Jinxed Read Online Free PDF Page A

herself than him, she drew a hand across her mouth, wiping his passion away. I never learn. She had forgotten for one brief moment she didn’t belong in his circle, in his arms or in his life. Any man would drink from an available well but they never bought the property unless it was prime acreage.
    “Think about it, Frannie,” he pleaded. “It’s like destiny is throwing us together, showing us how much alike we are, how special we can be together. I know what I feel. This is real.”
    “ This is nuts and so are you. Out!” She thundered toward him, a bundle of raw, aching fury. Grabbing his coat, she flung it at him as he walked backwards up her hallway. “Out! Out! Out!”
    She wrenched the doorknob so hard it flew out of her hand and hit the wall behind her. Jinx pulled her against him for a firm, deep kiss. Gawd, he knows how to kiss like a sailor knows how to tie knots. She faltered for just one second and leaned into his mouth before pushing him away.
    “I knew it!” In excitement, his brows arched to form perfect horizontal parentheses above his dancing eyes. “You feel it, too. I see it in your eyes.”
    “That isn’t love. That’s contempt. Out! Before I call the police.”
    He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand and bent toward her. Frozen in place, Frannie swallowed, her mouth longing for his once more. I am so weak . A fraction of an inch from her face, he whispered, “We both know if I just pick you up and carry you upstairs, the only calling will be you screaming my name when you come.”
    Her jaw dropped and she stared at him in speechless shock. She flashed on all those affronted face slaps in black-and-white movies and her palm itched to make a rerun. If her vision was red tinged before, it erupted in crimson edges when he smirked at her.
    “Who in the hell do you think you are with that arrogant, high-handed, sexually dominant crap? You know what? Never mind. I don’t care. Just leave, now!”
    Jinx leaned on the doorframe and chuckled, which sent her volcanic ire skyrocketing. “Damn, you’re feisty. I’m going to marry you, know that?”
    “And I’m going to commit you. Now, out of my house, fruit loop!”
    With a confident smile like the cat that ate the canary, the magpie and the bluebird all in one bite, he took two steps to stand on the threshold before turning. “I’ll go. But I’ll see you tomorrow, Frannie. We’re meant to be. I’m going to prove it to you.”
    Frannie slammed the door in his face, her lips twisted in an ugly sneer of rejection. Two seconds later, she re-opened the door and pitched his boots at him. Missed, damn . Bare chested in the frosty moonlight, he grinned at her like a lovesick fool. She banged the door closed, snapped off the porch light and threw the lock with a loud click. His laughter sounded through the leaded glass.
    Seething with sexual frustration and irrational irritability, Frannie shoved the cheesecake and leftover pizza in the refrigerator, turned off the coffee pot and slapped the light switch to plunge the kitchen into darkness. She pounded up the stairs, making as much noise as possible just because she could.
    The sight of Jinx’s forgotten suitcase on her bed made her temples throb. Collapsed facedown beside it, she groaned into her pillow. Muscles releasing her anger, she slumped into the mattress like a deflated balloon. Hocus jumped up beside her. She ruffled his fuzzy head and tried not to compare it to another head of silky black hair.
    “He’s crazy, Hocus—certifiable, one-hundred-percent straitjacket club. There’s no way he loves me and I certainly don’t love him. But da-yum, he sure can kiss.”
     
    Her front door had beveled frosted glass in an oval. Jinx stared, his mind whipping with a million thoughts, each one more thrilling than the next. She’s the one. His belly warmed with a laugh though his shoulders shivered. Inside, everything went dark and the sound of angry heels pounding the stairs rang out.