Read Cherry Adair - T-flac 09 for Free Online

she was lonely. Acutely, deep down, desperately lonely, for the first time in her life. The loneliness had become almost a physical weight inside her. For a naturally outgoing, gregarious person, this was as close to purgatory as she could get. Like being thrown into solitary confinement indefinitely.

    Eleven months of isolation. She wasn’t the kind of person to dwell on the negatives in her life. But then she’d never had to. Her life had been filled with beautiful clothes, parties, and shopping trips. No one had ever told her “no.” She’d led a life of privilege and pleasure and never given a thought to her future or how she would feel if it all ceased to exist.

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    That life had changed in the blink of an eye last March.

    It had always taken her forever to make decisions, a mildly amusing trait when that decision was which designer to favor. Not so damned amusing when every decision could mean life or death. When the right choice might have to be made in a split second. Just the thought of going through that process again made her break out in a nervous sweat.

    This past year had been a sharp learning curve for her. But she’d learned to depend on herself. Learned to make faster life choices. Learned…herself.

    Since she’d moved to San Francisco, she’d taught herself to balance a checkbook, was teaching herself to cook, and was shocked and a little embarrassed to discover she could do her own laundry. Things other women took for granted were achievement milestones for her. She was damn proud of what she was becoming.

    Too bad there wasn’t anyone around to witness her little triumphs, she thought wryly. “Ha! Maybe that’s the point of being a grown-up. Making good choices without any applause.”

    It had been almost a year, and they hadn’t found her. She chose not to add the “yet.” She was building a nice little business for herself. She was living in a beautiful city, and she was alive. For now that was enough.

    One day soon her father would place the “all clear” ad in a Sunday London Times and she’d know that it was over. Until then she’d learn and grow and become a fully functioning member of society.

    Oh, Maman,Heather thought with an aching heart. Look at me, independent. Who knew?

    She smiled. Fortunately, to keep herself amused she relied on her active imagination. Which came into play when she felt a tingle—something—an unexpected rush of excitement, as she approached the front door. In all this alone time, she’d developed a pretty acute sense of fantasy, based largely on the romantic old movies she often watched to break the tedium of her solitude in the wee hours of the morning.

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    She imagined that she’d open the door to find a nice-looking, nonthreatening man on her doorstep.
    Some normal guy who had a normal nine-to-five job. A nice guy who would have pleasant friends, a loving family, and—of course—would love her to distraction. A man who would look her straight in the eye when he talked to her.

    A man with integrity, honesty, and honor. Someone rock solid and dependable.

    Or, and she grinned, he’d be drop-dead gorgeous, shallow, and hot in bed. Been there, done that, but it had been a while. A hell of a long while, she realized. Hmm. He’d look into her eyes and without a word, sweep her into his strong arms and carry her off. Not happily ever after, just for a hot, fast, passionate encounter.

    Those were fantasies. Reality was she’d open the door, find one of the little Scouts, make her purchase, and settle for cookies. At this point in her life a Thin Mint was safer than a brief encounter with a good-looking guy.

    Bzzzz-bzzz-bzzz.

    “I’m coming. I’m coming. Hold onto your merit badges, cutie. I’m just as eager as you are for this sale.”
    Heather smiled as she ran lightly down the