Finding Acceptance in His Arms Read Online Free PDF Page B

because he said, “It’s all right to be
disappointed, Kara. Life is full of dashed hopes. In our business there is a
hierarchy. You’re at the very bottom, if you aren’t already aware.”
    Without
wai ting for a reply, he extended his arm to escort
her over to the ordering window. He smiled at the pretty teenage girl holding a
pencil and ordering pad. “We’ll have two dogs with all the fixings on one of
them and…” He glanced at Kara.
    “I’ll
take only must ard and ketchup on mine,” she said to
the girl.
    “And
two bottles of water,” Evan concluded the order.
    Kara
waited quietly while Evan paid for the hot dogs and water. She watched the girl
hand the plastic bottles of water through the window to Evan, which h e then handed over to her. Thirty seconds later, the girl
presented the hot dogs in closed-top cardboard carriers.
    Evan
carried the hot dogs to the empty table along the edge of the storefront. He
deposited the meals at their prospective places across from each other before moving around the table to pull out her
chair.
    She
let herself be seated then studied Evan as he took his own seat. He exemplified
handsome masculinity in his dark blue buttoned-down shirt, powder blue tie, and
black slacks. And he smell ed great too, like a man
should, the crisp, clean scent of his cologne wafting over at odd moments on
the summer evening’s air. For a fact, she didn’t really know what to think
about him at this point. On the cab ride here he wouldn’t let her explain away the discrepancy in her cover story from the other night.
He’d only held up his hand for silence and said to wait until later.
    She
wondered if that meant now because she really wanted to get it over with and
see if he believed her. He had to believe her. He just had to. She’d never have an opportunity to do something like this ever
again. And she just knew he’d flip out if she told him the real reason it was
so important to her. So she couldn’t dare tell him. He’d only find out that
secret when she wanted hi m to know it. Maybe she’d
reveal everything right before she went back to New York, or maybe she wouldn’t
ever. That coin still spun dizzily in the air.
    Evan
opened his carrier and picked up his hot dog. He bobbed his head once at Kara.
“Eat your dinner.”
    She
did, taking small bites. The meal was consumed in complete silence.
    Afterward,
he reached over to cradle her chin with his fingers as he wiped the corner of
her mouth with one thumb. It came away with a smudge of mixed ketchup and
mustard, which he lic ked away.
    With
him deigning to do this, she couldn’t help wondering if he’d learned the
results of her blood test. This didn’t seem likely since she’d only given the
blood this morning.
    “So
why did you seek to deceive me?” he asked, elbows on the table now, his fingers intertwined underneath his chin.
    Kara
shrugged before glancing around the sidewalk café at the other diners, the
slow-moving traffic along the street, the pedestrians waiting in a cluster at
the crosswalk for the light to change. She shift ed
her gaze back to Evan and sunk down a little in her seat to exhibit weakness
and vulnerability.
    “I
thought it sounded better if I appeared totally self-supporting and not some
kind of charity case bouncing around the country and preying on the good will of my friends. I’m very sorry for trying to deceive you. I
meant no harm.”
    Silence
and a piercing stare met her explanation and subsequent apology. The silence
began drawing out and she grew nervous at what his decree might be.
    “So
that’s your excuse?” Re lief etched his handsome face
and eyes. “You didn’t want me to think you were some kind of vagabond, hippie
chick?”
    She
didn’t give a verbal reply, only slunk down lower in her seat while dissecting
his reaction. It struck her as odd because no matter how serious and uncompromising he’d previously portrayed
himself as being, this made him appear eager to forgive