Can't Stand the Heat Read Online Free PDF

me or did that guy look like someone I’ve seen before?”
    Lauren nodded. She unbuttoned her chef’s jacket and opened the locker directly in front of her. “No, it’s not just you. I thought I recognized him from somewhere, too. I just can’t place where. He must be someone important, though, if he was the VIP Nathan was raving about earlier.”
    Each woman tried to summon a recollection of his face.
    â€œI know his name,” Paula said. “It’s right on the tip of my tongue. But I just can’t think of it.”
    â€œWell, don’t strain yourself. It’s not like you win any money for remembering.”
    â€œHe said he’d be back here to eat again. Maybe you’ll find out his name and you two will have a chance to talk a lot longer than two minutes.”
    â€œI doubt it.” Lauren tossed her chef’s coat into her locker and retrieved her sandals. She sat down and changed out of her tennis shoes and sports socks. “Besides, I’m not interested.”
    â€œOh, come on, Lauren! How can you not be interested in him? Are you blind? That man was beautiful! Did you see his tattoo?” She closed her eyes and groaned. “Oh, I love a man with tattoos!”
    â€œYes, Paula, I noticed him . . . and his tattoo.” Lauren rose to her feet and shut her locker door. “But he just didn’t do it for me,” she lied. “Besides, I’m just focused on other things.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œMy life . . . my goals . . . me . I’m focusing on me. I’m making myself better. I’m my biggest priority—in a good way.”
    And I’ve still got a lot of work to do .
    Lauren climbed over the bench and waved. “See you tomorrow.”
    â€œWait! What are you going to do if he comes back?” she called as Lauren walked toward the door.
    Lauren glanced over her shoulder. “If who comes back?”
    â€œThe guy from ten minutes ago! Mr. Gorgeous! Who else?”
    â€œFeed him, I guess,” she answered nonchalantly. “Nighty-night.”
    Paula sighed. “Good night, Lauren.”

Chapter 2
    â€œT wenty minutes,” Lauren muttered the next morning as she pulled her car to a stop in the circular, paved-stone driveway. “Keep it to twenty minutes and no longer. Tell them as soon as you get in that you can’t stay long.”
    Lauren had just left Phillip’s place. She had decided to check on him that morning, not liking the sound of his voice over the phone the day before. She found him in good spirits and looking much better than he had looked when she had last seen him. He promised that he would make it to the restaurant on time and would be raring to go.
    â€œAll I need is my apron and my spatula, chérie! ” he had growled in his Louisiana drawl. “It only takes me one day to mend. Nothin’ is gonna stop me!”
    It had been hard to leave him. In Phillip’s fatherlike presence she felt warm and reassured. She felt the opposite now as she sat in front of her mother’s palatial home. Lauren could think of a million places she’d rather be, but Saturday brunch at Mama’s was a family tradition that had lasted as long as Lauren could remember. Yolanda Gibbons didn’t mandate that all her girls attend, but Lauren knew she would be punished with cold silence if she didn’t.
    Lauren opened her car door with a loud, ear-piercing squeak, climbed out, and slammed the door shut with her hip. As she walked up the slate pathway leading to the manor’s French doors, she passed several bushes of blooming pink and white dahlias and then her sisters’ cars that were parallel parked along the curb: one black Lexus SUV, one silver BMW sedan, and one blue Mercedes-Benz convertible. The sparkling automobiles stood out like a line of preening beauty queens while Lauren’s rusted, dented 1991 Toyota Corolla sat at the end like the ugly girl in