In the Blaze of His Hungers Read Online Free PDF Page B

stress away, laughing about how it’s cheaper than therapy.
    Fiona Lopez is absolutely charming. She’s petite but ultra-competent, sweet but serious, lovely and yet wonderfully unselfconscious about it. She’s a ‘pillar of the community’ type, except she’s too humble to see herself that way. She has rich brown eyes and soft, wavy hair that keeps escaping her habitual bun to curl prettily around her face.
    Ryan can’t comprehend why Javier left her. He honestly can’t. She’s still beautiful, so she must’ve been downright stunning back then. She’s fair-minded and doesn’t take any bullshit from anyone, but she’s also unfailingly kind. Heck, maybe that kindness is why she could tolerate Javier for as long as she did.
    But Javier was the one who left, wasn’t he?
    What happened between them?
    Ryan’s startled back into the present when Fiona materializes with a plate full of warm almond cookies, and Pete trailing behind her like a particularly bouncy puppy.
    “So, Ryan,” Fiona says, her eyes twinkling. “Pete tells me you’ve got a boyfriend.”
    “ Pete! ” Ryan kicks Pete’s shin, and Pete winces exaggeratedly.
    “Mom! Shouldn’t you be telling this barbarian off for brutalizing your son?”
    “You deserved it,” she says.
    “Unfair! You were all giggly when I gave you the news, and now you think I deserve to be kicked for spilling it? Hasn’t anyone ever heard of ‘don’t shoot the messenger’?”
    “You’re not a messenger, you’re a liar.” Ryan rubs his forehead. “Sorry, ma’am. I don’t, I mean, I’m not – there isn’t anyone.”
    Fiona crosses her arms and quirks an eyebrow. It’s identical to Pete’s ‘you ain’t foolin’ nobody’ expression, and what Ryan can’t figure out is how the hell people can tell Ryan’s got a – not a lover, no. But a non-friend. With benefits. A something , at any rate.
    “What?” Ryan asks, uncomfortably, after another excruciating interval of Fiona studying him and Pete snickering like a tool.
    “Honey,” says Fiona, taking pity on Ryan, “you’ve been checking your watch once every minute. You wouldn’t be that antsy if you didn’t have… plans. With somebody. Somebody special, I take it?”
    “There’s nothing special about him,” Ryan mutters, but his stupid face is reddening again, and his gut is churning with terror at the prospect of what Fiona would do if she knew the truth, whether that legendary kindness of hers would extend to Ryan, or if she’d never let him in her house again.
    Actually, no – given how protective and motherly Fiona is toward Ryan, she’ll blame Javier instead, accuse him of using Ryan, abusing him, taking advantage of him. She’ll pity Ryan, and somehow, that’ll be worse than being hated by her.
    It isn’t worth it , Ryan tells himself. Don’t go back there. Give it up. Right now. It’s just sex. You can find it somewhere else.
    It definitely isn’t worth it. And yet, the moment he’s done with Fiona’s cookies and Pete’s ribbing, he’s out the door and in his car, turning the key in the ignition, heading for Javier’s place.
    At least he never claimed to be a wise person. Now, he can’t claim to be a good one, either.
    * * *
    There’s someone at Javier’s repair shop – a middle-aged lady who is clearly as taken with Javier’s biceps as Ryan is – so Ryan tries to duck back outside, but the lady recognizes him and says, “Aren’t you the fireman’s boy? Will Carpenter’s son?”
    Oh, damn. Ryan’s mind races to come up with an alibi for being here with a perfectly functioning car (not to mention a perfectly fu nctioning libido), but Javier speaks up first.
    “I’m thinking of hiring him,” Javier says out of nowhere. “Part-time. I need help around the shop, now that my client list is growing. I’m training him to start work soon.”
    “Isn’t that nice,” gushes Mrs. Fan of Javier’s Biceps. “Learning skills that’ll last you a lifetime,