Read Just Three Words (Soho Loft Romances) for Free Online Page A

“So are you going to do okay with a roommate? I mean, Samantha’s the ultimate sweetheart, but you’ve lived on your own for years. And she does like things a certain way. Order and structure and all that. A little like me. Not at all like you.”
    “I’ll be fine,” Hunter said. “Plus, Sam is in Libby-la-la land lately. I mean, have you seen her? She stares at nothing and smiles. Draws hearts on her Post-Its. It’s textbook and a little sickening. The way I figure it, she probably won’t even be around that much.”
    “You actually have a point there. Plus, you guys have always gotten along great. Maybe no wild parties for the first month, though? She may not recover.”
    Hunter leaned back in her chair and grinned. “No promises.”
    “I had a feeling you’d say that. Shall we reconvene for any necessary tweaking of the Foster layout after lunch?”
    “I’ll see if I can pencil you in.”
    Mallory backed away, palms up. “That’s all I’m askin’.”
    Hunter turned back to the multitude of lines and shapes on her laptop and lost herself in the drag-and-drop action of Photoshop, a program she’d mastered five times over. Images and their arrangements, their composition, had always intrigued her. The way a slight shift in color was capable of inspiring a whole new emotion in the person taking it in.
    Hunter could stare at a painting for hours and still continue to see it in new ways. Dissect the shadow. Examine the contrast. Decipher the meaning behind the curvature of a line. She had no formal artistic training other than her graphic design degree, but the visual arts always intrigued her in a way nothing else did. Her job at Savvy was the perfect outlet for that. As an advertising agency, they worked with a variety of clients and products, and that allowed for a diversity of artistic approaches, styles, and design conglomerations. She loved her job, and she loved that it challenged her in new ways every day.
    She flipped open her MacBook Pro just as her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She smiled at the photo of her mother indicating the incoming call. She clicked over. “Hi, Mama. This is a nice surprise. Did you get bored with your other two children?”
    Her mother chuckled. “Hi, my baby girl. How’s your Friday?”
    “Peachy. Two more hours of work and then there’s a movie festival that my friends want to go to in the park. The Way We Were , I think. One of those old ones you would love. I plan to tolerate it.”
    “Robert Redford. Barbra Streisand. It’s fantastic. Give it a chance.”
    “Don’t I always?”
    “No, you don’t. But speaking of always, I haven’t heard from you in over a week, nani kaikamahine .” Hunter smiled at the term of endearment meaning “beautiful daughter.” Her mother was born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii, and met her father when he was stationed at Hickam Air Force base nearby. Though her parents now resided in Dayton, Ohio, the islands were never far from her mother’s mind. Growing up, they’d visited Oahu once every other year or so, but it was hard on her mom, being so far away from the rest of her family.
    “It’s been a busy week, Mama. I’ve been meaning to call.”
    “Mean harder next time. We miss you.”
    “You do?”
    “We were just talking about how long it’s been since we’ve had a Hunter Jane sighting.”
    Even though her parents were still married, Hunter knew the term “we” was limited to her mother, her older sister, Claire, and her younger brother, Kevin. Her father…yeah, not so much. The guy wasn’t overly warm to any of his children, but he had a special kind of aversion to Hunter. And it was fine with her. She wasn’t his biggest fan either. Mutual apathy at its finest. While he had never been the kind of dad who attended her soccer games or took her trick-or-treating, when she’d come out at sixteen, it had been the last straw. The slim thread that existed between them was severed. Her sexuality must have made him