Heroes (Hollywood Heartthrobs #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

it coming. She smiled thinking of the biting insult
to his manhood in the final couplet.
    More
than anything, she wanted a man to respect her. Not just in the sense of
respect for boundaries or anything, that went without saying as far as Jessie
was concerned. She wanted someone who respected her abilities, her mind, hell,
even her fencing skills. So many men wanted to relegate her to a role as some
sort of overgrown teenage nerd unable to cope with reality. That, she couldn’t
bear.
    Giving
up on Marvell, she checked the weather report for the next day. The forecast
was warm and sunny. Glorious, the busty blonde newscaster put it. Well, if you
say so, thought Jessie, pulling on her pajamas.
    Maybe
if it was really nice, she could actually get outside a bit. She had an
appointment at a library in Streeterville in the morning; if it was really as
beautiful as Blondie said, maybe she’d take her notebook down to the Chicago
River Walk, spread out her books on a towel on the grass like she was back on
the quad. Or she could wander down to the lakeshore; watching the tourist boats
take off from Navy Pier might go nicely with some themes of journeying she had
been exploring in poetry. Probably not what Adam meant by a day out in Chicago,
but Jessie doubted very much she would meet anyone as sexy as the speaker in To
His Coy Mistress anywhere in the city.  

 
     
     
     
CHAPTER 3
     
              Even with
small kids, the Everett house rose early, and the next day was no exception.
Nathan worked as an account manager at a big-time Chicago valuation firm. They
allowed him to telecommute from his office at the house Tuesdays and Thursdays,
but Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays he usually left before seven to make the
hour-plus drive into the city. Samantha was the proprietress of a trendy
cupcake shop near the house, and was out the door sometimes even before Nathan.
Even the boys were used to being up and off to the babysitter’s a few hours
before they had to be at school. So, at 6am Dean was the only one not looking
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Since it was spring break at the local elementary
school, Samantha had called to cancel with the babysitter so the boys could go
into the city with Dean. The plan was to ride in with Nathan, show the boys off
at Nathan’s office over coffee and donuts, then Dean would take them site
seeing for the day before all riding home together.
              Dean felt
amusingly slovenly strolling into Nathan’s office with him. Nathan was dressed,
as usual, in an elegantly understated suit with a handkerchief that matched his
tie. He believed the best dressed man in the office was usually the one people
listened to, and his record at the firm seemed to support his theory. Dean,
however, was wearing a pair of Wranglers with a simple hooded sweatshirt and
sneakers. Used to assorted assistants to the show or one of Stuart’s revolving
door of beautiful young female employees primping him for the cameras at all
hours of the day and night, it felt great to be the most under-dressed man in
the room. Besides, all eyes were on the boys as Nathan’s coworkers came and
went with high-fives and affectionate childlike nicknames for Tucker and Alec
like “junior,” “tiger,” and “sport.” The view from Nathan’s thirty-fifth story
office was so impressive both boys left hand and nose prints on the plate
glass. That was Nathan’s cue for Dean to get them out.
              With Tucker
walking next to him and Alec riding on his shoulders, Dean led the way out of
the maze of skyscrapers in the center of Chicago to the clear open air of Lake
Shore Drive. It was a beautiful early spring day, unusually warm for late
April. Navy Pier jutted thoughtlessly out into the calm endless blue of Lake
Michigan. It was a terrific tourist trap brimming with bad food and kitschy
souvenir shops, but Dean held a soft spot for it. Navy Pier was home to the
Chicago Shakespeare Theater. At the age