing you have to do is decide how to celebrate.”
    She studied my hand but didn’t
pull hers away. “I’m not in a celebrating mood.”
    Every fibre of my being wanted to
protect her, comfort her, and make her smile again. Just holding her hand was
like walking into a Ferrari showroom and running your finger along the
paintwork, just to see what it felt like to touch perfection, and damn, I
wanted to take her for a test drive. “I tell you what, how about I make lunch
for you?” I said, reluctantly letting her go and