Read Jinxed for Free Online Page A

and Pocus waddled into the room, not sparing Jinx a glance. Hocus jumped up on her lap and purred like a diesel engine. Pocus stood looking at them both before falling over with a dull thump.
    Jinx jumped to his feet. “Frannie, what’s wrong with your cat? Is he having a seizure?”
    “Nope.” Lips bit against her grin, she turned another page.
    “Is he dead? He’s not moving.”
    “He’s asleep.”
    “Asleep? But he just keeled over.”
    “Pocus has narcolepsy.”
    “Narcolepsy.” Jinx repeated the word in stunned bewilderment. Frannie hid her face behind the book, peering over the top covertly. Shaking his head in confusion, he moved closer to the armchair. Hocus stood up and hissed at him.
    “He doesn’t like men,” Frannie offered, not moving her eyes from the page.
    “I see that.”
    She continued to pretend to read but watched him out of the corner of her eyes. Jinx seemed at a loss. He didn’t know exactly where to turn next. He finally settled himself back against the couch and looked at her. She turned yet another page.
    “You really don’t believe me when I say we’re supposed to be together, do you?” Jinx’s voice was a puzzled and quiet whisper.
    Sighing, Frannie dropped the book and turned to face the absolutely gorgeous nutball in front of her. “No. Just because we have a few things in common does not mean we’re destined for anything. Go Google Frannie Sullivan. There are thousands in the world, I’m sure. Go find one of them. As similar as we are, there are too many things different about us. It wouldn’t work. Somewhere out there’s a wonderful woman meant just for you. I’m not her. You need to move on and leave me alone.”
    Jinx stared at her a long minute before he swallowed and nodded. With a defeated look in his eyes, he rose and walked to the foyer. Frannie closed her eyes in both relief and misery. He was going. Out of her house and out of her life. Sadness crashed down on her like a wool blanket. Stop it , there’s no future with him. He’s crazy and you don’t need the heartache .
    Turning her head to watch him leave, she was shocked to see his legs disappear up the steps. Now where does he think he’s going? She tripped over a waking Pocus in her scramble to follow him. With one quick eye roll at her pet, she bounded to the top of her stairs and looked around. Where is he?
    He wasn’t in her bedroom or the guest room, and the bathroom was empty. But the attic door stood wide open. The attic steps were narrow and rough under her sock-clad feet. A bare bulb shone harshly but did little to brighten the cold darkness of the unfinished room. A few old boxes and some camping equipment lined one wall but the rest of the space was bathed in freezing shadows. Why is it so cold up here and what the hell is he doing?
    The answer to both of those silent questions was directly in front of her. Jinx had opened the large eastern window and stood on her roof. Glacial air poured in around her feet, raising goose bumps along her arms. Night had completely fallen and the moonlight, joined with the glow from the neighbors’ Christmas lights, cast an eerie green-tinted aura onto the rooftop. The cold temperature coated the shingles in a fine glistening array of shimmering ice crystals.
    Ramrod stiff, with arms outspread and face turned up into the wind, Jinx stood at the edge of her gutter, high above the shrubbery. The poetic beauty of his posture stole her breath. So still and dark against the night sky, eyes closed as if in prayer, he could have been a modern-day prophet listening to the Almighty’s whisper. Twisting her head, Frannie could see or hear nothing that could have captured his interest. Panic seized her chest in a painful grip as he took a final step towards the edge of her roof.
    Oh my Gawd, he really is crazy! He’s going to jump off my roof!
    “Jinx, get in here! You’re going to break your neck!”
    Over the rustle of the bare tree limbs in the growing wind,