Read Deadly Sexy for Free Online

married ten years. She was the only joy in his life. “You were in there quite a while.”
    He slid under the bedding. “I’m okay. Just stressing about the job.”
    She snuggled back against him, her hips warm against his thighs. He placed a protective arm around her and wished he could tell her the truth.
    She twisted around and looked up into his thin face. “Is it something you want to talk about?”
    He savored the familiar sight of her. “No.”
    She didn’t appear convinced but nodded and turned over. He reached back to turn off the lamp on the nightstand. In the dark, he resettled himself, kissed the top of her brown hair, and prayed he didn’t dream.
     
     
     
    After driving the rental car home, JT took a shower then slipped into a slinky black nightgown that brushed her toes. Seated now on the balcony of her waterfront condo and surrounded by the darkness and the sounds of the water, she sipped from a goblet of red wine. The memory of Reese Anthony hummed inside her like a song. She wondered where he was, what he was doing, where he’d be sleeping tonight. Would she ever see him again? Men who promised to call most times didn’t. Not that she hadn’t done the same thing over the years, but Reese the Fine had left a memorable impression. Although it hadn’t come up, she was sure a man as gorgeous and as smart as he was had a steady lady somewhere, probably one he took cross-country skiing and who didn’t mind the cold.
    Sighing, she took another sip and turned her thoughts to a less likable man. Bobby Garrett. She was going to have to do something about him eventually. Since there was no proof that he’d sabotaged her car, she’d have to cede him this round, but if he caused her any more grief, she would have to get him straight, otherwise this little war he was intent upon waging was going to escalate into something ugly.
    She put Garrett out of her mind and her thoughts slipped back to Reese. Raising her glass in a toast, she said against the breeze, “Sleep well.”
    Reese turned the rig over to the night crew at Anthony Trucking’s San Francisco facility and took a cab to the Le Meridien Hotel. After the long truck ride from Dallas to San Francisco, the glamour and glitz of the five-star establishment seemed over the top, but the amenities in the pricey suite were just what he needed. He had a bracing shower, ordered some dinner, and flopped tiredly onto the plush cream-colored sofa to await its arrival. JT filled his mind. He was certain there was not a woman like her anywhere on the planet. Smart. Sassy. Sexy. A perfect package. Would their next meeting be good, or would she blast him for not telling her the truth about himself? In truth, it didn’t matter. He’d never had a woman work her way into his psyche with so much impact before, and whether she was mad at him or not, he planned to pursue her and let the sparks lead where they would.
    To that end, he grabbed his phone and made a call. His old college friend Carl Carlyle grew the Traverse City cherries JT had loved so much. Carl answered the phone on the fifth ring and sounded groggy with sleep. “Hello.”
    “Hey Carl. Reese.”
    “Man, do you know what effing time it is? You better be needing bail money.”
    “No bail money. Cherries. Need you to ship a couple of pounds to Oakland, California, in the morning.”
    “What! You call me at three in the damn morning to order two pounds of cherries? What’s her name?”
    Reese laughed and told him.
    “Send me an e-mail with the address, and you will be getting the bill for whatever the same day shipping costs. Now, good-bye!”
    It was the second testy phone conversation of the evening, but he didn’t care. Grinning, he tossed the phone onto the sofa, picked up the remote and clicked on the TV.

Three
     
    Big Bo Wenzel kissed his mistress good-bye, slid beneath the steering wheel of his gold Escalade, and drove toward his office at the Grizzlies Stadium. It was 6 A.M. , and the sky