Kissing Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

tour which took the
better part of two hours. This place was amazing. It had everything
including a ton of kitchen sinks.
    “We’re only really seeing the shell Avery. We don’t
have time to see the heart of it all...the R&D, where all the
brainiacs come together and make it happen.”
    “I love it John.”
    “Great. Well, I’m glad to have you on board. I can’t
wait for you to meet the rest of my finance team.”
    We made our way back to his office for some more
first day initiation things. Before I knew it, we were headed to
the cafe for lunch.
    “Everything is healthy and organic here. It’s all
good for you.”
    “I guess that means I’m gonna have to give up my
barbecue and Krispy Kremes, huh?”
    I got a really funny look from him. And then he
said, “So Avery, would you like to see the company exercise
facility?”
    WTF? Was he telling me I was fat because he really
didn’t have to bother?
    I smiled my sweet Southern charming smile and added
some extra sugar to it when I said, “Well sure, John. I would just
love that!”
    He grinned as big as a man could grin so on our way
back from the cafe, he gave me the grand tour of the exercise
facility. It was really something, I’ve gotta say. Melissa would’ve
loved it.
    “Boy oh boy. My best friend would just love this
place. She’s a sumo wrestler and she could really do some training
here.”
    I didn’t think a man’s eyebrows could leap into his
hairline, but I was wrong. John’s did. It was a good thing we
weren’t eating or he would’ve choked too.
    “Sumo wrestler? Your neighbor? A woman?”
    “Oh yeah. I did it for a while too. But it’s really
hard. You have to spend a ton of time eating Ben and Jerry’s and
bacon and fried Snickers Bars and all. And then there are the
workouts. I mean it’s like a full time job.”
    Poor John. He was really in for it with me.
    “By the way, John, did I tell you
what happened to me when I went through security in the airport
yesterday?” I’m not sure how the man survived the rest of the
afternoon. He could, however, find no fault with my
work.

Chapter 4
     
     
    Preston
     
    The last time I’d been in Seattle was before Justin
and Caroline had gotten hitched. They were still neighbors, living
across the hall from each other in that great apartment building.
I’d helped her move in and buy furniture and things. Since then,
they’d upgraded. I mean really upgraded. They were living in grand
style on the highly coveted West Highland Drive, a terribly
exclusive area of Seattle. It was a short commute for Justin to the
University of Washington, where he was an attending orthopedic
surgeon and an extremely talented one from what I understood. His
specialty was reconstructing shattered bones. It was a good thing
too, because he and my sister had been in a bad car wreck and her
leg had been all but demolished. I’d been told that if it weren’t
for Justin, she wouldn’t have that leg today.
    Justin had done his residency and fellowship out
here and then went back to Charleston to practice medicine, but
when Terri had died (or so everyone still thought) in the car
bombing, he couldn’t ever fully engage into life again, so he came
back here. All the surgeons were ecstatic to have him because they
called him, “Miracle hands.” It worked out to be the greatest
excuse for the two of them and now here they were, living the dream
life.
    Caroline gave me the grand tour and giggled the
whole time. In her previous life, she had sold real estate with my
dad in the family business. I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “So
sis, did you always get this giddy with your clients when you
showed them a house?”
    She just kept on giggling and said, “No way! But I
never showed anything like this! Can you believe this place?”
    I really couldn’t and told her so. Then I picked her
up and swung her around and around. That was exactly how Justin
found us when he walked into the kitchen.
    “Man, it’s a damn