Read If Looks Could Kill for Free Online

arriving last. It didn’t seem that it had been so long since he saw her last, but it had, of course. It had been a lifetime.
    She was the same; she was different. There had still been a little bit of tall, gawky teenager left in her the last time he saw her.
    And now…
    Now there was not.
    She walked with an easy, confident sway. Her smile was as breezy and sensual as a hot summer’s day. She was tall and slender, without being too slim; there were definite curves to Madison. She managed to be elegantly slim and voluptuous, all at the same time. Her hair remained red—like a sunset, deep and dark in the underlayers, sun-tinted with searingly gold highlights. She wore it long down her back, thick and wavy. Her face had matured; her features were fine against the lean oval of her bone structure. Her eyes were large, and a brilliant, crystalline blue. She hadn’t dressed in a way meant to allure; she didn’t need to. She wore a midthigh-length denim shirt with a simple soft-knit shortsleeve pullover in baby blue. Her long, tanned legs were bare, and she wore sandals with inch-high heels.
    She was electrifying. The minute she breezed onto the stage, she drew all eyes. It was more than her intense, vibrant, dramatic coloring, more than the stunning beauty with which she’d been genetically blessed. It was her walk, her ease, her confidence, her smile. Her every casual movement seemed to be as naturally, sensually lithe and arrogant as that of a cat.
    Yes, she was startling, certainly. Attractive, beyond a doubt.
    But, God, oh, God, it was more than that.
    She looked like her mother. Exactly like her mother.
    Longer hair; shorter skirt, but she might have been Lainie.
    Back in the shadows, he felt a grim smile slip onto his face. Funny. She’d always been a little cat. Cute, and more. And he’d always been drawn to her. Yet, curiously, at the same time…
    He’d always wanted to keep his distance. There were too many things that Madison could see. And he didn’t want to be seen.
    Kyle had been doing no more than sipping his beer. Watching Madison, he suddenly downed the rest, then nodded as a bronzed blond waitress in short-shorts came by to silently query him about a refill.
    Madison had been his stepsister. She’d often made him smile with her tart comments on her world, observations that were far too wise for her years. Yet he wondered suddenly if it wasn’t the fact that she was such a dead ringer for Lainie that had really kept him at arm’s length all these years. Was she like Lainie? Lainie’s death had been terrible and tragic, true, but Lainie had also been capable of being one hell of a bitch, heedless of whose life she played with—or destroyed.
    Madison was speaking now. “Welcome, folks, to A Tavern. It’s my dad’s place, for those of you who don’t know, and I’m always happy to be here. There’s something special about Key West. Everybody’s kind of free to be themselves down here, and we take pride in taking the time to smell the flowers—and the sea air and dead fish, of course.” Her patter was casual, as the band members tuned up their instruments. She flashed a quick smile at the young man, Joey King, who had introduced the group, and he smiled back. “Anyway,” she added, adjusting her mike on its stand, “we’re about to get started with one of Joey’s ballads, just fit for the island. It’s called, “Love’s on the Rocks, So I Just Swim in My Beer.” Chime on in with the refrain anytime you so desire.”
    She flashed another of her brilliant smiles. The musicians were suddenly all tuned up, and Madison was swaying with the beat.
    She had a great voice. Fluid, solid, husky. The song had a Jimmy Buffett quality to it, which seemed natural, considering the time and place. The tavern grew crowded as the music wafted out to the street; the crowd laughed with the lyrics,