Read Justice Is Always Ready (A Graham Family Story, 1) for Free Online

over
him with the same effect as cold water. He stiffened and stared
down into her eyes again.
    “ Something
wrong?”
    She shook her head. “No, not at all. I
just have a very busy day tomorrow.”
    He had no desire to let
her go. However, staring into her eyes he could see signs of strain
at the corners. Her mom’s been sick, man.
She’s been working at the museum as well as the library. With a kind smile that hid his shame for the
selfish thought he’d had, he brushed his lips lightly over
hers.
    “ Of course. Let me get you
home.”
    They held hands back to his car
although the walk was completed in silence. He held the door for
her there, and again once they arrived back at her place. At the
front door he stopped her from unlocking it and turned her to him.
The outside light made her skin richer and reflected, much the same
way the sun had, off the green flecks in her eyes.
    “ Thank you for tonight,
Justice. It was just what I needed.” She glanced past his
shoulder.
    “ My pleasure.” He wound a
hand in her hair; the blended hues of her natural curls were soft
against his skin. “I’m here if you need to talk,
Kassidy.”
    Her gaze came up to study his face as
a slight lift of one corner of her mouth gave him a grateful smile.
She swallowed a few times before she sighed heavily.
    “ Thank you.”
    He plucked her keys from her hand and
unlocked the door. With deliberate slowness, giving her time to
pull away, he leaned close and pressed their lips together before
he covered her mouth with his. He devoured its infinite softness.
When Kassidy whimpered and sank into him, he ended the exchange.
Helping her to steady herself, he skimmed her lips with the pad of
his thumb.
    “ Good night, Kassidy.
Sleep well.”
    “ Night,” she muttered
before slipping inside her house.
    He remained there until he heard her
reengage the locks. Hands in pockets, he strolled back to his
Vette, cast a final glance at the small house, then climbed in and
headed home.

Chapter Four
    Kassidy smiled as she sat with one eye
pressed to the finderscope on her dad’s reflecting telescope.
Turning the knob, she waited for the celestial body to come into
view.
    “ So when do we get to meet
this mystery man of yours?” her father’s graveled baritone
asked.
    Tilting her head so she could see him
where he sat at his refracting telescope, she chuckled. “What makes
you think he’s a mystery man?”
    “ Any man I haven’t met
that you’re seeing is a mystery. Stop dodging the question. When do
I get to meet him?”
    She picked up on
the I versus
the we . “Soon,
daddy. Maybe we can all do dinner some night.”
    “ What’s wrong with
him?”
    She’d been on her way back down to
peer through the telescope but stopped at the question. Turning on
the stool, Kassidy faced her dad.
    “ What makes you think
there’s something wrong with him?”
    “ The fact you’ve not
introduced him to me… to us.”
    She understood. The last man she’d
hesitated introducing them to had turned out to be a loser with a
capital “L.” It was her daddy’s job to worry and he took that job
very seriously.
    “ He’s been really busy,
dad. He’s a lieutenant in the Coast Guard and they’ve been running
extra drills. I haven’t seen him for four days myself.”
    It was the truth. As was the fact she
missed him more than she cared to admit. When he’d visited his
sister in South Dakota that was different because he was out of
state. Now he was in the same town and she still didn’t get to see
him. That was difficult for her. They’d spoken on the phone but he
was just getting off work and heading to bed. The one night they
were planning on dinner together, he’d had to cancel. This weekend
they had plans though and she fervently hoped they were able to
keep them.
    “ A lieutenant in the coast
guard, huh? Well, we still want to meet him.” Her father’s voice
refocused her attention.
    “ Of course, daddy. Maybe
this weekend I’ll bring