Heart's Reflection Read Online Free PDF

of his furrowed brow, thoughts that would have him
backing out. I had to stop those thoughts.
    Acting on impulse,
I lunged forward to plant a hard kiss on his lips. When I pulled back, slightly
breathless myself, his eyes had widened and his mouth had shaped into an
"o".
    "Wha—"
He touched a finger to his lips.
    "There. I
want your awesome body. I want to go out with you. Satisfied?"
    His face relaxed
back into his cynical smirk. "Okay," he finally said. "I'll go
out with you."
    "Good—"
    "But if we're
going to the reserve, we go tonight."
    When I would have
protested he added, "And tomorrow night. Two dates. You spend the night
with me at the reserve tonight and I'll go out with you tomorrow night during
the game."
    My mind spun as I
nodded.
    "But there's
one more thing you have to do," he said.
    Nodding again I
said, "I'll do it."
    "Don't you
even want to know what it is before you agree?"
    "Whatever it
is, I agree."
      In for a penny, in for a pound. Even if
it was a pound of my flesh, what choice did I have? How much worse could it be
anyway?
    * * * * *
    When I arrived at
the Ellsworth house promptly at six, as Keagan had demanded, I switched off the
car engine but couldn't quite bring myself to go in. After about five minutes,
I pushed the handle mechanism, swung the car door open, and got out. I then
grabbed my purse, to sling the strap over my shoulder and across my chest,
before straightening my pink cardigan so the buttons wouldn't bunch.
    "Stop
stalling." A thump of my fist to thigh didn't produce movement. "And
stop talking to yourself or somebody will think you're crazy." What do you mean somebody? You are crazy.
    Eventually,
dragging in a deep breath, I set off. The walk up the path to the house was
like the walk to the gallows— not to
be overly dramatic or anything . Every step of my clogs on the cement seemed
to echo. I was about to fulfill Keagan's condition for the date and it had been
worse than I thought.
    After a couple
tentative knocks so soft that the most attentive elephant couldn't hear them, I
pulled myself up straight and wiped my wet palms against my denim skirt.
"Quit being ridiculous. You can do this," I muttered before
rapping—hard. Pounding was probably a fair characterization.
    Keagan's father
jerked the door open. "What the hell is that—Oh, Tara, it's
you."
    "Sorry, Mr.
Ellsworth. I didn't mean knock so loud." Trying to force out a smile, my expression
was probably more like a grimace because my lips felt set in a fast drying
cement.
    His face relaxed
into a smile in return as he widened the door. "Come on in. But Liam isn't
home right now."
    With my purse
hugged to my body, I stepped forward. "Thanks, ummm. That's okay." A
bullfrog in my throat needed clearing before I could get out the next part.
"I'm here for Keagan."
    A huge gasp of air
escaped with the last word. There. I'd done as he'd demanded. I'd told his
parents...or at least one of them.
    As the thought
occurred to me, his mother stepped around the corner and into the entry.
"Hi, Tara. Liam isn't home. Are you supposed to meet him here?"
    "No
I...ummm."
    Just then my date came out of his room and strode
down the hall to stand at the top of the stairs. The white t-shirt that
evidenced the hard muscles of his chest hung over low-slung jeans. His bicep
flexed as he slipped on a navy blue dress shirt and began to button it.
    I found it hard to
swallow again, but not from fear this time. But even acknowledging to myself
how physically drawn I was to him, pangs cut at me with a thousand tiny
razorblades. How could I feel this way, betraying Liam in thought as well as
act? My boyfriend at least deserved emotional fidelity.
    For a moment I
registered a hopeful expression on Keagan's face before our eyes met. Maybe not
hopeful as much as anticipating something. But as if he knew my guilty thoughts
about his brother, his expression transformed in an instant to its usual bored
cynicism.
    "Liam should
be home any time now," Mrs.