Jailbird Read Online Free PDF

eyes so
he’d see I was serious. I hadn’t really counted on getting caught
in them again. His face seemed so close to mine. Everything in me
was screaming for him to move closer.
    He licked his lips nervously and cleared his
throat. It seemed as if he was unsure of whether his voice would
quite work. “Take all the dandelions you want.”
    “Thank you,” excitement welled up within me.
“Do you know where I could get some canning jars?”
    “Sure. I have some in my attic.” He seemed to
have inched a little closer to me. Or was that just wishful
thinking?
    “Do you need them? I mean, I could pay you
for them eventually.”
    “I’m curious enough to know what you have in
mind that you can have them for free,” his voice had taken on a
low, silky tone. It seemed to stroke me right down the middle. I
swear my body ached to arch into that sweet, sweet voice.
    “No, really, I can pay you. We’ll be
partners…. I’ll need to borrow a stove…” I struggled to form a
thought other than the one that screamed in my brain… kiss me.
Please kiss me. For the love of all things holy, kiss me.
    My throat was dry. My chest hurt. He really
was leaning closer; it wasn’t just my imagination. His breath
seemed to catch. His eyes told me he was as confused and fascinated
as I.
    “You can have anything you want,” his mouth
moved so close to mine I could feel it.
    “Daddy! Daddy!” Cara’s voice startled us both
so much we jumped. I guess I jumped a little higher than he did,
because we cracked skulls and both fell back to the ground
clutching our heads.
    “Son of a…” I stopped short of the expletive
I’d been about to let loose. It was good to know Dixon Correctional
taught me something useful in my time there… I’d picked up a few
extra words in my vocabulary over the years.
    “Daddy,” Cara threw herself at her father,
her joy evident on her face.
    “What, baby girl?” he couldn’t help smiling
back.
    “Grandma and Grandpa are here.”
    “Wow, that’s great.”
    I could tell from his expression that it
wasn’t great. Nowhere near it.
    “Go get your things rounded up, I’ll be there
in a minute,” he kissed her on the forehead and sent her along. As
he stood, he seemed much older suddenly.
    “Don’t you get along with your parents?” I
tried to understand.
    “I get along with my parents fine. Things are
still a little awkward with Julie’s folks, though.”
    “Oh,” I frowned. “You still… see them?”
    “They’re Cara’s grandparents. No matter what
their daughter did to us, I couldn’t take her away from them.”
    “That’s very kind of you,” I was still trying
to process it. I didn’t like being reminded that he had once been
married. It was better to think the stork dropped Cara in his lap.
Why was I suddenly so possessive of him?
    “I’m just trying to do the right thing by
everybody,” he seemed embarrassed by the compliment. “It’s no big
deal.”
    He held a hand out to help me up.
    “I’ll wait here,” I shook my head, not even
trying to cover the stark terror on my face.
    “Don’t be silly, come on.”
    “But what will they think if we go out front
together?”
    “Maybe they’ll think that after five years of
divorce, Charlie finally found a beautiful woman who’s fascinating
enough to wake him up again.”
    His honesty left me totally speechless. I
opened my mouth to tell him he had no clue just how interesting I
was but closed it again. I probably looked like a fish, sitting
there opening and closing my mouth.
    “Please? For me? Don’t make me go face them
alone.”
    Ugh. Those stupid eyes did it to me every
time.
    “Fine. But if I find out later I have grass
stains on my back, I swear I’ll die of mortification and it’ll be
on your head, Charlie Russell.”
    “Fair enough,” he laced his fingers through
mine. I started to bolt at the gesture of familiarity. He tightened
his grip and tugged me along.
    It was hard to tell who they