Kissing Under The Mistletoe: The Sullivans (Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

gesture with pleasure. She was all for women’s
liberation, especially considering she’d been earning her own way
for more than a decade, but she couldn’t see why it had to mean the
loss of common courtesy.
    The gray-haired woman behind the counter
greeted Jack like an old friend and eyed Mary with obvious
interest. “Two pieces of cherry pie, warm, with big fat scoops of
ice cream on top?”
    Mary smiled at the woman, who reminded her of
her mother’s friends back in Italy. Everything that needed to be
said could always be said with food. Warm pies, cold ices and fresh
baked bread all spoke loudly of love as well as words ever
could.
    “That would be lovely, thank you,” she said
as she slid onto the shiny red seat in a corner booth. “And some
coffee, as well, please.”
    “I’ll take some java, too, Betty.” Jack
waited until Mary had taken off his jacket before saying, “I’ve
never seen a model at work before. It was fascinating.”
    Long ago she’d learned how to accept a
compliment graciously, something she thought was at least as
important as knowing how to take constructive criticism. “Thank
you. Gerry, the photographer, is wonderful to work with. He makes
the process as easy as possible for all of us.”
    Betty brought over their slices of pie, the
ice cream already melting down the edges of the thick crust and
warm cherries. But it was the coffee that Mary went for first to
warm her cold hands. She held on to it for a moment and enjoyed the
heat against her palms before taking a sip.
    “How long have you been modeling?”
    At the beginning of her career, fame had been
tremendously fun and heady for a young girl from a small Italian
village. As the years went by, however, it had become more and more
invasive. And surprisingly lonely, even with people constantly
around her. It was rare that she met anyone who didn’t know who she
was.
    “Ever since I left Italy when I was
nineteen.” She didn’t see a point in hiding her age, so she added,
“That was thirteen years ago.”
    His eyebrows raised in surprise. “We’re the
same age.” He gave her one of his devastating grins that made her
heart beat faster. “The years are another thing you wear better
than I do.”
    “If you ask me,” she murmured, “they look
pretty good on you, too.”
    Mary couldn’t remember the last time she’d
flirted with a man. She was always so careful not to lead anyone
on, just in case he thought she was feeling something she wasn’t.
But the attraction that had simmered between the two of them in
Union Square was heating up with every moment they spent
together.
    “Where in Italy?”
    “A little town nobody has ever heard of
called Rosciano.”
    “I imagine your life over the past thirteen
years has been very different from how you grew up.”
    “Well, I had hoped it would be.” Feeling that
had come out wrong, she clarified, “I had a great childhood, but I
desperately wanted to see more of the world. San Francisco is one
of my favorite places, which is why I’ve decided to stay for a
while. This city certainly isn’t small, but it still reminds me of
my old town in a lot of ways. The hills. The water nearby. How
friendly the people are.”
    Mary had been interviewed dozens of times
over the years, by some of the best journalists in the business.
But none of them had ever looked at her with such honest interest.
Because even when they’d been friendly with each other, she’d only
been a job to them. Mary had worked so much during her adult years
that she’d always met the men she dated on the job.
    She was extremely glad that Jack had nothing
whatsoever to do with her career. It made her feel even more
convinced that something might actually be possible with him. She
wasn’t a product for him. She wasn’t connected to his bottom
line.
    She was simply a woman getting to know
him.
    “Did your brothers or sisters leave the
country, too?”
    “Unlike most Italian families, I was an only
child. My