Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF

that second, the advice her mother once gave her echoed in her mind, and she almost burst out laughing. She usually took that piece of advice to heart, but not this time.
    The midmorning heat wave forced Candi to turn on the small air conditioning unit in the window. It worked almost beyond its means to cool down the small living room. Roy , a pain in the ass, insisted it only be used when someone stayed home and could tend to it instead of keeping it on a lower setting all day to keep the house cool.
    Candi raised the bottom of her shirt, aimed it at the cold blast of air from the unit and let the blower cool the built-up perspiration that formed on her body. Her nipples hardened in a nanosecond to the changed exposure.
    “I need to get out of here as soon as possible. I won’t go through five months of potshots due to that, that dickhead.” She stood in front of the air unit, with her blouse raised, deep in thought, planning her next move. Step one, save money. Step two, find a place I could afford to live, close to school and possibly work. Candi realized with a sad heart that when she quit her job at the bar, she would be leaving Minerva. Who do I talk to? Laugh with? Plan things out with? I lose her by default, and all because Minerva is stuck in the middle, due to the family loyalty. It made her sick to think about it.
    She felt the goose bumps break out over her arms and the ache in her nipples from the chill. She turned away from the blast and came up short when she caught Jesse standing in the doorway of the bedroom, staring at her with that wolfish grin.
    What was so handsome about him before? She studied him now. Sex? The idea that he kept her from being lonely seemed to be the only logical answer that came to mind. What exactly? Distracted by her thoughts of reassessment, she forgot about Jesse standing there, until he cleared his throat and got her attention.
    The lustful look in his eyes caught her off guard. He approached her slowly. “You know, Candi, there’s no reason we can’t be fuck buddies.”
    The protruding bulge that literally led him by the short hairs disgusted her. She felt like an animal being preyed upon. “I think you have enough…buddies. Besides, I thought you found the love of your life,” Candi reminded him.
    Even a class dunce couldn’t deny the sarcasm in her voice, but either Jesse wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed or he didn’t pay attention.
    Typical.
    “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” he assured her softly.
    His smile, one that Candi knew to be a deal-closing, woman-catching, golden-boy-awarded smile that a fool would use to his advantage, made her nauseated. Softly, his fingertips traced the line of the thin strap of her tank top. The touch that caused fire in her thighs a short time ago chilled her to the bone in repulsion now.
    She pinned him with as cold stare as she could muster. “Why hurt her?”
    The words he threw at her moments before seemed to piss him off now. Angered by her sarcastic rejection, he turned cursing her as he stomped away.
    “You bitch!” He turned inside the threshold. “You will miss me, Candi. No one else will please you like me. Mark my words.”
    “Marked and entered.”
    The parting comment intended to hurt her missed its mark. She stared at the empty doorway leading to the front porch. “Unless Mr. Right comes along and sweeps me off my feet, pretty boys like Jesse are an obstacle in the way to my success. Stay away,” she vowed, making up her mind on the spot. “I’ve planned too hard for an involvement risk.” And, it helped to protect her feelings and heart.
    Only God knew when she would be ready for a significant relationship. Only time will tell . She walked past the window and paused to see him on the porch with a smug smile on his face. “Fucker!” She spat, and then walked by on her way to the kitchen for a cup of hot coffee. It was the thing to warm the nagging chill that settled around her.

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