Read FRAGILE: Part 1 for Free Online

not—since it’s your place.”
    “I don’t like pears,” Eli says. “Not allergic to them though.”
    “Pears?” I ask. “Why pears?”
    “They have a funny taste and texture to me.”
    “Okay. No pears, got it. Unless I’m mad at you, then there might be pears.”
    Eli chuckles. “Would you care for a drink?”
    “I’d love one. No more martinis for me though. I had way too many last night.”
    Still snickering, Eli nods his head once in agreement. “So what would you like?”
    “Eh, I like a lot of stuff,” I say. “What are you having?”
    “I was just going to have whiskey, but since you’re here, how does a margarita sound?” Eli asks.
    “Sounds excellent.”
    Eli sets about getting ice from the refrigerator while I spread out pecans in a pan to roast them in the oven. “The way you were talking earlier today, I thought you worked Saturdays,” he says.
    “Normally I do,” I say. I open the oven, put the pan with pecans inside, and check on the chicken before closing the oven back up. “But I was pretty tired today. Actually, been feeling a little more run down this month,” I add, thinking back to my schedule. I hadn’t worked weekends very much this month. “Guess I’m getting old,” I say.
    Eli gives a snort in disbelief. “You’re not old. You could be a model.”
    “Why thank you!”
    He sets a very large margarita glass on the kitchen counter for me, the rim of the glass coated in salt.
    “Now that’s how you do a margarita!” I say and take a sip. “Thanks!”
    Nodding his head, Eli sheds his suit jacket, hangs it on the coat rack, and sits on the bar stool again. He leans forward, his eyes watching me as he takes a drink of his margarita.
    After a long pause, Eli sets his margarita down. “I’m not suing you,” he says, his voice low.
    I feel miffed that he brings it up, and I raise an eyebrow at him as I mix the salad together. “Is that why you think I’m still here?”
    “Why else would you be cooking in my kitchen?” Eli’s eyes drop to my chest. “Completely naked?”
    “Because I find you mysterious, attractive, and I thoroughly enjoyed last night and this morning,” I say. “And now I’m hungry.”
    “This relationship won’t go anywhere,” Eli says, annunciating each word very clearly.
    I’m a little hurt, but unsurprised, and I manage to hide it by chuckling. “Strictly professional then?”
    Eli blinks in surprise, grins, and then he snickers. “Yes. Business relationships only, Miss Jennings.”
    “Very well, Mr. Richardson.” I turn and give him a full view of my butt while I bend down to get the chicken and pecans out of the oven. I smile as I hear Eli laughing.
    “So no boyfriend?” Eli asks. “I’m shocked.”
    I shrug. “Kind of hard to meet guys when I work so hard on my business.”
    “Have you had any boyfriends?” Eli asks.
    “Two,” I say. “You?”
    “No boyfriends,” Eli says. I laugh, shaking my head as Eli just smiles at me, watching my hands as I use tongs to set the chicken over the salad. “What happened to your last boyfriend?” Eli asks.
    “He got upset that I was as passionate about my business as I am,” I say. “Working Saturdays and sometimes Sundays really bothered him. That’s what he said. Course, Larisa—that’s my assistant—said she’d seen him with another chick the same day he’d broken up with me.” I shrug. “Not sure why he felt the need to make up an excuse to say he was interested in someone else, but he did.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” Eli says. “And the one before him?”
    I smirk. “That was a much calmer breakup. We didn’t date long before we realized we just weren’t right for each other. He kept trying to fix me, and it annoyed the crap out of me. So I hired him as an employee, and it’s worked out much better since.”
    Eli laughs. “Well, at least it worked out.” He takes a long drink of his margarita.
    The ring of a cellphone breaks the air, the sound