After Hello Read Online Free PDF Page B

there was nothing wrong with that, in his opinion.
    Sara took a deep breath and touched her hair with her free hand. “Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?” she asked, her voice filled with a breathy laugh.
    His own throat constricted a little at the sound. What was that about? He had only just met her. He shouldn’t be reacting like this. But it had been a long time since he’d felt so comfortable with a girl so quickly. And a pretty girl at that. Not since—no, he cut off that line of thought and looked down at his boots.
    “Because, Samantha from Chasing Pages, this is your first time making a delivery to Piper Kinkade’s personal penthouse suite—and that would make anyone nervous.”
    Sara’s mouth dropped open, and her brown eyes glazed over in shock. “Piper Kinkade?”
    Sam relaxed, knowing Sara’s attention had been successfully diverted to a safer topic. Though how safe Piper was remained to be seen.
    “You lie,” Sara accused, her eyes narrowing.
    “You don’t know me well enough to know when I’m lying.”
    “ The Piper Kinkade? As in the actress Piper Kinkade? Star of Graffiti and Central Park West and Sunflower Girl? ” Her voice slid up in an excited squeak.
    “She also had a bit part in Dance Dance America: A Two-Step Story, but that was her first movie; she doesn’t like to talk about it.”
    Sara stared down the hallway. “Are you telling me that your brother works for Piper Kinkade, and that I’m supposed to go in there and make sure she doesn’t fire him?”
    Sam bobbed his head right, then left. “More or less—yes.”
    Sara swallowed. Her hand touched her hair again, a nervous habit Sam noted and filed away.
    “There’s still time to change your mind,” he said quietly.
    His words seemed to break Sara from her paralysis, and she blinked three times. She took a deep breath. “You don’t know me well enough yet to know that I never change my mind.”
    She slung her bag off her shoulder and handed it to Sam. Then she secured the book under her arm and touched the name tag as if for luck. When she walked toward the door, she didn’t look back. Her knock was perfectly halfway between a request and a demand. Professional, but courteous.
    After a moment, Sara squared her shoulders and opened the door. She stepped through, leaving Sam alone in the hallway.
    The afterimage of her shape lingered in his eyes.
    Yet. He liked the sound of that.

Chapter 7
     
    Sara
     
    The room I stepped into was an extension of the hallway of light outside. Everything was white. The couch. The carpet. The curtains. I wondered how Piper survived in such a sterile environment without going crazy, but as my eyes adjusted, I noticed that the billowing clouds of whiteness were not all exactly the same color. There were subtle hues and tones to the throw pillows, the paint on the walls, the blanket artfully draped over the back of a chair that somehow gave the room depth and dimension.
    Someone had spent countless hours and dollars to make it look like no effort had been spent at all.
    Someone else had defied the aesthetic and demanded their own style be seen.
    Splashes of hot pink were scattered throughout the room. A dog dish encrusted with sparkling jewels sat near a distant door—I hoped the baubles were glass, but somehow doubted it. A fluffy pink pillow embroidered with Bootsie’s name along the edge seared my eyes like a laser. Dozens of pictures of Piper and Bootsie hung on the walls or rested on the otherwise clear tabletops, each photograph framed in hot bubblegum pink. Some frames even had dark pink hearts painted on them.
    What decorating madness had I stepped into?
    The suite was empty, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Paul hadn’t needed to worry about his job. Sam hadn’t needed to stay in the hallway. Whatever fireworks they had expected to happen had fizzled. Piper’s feminine chi—whatever that was—could be aligned without worry, because wherever Piper was, it wasn’t here.
    I had