Let Me Hold You Read Online Free PDF

She didn’t notice that the strain was beginning to show in her face, but others did.
    It was a sunny morning and she was sitting at her desk in the office behind the showroom of Custom Classics, going over the week’s schedule. A tap on the door preceded the entrance of Tolerance Taylor, her part-time IT specialist and full-time friend. Tolerance was known as Tollie to everyone and she was always in a great mood, smiling and talkative.
    “Okay, which do you prefer, Hershey’s or Dove chocolate?” Tollie asked.
    “Dove,” Alana answered, never taking her eyes from the computer screen.
    “Star Wars or Star Trek?”
    “Star Wars.”
    Tollie raised an arched eyebrow. “Even the set of prequels with that horrible Jar-Jar creature?”
    “Yep.”
    “Ew. There’s no accounting for taste, is there? Early-morning sex or late-night romance?” Tollie probed.
    That last one made Alana turn to look at Tollie with a frown. “Where do you get these crazy questions from?”
    Tollie smiled and as usual it lit up her pretty face. She was tall, plump and curvy with a stunning complexion and thick black hair that was always perfectly styled. “I told you, I get them from Facebook. Answer the question,” she urged.
    Alana wasn’t about to go there, but she was curious. “There’s a Q-and-A page on Facebook? I’ve never seen it.”
    Tollie took a seat across from Alana’s desk and waved her iPad at her. “It’s from that group I belong to called Building Relationships Around Reading. An amazing woman named Sharon Blount started it and it’s for women who love to read and share their thoughts about books, life, love, everything. Every day there’s something new and interesting, like these questions. I love them,” she murmured as she continued to scan the screen. “You can really get to know people just by how they answer simple questions.”
    Alana turned to face Tollie with a noncommittal expression. “I doubt that. It seems like it would take a lot more than that to develop a real understanding of another person.”
    “Maybe. And maybe it’s just as simple as it seems. I’m going to ask the group about it on Saturday when we have an open chat. It’s both educational and cathartic.”
    Alana was about to disagree when Tollie looked at her with a sheepish expression. “I came in here to let you know that there’s someone here to see you and then I got caught up. Sorry about that.”
    “Customer or salesperson?” Without realizing it, Alana had slipped into Tollie’s mode of questioning.
    “Customer, definitely, but he could sell me anything. I’d buy old shoes and day-old sandwiches from him, honey,” Tollie answered as her eyes locked on her screen again.
    Curious, Alana went to the showroom to find Roland waiting for her with his massive arms crossed over his chest and his jaw clenched. She was surprised to see him, especially wearing an expression like that. Clearly he was upset about something and she approached with caution.
    “Good morning, Roland. Can I help you with something?”
    He glared down at her before answering in a snarky voice she’d never heard from him before. “Yeah, I’m here on Lucas’s recommendation. I came over in person because I know from personal experience that you don’t know how to answer a phone or return a message,” he said. His voice was so deep that it sounded like he was growling at her.
    She blushed a little because it was true; she’d been avoiding him with the skill of a spy hiding from the CIA or something. She had ignored his calls, deleted his messages and stayed away from any place she thought he might be. He’d been back in town since before the New Year and it was the first time she’d seen him and it was a week before Valentine’s Day.
    She looked down at his shoes because it was too hard to meet his eyes, but that was childish and she was a professional. She cleared her throat before asking him again how she could help him.
    “You fix cars, right?