Read Questing Heart: Fighting Heart Erotic Bad Boy Romance Series Book 2 for Free Online Page B

it’s hard to explain. He was dressed in a crisp white shirt with no tie, and the collar buttoned to the top. His frame was slender but masculine, with muscle tone in all the right places to get noticed. He looked great. Yes, Cody Barnes looked like s star in waiting.
    “I got some of your messages, Ash. I’m sorry… but I knew you were still tied up with Brandon. I couldn’t bear the thought of it. I wanted you to have a clean break from him, but if you didn’t want that, well… I needed to get my head straight…”
    I was a little hurt, but I knew what he was saying was right. I had wanted his excuse to be that his phone was broken or there was no signal in Yorkshire or something… but he had ignored my calls because he couldn’t deal with my Brandon situation. I swallowed that and gave him a smile to hide my feelings.
    “It’s okay, Cody. You were right, I should have ended it sooner.”
    “Maybe I should have answered your calls, Ash. I was being selfish, looking after my own feelings first. I’m sorry.”
    “Hey. That’s okay, and I’m here now, right.”
    “Right. So…” there was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes and a change in his voice. “Are you still with Brandon?”
    “I’m here, Cody.” I saw Cody wanted more than that. “He got worse, Cody, so I left him for good this morning.”
    “You mean that?”
    “Yes, Cody. I mean every word of it and he knows that too. He got me evicted from my flat share, Brandon. He started stealing every bit of my freedom.”
    “I saw what he was doing. But you got out, good for you. Tonight we will celebrate… after my reading. But… jeez… I was supposed to go out with Joanna after the reading.”
    “Joanna? That’s a nice name. She’s a very pretty lady.”
    Cody made a tilting maybe gesture with his head.
    “No, Cody, that woman is pretty. You’ve got good taste in the company you choose,” I said.
    “Ashley, that’s Joanna Laws of the JLA Agency. Joanna Laws is my agent. You’re right, she’s a pretty lady and she has my future in her hands, so this is just a business relationship. She takes her ten per cent – when we get that far – and then we’re quits.”
    “Are you sure? You guys looked pretty close to me,” I couldn’t help saying it. I needed to know.
    “Look at me. I’m sure. She’s my agent Ash, and I was supposed to go to dinner with her tonight after the reading, but maybe I can get you into dinner with us…”
    “No, Cody. That’s a bad idea. Business is business. I’ll stay and watch your reading. We can hook up tomorrow.” Hook up . I hoped so.
    “I’ll miss you now I know you’re here.”
    “Good. I’ll miss you too.”
    I took a moment to seal what we had just said by leaning against him, wrapping my arms around his body in a quick squeeze and I gave him a quick sweet little kiss on his cheek. If he really was going to miss me the way he said, my kiss would give him something to think about.
    I chose not to say hello to Joanna Laws, Cody’s new agent. For one, I resented her obvious overtures towards Cody, and secondly, I had the feeling that seeing her up close would only make me feel worse. Even from where I was sitting, I could tell she looked pretty good for a woman in her thirties. Flawless, even. So I hung back on my Chesterfield, but I was more than happy now. Cody had apologised for the lack of contact and even had me understanding why he might ignore me like that. Beyond that, I felt something good in his eyes when we shared that look.
    When he finally took the stage and started speaking, I heard him read the same piece he had read in the Vegetarian café back near our college. What he read was the same but different. The words had been augmented with an awesome passion in Cody’s voice. He seemed a different person than before. He had gravitas and poise. Suddenly I saw this man could be a writer in the way that Brandon had failed to be. I was so proud when he received a long ovation from