Gettin' Lucky (Love and Laughter) Read Online Free PDF Page A

lived in. It made you think of homemade apple pie and picnics. Just the sort of place that should have a bunch of kids racing back and forth across the grass. A few swings hanging from the trees. Bicycles on the huge porch out front. A cozy wicker love seat just the right size for Lucky and a certain naked stranger...
    The car made a sharp turn, effectively killing the vision. They jerked to a stop outside the house. Smokey climbed from behind the wheel and stomped to the front door.
    “Chicago,” Billy started. “Why, I bet they got all kinds of ice-cream flavors, being a big city and all...”
    Smokey disappeared inside the house and Lucky was left listening to Billy discuss the merits of wild raspberry delight versus chocolate fudge ecstasy.
    “Here they come,” Lucky said when Smokey appeared in the doorway. Lucky tried to stare past him to the man that followed, but she couldn’t make out more than a tanned arm here and there, a jeans-clad thigh, scuffed boots.
    “Seems you’re off the hook, missy,” Smokey grumbled as he yanked open the door, pulled Lucky from the seat and unlocked the cuffs. “Tyler here says you ain’t the thief.”
    “At least someone around here has some sense—” The words died when she turned to find herself staring up at the delicious naked stranger with the unforgettable buns. “You! You didn’t tell me you were Tyler Grant.”
    “I didn’t know you were looking for him.”
    “Well, yes. I found his—your—wallet this morning.”
    “This reunion’s sweet and all,” Smokey cut in, “but Billy and I got a burglar to catch.” He tipped his hat at Tyler and said, “Keep you posted.”
    “Wait a second.” She whirled as the car doors slammed shut “You guys have my keys—” The rest of her sentence drowned in the rev of an engine. The police car bolted down the driveway, gravel spewing from the rear tires.
    “ I have your keys,” came the deep voice behind her. “And relax. I’ll give you a ride back as soon as you tell me how you got my wallet.”
    “Like I told Smokey, I found it in the back of my cab.” She turned to find Tight Tush staring at her with his heated eyes. Mesmerizing blue eyes as deep as the Caribbean. The kind of blue you could wade waist-deep through and still see your toes. She forced her gaze from his to look at the rest of him. He was far from au naturel now, yet he looked every bit as Marlboro-man masculine with his denim shirt, faded jeans and worn cowboy boots. A far cry from Buster and his bowling buddies.
    “So you found my wallet?”
    “In the back of my cab after I dropped off your wife.”
    “My wife?” Incredulity etched his features for a shocked moment.. “Well, how do you like that?” he finally said. Then he burst out laughing. But it wasn’t a happy sound. Anger flashed in his eyes, turning them a deep, fathomless turquoise. “Beautiful. Just friggin’ beautiful.”
    “She was.”
    “Who?”
    “Your wife.”
    “Honey, she wasn’t my wife.”
    “But she was carrying your wallet and...” Her sentence trailed off as Smokey’s voice echoed in her mind... burglary. “You mean she was—I’ve been carrying around hot property?”
    “Scorching, but the wallet wasn’t the only thing she ripped off. She took the entire contents of my safe. Nearly fifty thousand dollars’ worth of money and jewelry. Hightailed it out of here before daybreak.”
    “In Mitchell Pike’s truck,” Lucky added. “And she headed straight for Houston where she probably ditched the truck. Then I taxied her to the airport for a clean getaway. To top it off, she stiffed me for an eighty-dollar cab fare. I’m an idiot,” she muttered, closing her eyes. “I can’t believe I fell for the story like a big sap. A heart attack, of all things.”
    “She had a heart attack?”
    “No, her father did, or she said he did. She was racing to catch a plane so she could rush to his side and nurse him back to health like some Florence Nightingale.