Just One Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

been working on the plan for a while. We’ve been waiting to find the right place. Ford suggested Fool’s Gold, so when I came here last year, I checked it out.”
    Ava’s surprise was evident in her voice.
    “Ford? Ford Hendrix?”
    He nodded. “We’ve been friends awhile now. We reconnected in the military. Our third partner is a guy named Angel Whittaker.”
    “I’d heard Ford was returning,” Ava said, “but no one knows when. He’s been serving in the military for years.”
    “He gets out in the next couple of months. He should be back then.”
    Angel didn’t care where they started the business, and once Justice had come back last year, he’d lobbied for Fool’s Gold. He’d thought about looking up Patience then, but he had enough self-control to avoid her. This time, not so much.
    “Who’s Ford?” Lillie asked.
    “You know the Hendrix triplets and Mrs. Hendrix,” Patience said. “Ford is the youngest brother in the Hendrix family.”
    “Oh. He’s old.”
    Ava smiled. “He’s in his thirties, Lillie.”
    The girl looked confused. “That old?”
    “Ah, to be young again.” Ava picked up her fork and speared a piece of lettuce. “So, Justice, tell me what you’ve been doing for the past fifteen years. Did you get married?”

CHAPTER THREE
     
    P ATIENCE SILENTLY VOWED she would never complain about her mother again. Not that she did it very much, but sometimes it was difficult sharing a house. Tonight, though, Ava had proved herself to be a master at getting information from anyone at any time.
    By the time the dinner plates had been cleared and the dessert served, Justice had spilled nearly all his secrets. He’d spent a decade in the military before going into private-sector security. He had never been married and had no children. He’d come close to getting engaged once, he’d lived all over the world, but didn’t call any place home and had put off finding a house or an apartment in Fool’s Gold, preferring to live in a hotel until the business was up and running.
    Patience had simply settled in to listen. Her mother’s gentle grilling had been better than live theater and she’d been able to enjoy both the floor show and the view.
    Since their earlier encounter in the salon where she worked, Justice had traded in his suit for jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She liked the way he’d filled out—all muscles and strength. No doubt a result of excellent physical conditioning. She would suspect that the bodyguard business required that sort of thing.
    Watching him talk, she noticed the odd line or two around his eyes and that his expression was more guarded than she remembered. She was also very conscious of the fact that the last man to walk into their house had been a plumber and before that, the guy who had upgraded their cable TV. Ava hadn’t dated much after her husband had left. Patience hadn’t meant to follow in her mother’s footsteps on that front, yet here she was, pushing thirty and chronically single.
    Justice was the kind of man to set the most chaste of hearts to fluttering, and Patience had to admit that any chastity on her part had been due to circumstance, not choice. If her handsome, slightly dangerous former childhood crush made a move, she would cheerfully agree. Justice seemed like the type of man to cure nearly any female ill. As long as she was careful to keep things emotionally casual.
    She supposed that in today’s modern age, she should be willing to make the first move herself. To self-actualize. But that wasn’t her style. She’d never been especially brave and now, walking Justice out onto the front porch, she didn’t experience any sudden surge in courage.
    “Still adore my mother?” she asked as she closed the door behind them. Just in case he had the idea he should kiss her good-night. Which he should. She was doing her best to send that message telepathically. Not that she had any psychic talent.
    Justice sat on the porch railing and nodded.