COVET: Deceptive Desires Read Online Free PDF Page B

hand to calm the children on the stage who’d gotten antsy while waiting for her squabble with Joshua to end. “All right, Liam. You can take me to get a…a hot dog. I assume you recall Granny doesn't cook anything but soul food, so a greasy hot dog at the diner off Main Street.”
    “Hot dogs. Roger that.”
    “And, Liam, let's keep things simple... please. Just lunch .”
    ~~~
    Raven scampered down the stairs in khaki shorts and the Dallas Cowboys jersey she got from the time her grandpa Otis and his brother, Oscar, took her to a game. Head cocked, she glared at Liam and just how easily he'd inserted himself into her family. She only needed to close her eyes to imagine his voice before his balls dropped, and boy, was everything the same.
    Annette hugged him, allowed him to call her Granny , and offered him breakfast.
    “What are you doing here so early, Liam? We're supposed to meet at Lucky’s Diner at noon.” As soon as she said it, Raven bit her lip so as not to grimace. Why am I acting like Joshua? Liam isn’t blood.
    “Girl, if you don't take off that stink face.” Annette shook her head and turned to him. “Liam, I wouldn't take her anywhere, if you ask me. Now you sure you're not hungry?”
    “Nah, Granny, thanks anyway.” Liam winked at Raven as she cringed.
    “All right, y'all have fun in the city,” Annette said.
    Raven walked outside with him hot on her trail. Soon as the front door closed, she turned around. “I had plans to meet you at Lucky’s, Liam. The diner around the corner. I don’t want to go to Brinton today.”
    ~~~
    The next two hours flew by in a blur. Instead of the diner on Main Street, or in the neighboring city, Raven ended up on a Learjet. Her body molded to white leather, her head leaning back against the Delacroix family insignia.  On their way to "lunch" she’d told herself not to come along every step of the way. But she had made no further stipulations about where to get the stupid hot dog.
    Now they descended into New Orleans.
    “You lied to Granny saying hot dogs in the city ,” she mumbled as the jet zipped past stationary planes and came to a vaulting stop.
    “This is the city I meant. We used to tweak the truth all the time, ReRe.”
    Raven ground her teeth at the intimacy of her nickname, but decided to choose her battles.
    “Okay, okay, Raven. If ‘Dat Dog’ doesn't have the best hot dogs ever–”
    “Then you will do a triple flip off the gorge?” Raven’s eyebrow cocked, eyes sparkling. Crap. That came out wrong. Making challenges was what they used to do.
    “Sure you want to make that the bet?” Liam stood up. Damn, just the sight of how tall and athletic he was made her gulp.
    He smiled. She hadn’t meant to humor him, only gauge some form of inadequacy in the man before her. The man who attempted to read her like a loaded deck of cards the other night.
    She scoffed. “Yeah, something tells me you still can’t. You disappeared into thin air, only to become fluent in French and lift a bunch of weights.”
    “I’m fluent in Spanish and Italian, too. But is that all you think I’ve accomplished in almost four years?” He chuckled as she unhooked her seat belt and stood.
    “Yup, that's all,” she quipped. “Just kidding. You got much taller. But I'm willing to say it's from plastic surgery. You added stilts to your legs.”
    “Very funny. Both of my parents are well over six feet.”
    ~~~
    One of Pierre’s butlers waited for them at the bottom of the steps with a silver tray. On it was a set of keys.
    “Thanks.” Liam grabbed the keys, tossed them in the air, and caught them. She noticed that he still had manners like before. His father sometimes acknowledged the help. Elise never did.
    About forty yards away sat a shiny convertible. Raven hid her frown. The jet. The flashy convertible. It all made her uncomfortable. This indeed was the new Liam.
    The apprehension crept in during lunch. Liam seemed to be in his element, the Creole