How Cat Got a Life Read Online Free PDF

must have gone raving mad, and the woman standing next to him was the cause.
    Without waiting for him to regain the ability to speak, Cat stormed out. Brock lowered his shoulders over the desk and banged his forehead against the top in mock despair. How did teenage boys cope when they were learning to deal with girls? It was a miracle any males made it to adulthood.
    ****
    Fury brewed inside her, so hot Cat expected to spew fire. The keyboard on the computer clacked like a machine gun as she hit the keys with extra force. That insolent, overbearing man! She’d actually allowed him to goad her into flashing her boobs at him, like a little girl playing a game of doctors and nurses.
    Her cell phone burst to a ring on the desk. The display showed Dalton’s name. Cat cleared her throat in order to collect her voice before answering.
    “Are you all set up for going out?” her stepson asked.
    “Going out? I thought I might pop over and see how you’re getting on with the kids at the children’s home this evening.”
    “There’s this girl from the high school who volunteers there…”
    Cat exhaled a sigh. “I get it. You don’t want me there, cramping your style. I’ll just get a takeaway pizza and stay at the hotel. I’m sure I can find something to watch on HBO.”
    “What about the sheriff? Isn’t he taking you out?”
    Like an octopus, tentacles of understanding weaved through her brain.
    “Dalton?” she asked, her throat vibrating with the angry sound.
    Guilty silence met her.
    “Dalton, what have you done?”
    “Nothing. It’s just that I bumped into the sheriff. We chatted, and I mentioned it might be nice if he asked you out, since you don’t know anyone else in town.”
    “When and where did you bump into him?”
    “Err…outside the station house last night.”
    “You lay in wait for him and pounced, demanding that he take me off your hands? Is that it? Dalton?”
    “I wouldn’t quite put it like that.”
    “Then how would you put it?”
    “So, he hasn’t asked you yet. I’d better give him a call, in case he’s forgotten.”
    “Dalton?” She rasped out his name through gritted teeth.
    “Yes, Cat.”
    “If you mention the topic to him again, I’m going to have you drugged, and castrated while you lie in defenseless stupor, okay?”
    She heard his horrified gasp. “Sorry. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
    “Didn’t think I’d mind?” Cat closed her eyes and counted to ten. “Forget it. Just go and do all the disgusting teenager things you do so well, and leave my personal life alone.”
    She muttered a curse as she ended the call, but after a moment, excitement began to tingle on her skin. That’s why the sheriff was on edge—he was working up the courage to ask her out. Then, doubt drenched her. Maybe he was squirming with embarrassment because he believed that she expected him to ask, and he didn’t know how to wriggle out of the awkward situation.
    There was only one way to find out. She’d promised herself she would no longer give a damn over what people thought about her, and that included Brock Leonetti.
    Cat bolted to her feet and marched into his office.
    The color in his cheeks deepened to bronze when she crossed the threshold. He watched in silence as she walked to stand beside him and seized hold of the keyboard. Cat opened up a blank Word document, turned on the tracked changes, and typed.
    Will you go out with me tonight?
    “ Like I told you, you have these two buttons on the tool bar. If you click on “reject” this sentence will disappear. If you click on “accept” the red letters will turn black, and the question stays on the screen.
    Brock took the keyboard from her, backspaced, and typed tomorrow night instead of tonight . Then he clicked on “accept”.
    “I’d like that very much,” she told him.
    “I’ll pick you up at seven from the Hillside Inn where you’re staying.”
    Cat nodded, then turned and fled. Her heart pounded, and her legs barely