14 Fearless Fourteen Read Online Free PDF

wrong.”
    “We're not married.”
    “No, but we're old. There are different rules when you get old,”
Morelli said.
    “I'm not old.”
    “Not to me, but to Zook anyone over twenty is
old.”
    “Okay, that does it. I'm going home. I'll be back tomorrow
morning at the crack of dawn.”
    “Oh for crissake,” Morelli said. “I'll sleep on the friggin'
couch. There's a sleeping bag in my office. Throw it down with a
pillow.”
    I opened MY eyes and squinted at the clock. The room was dark,
but the glowing blue digital readout told me it was five in the
morning. And the sound of a drawer being opened and closed told me
I wasn't alone. I reached for the bedside lamp, switched it on, and
stared at Morelli. His hair was damp from the shower, he was
freshly shaved, and he was naked.
    “What's going on?” I asked him.
    “I need clothes.”
    No kidding. “I would have gotten them for you. What if Mario
sees you walking around naked in my room?”
    “First, it's not your room. It's my room. Second, I doubt he'd
be shocked. You have to stop worrying about Zook. Third, he's
asleep.”
    “Did you sleep okay?”
    “No. The couch sucks.”
    Morelli was dressing in his usual uniform of jeans and T-shirt
while he was talking. If the occasion dictated, Morelli sometimes
wore slacks and a dress shirt, but Morelli avoided suits. He looked
like an Atlantic City pit boss in a suit. And no one could keep a
straight face at Morelli in khakis. Morelli was as far from preppy
as a guy could get.
    He sat on the bed, laced his shoes, leaned over me and nuzzled
my neck. “I like when you're all warm and soft from sleep.” He
looked down at the shoes he'd just laced and thought for a moment.
“These could come off.”
    “Tempting.” Really tempting. “Will you be late for work if you
take your shoes off?”
    “Yeah. Don't care. If the choice was a promotion and raise or
doing you and getting fired, there'd be no contest.”
    “The power of testosterone.”
    “I thought it was love, but you could be right... it could be
testosterone,”
    Morelli said. “Not that it matters, because bottom line is ... I
want you bad.”
    I had the T-shirt halfway over his head. “Take your shoes off .,
.fast,” I told him.
    There were scuffling sounds in the hall and a timid knock on the
bedroom door.
    “Anybody home?” Zook asked.
    Morelli flopped spread-eagle onto the bed.
“Crap.”
    “Uno momento,” I called to Zook.
    “I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do,” Zook said from the other
side of the door. “Should I go downstairs and look for
cereal?”
    “Yeah,” Morelli said. “Just prowl through the cupboards.
Stephanie will be down in a couple minutes.”
    I was already out of bed and searching for clothes. I went with
one of Morelli's T-shirts and a pair of his sweats. I stayed over
from time to time, but I didn't leave a lot of things at his house.
Some underwear, socks, an extra pair of running shoes, some
unmentionable personal products.
    Zook had a box of Frosted Flakes in his hand when I walked into
the kitchen.
    “My favorite,” I said to him.
    “Do you live here?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “So you could be my, what... aunt-in-sin?”
    “It's my understanding that Morelli's some sort of distant
cousin, so technically ... I wouldn't be an aunt of any
sort.”
    I took a carton of milk from the refrigerator and set out a
couple bowls.
    Morelli waltzed in and got coffee brewing.
    “You're up early,” Morelli said to Zook. “When do you have to be
at school?”
    “Not until eight, but I didn't know how long it would take to
walk.”
    “You're not walking,” Morelli said. “Stephanie's taking you to
school, and she's going to watch you go through the
door.”
    “Dude, that's so untrusting,” Zook said.
    “Yeah, deal with it.”
    Bob was sitting, tail wagging, looking at the cereal box. I knew
Morelli had already walked and fed Bob, but that was meaningless in
the world of Bob. Bob was the bottomless pit when it came to