Lotus Blossom Read Online Free PDF Page B

while filling his coffee cup. The coffee was one of the things at Mac’s that made the trip into the diner worthwhile. “Dash, I have to work another hour. Mac asked me if I would, and since I don’t start my stint at the casino until eleven, I said yes. . . .”
    “Why did you do that? You work hard enough the three hours you’re here,” he said, leaning over and taking her hand to his lips. “I saw the grease spatter hit your hand.”
    “Cool water and baking soda took care of it.’ Lotus felt breathless as she often did these days. It happened whenever Dash looked at her, grinned at her, touched her, kissed her. The list was endless and none of Lotus’s hard-and-fast reasons for being sensible seemed to change the status quo. “Didn’t you say that you had an important meeting at nine-thirty this morning?” Lotus quizzed, trying to regulate her heartbeat by taking deep breaths.
    “Yes, but I’ll put it off. . .”
    “No.” She put her hand on his lips, feeling his mouth move against her fingers. “I’ll ride my bike. It’s a lovely day. The sun is shining, there’s a breeze. And I need the exercise.”
    Dash watched her for a moment. “I don’t like you being out on the highway—”
    “Bike path,” she interrupted him.
    “Whatever,” he said, snarling, not losing his scowl when she chuckled. “Promise me you’ll be careful.” “I promise.”
    He shot out his hand to look at his wrist watch. “I should get to that meeting.” Concern made a muscle jump at the side of his mouth. God, even in that simple, starchy waitress outfit she was wearing, she looked adorable. “All right. I’ll meet you and we’ll lunch at one.”
    “Fine.” Lotus almost collapsed when he leaned over the Formica counter and kissed her full on the mouth.
    “See you later, darling.”
    “Yes,” Lotus promised not even noticing when another customer called to her.
    At the end of an hour she left the cafe, feeling greasy, the odors of pancakes and eggs filling her nostrils. “First I’ll ride over to Petras’s shop, then I’ll go home and take a quick shower . . . she muttered to herself as she pedaled down the street to a more trafficked thoroughfare where the honking and screeching of the cars seemed to go right through her.
    After traveling the ten blocks to Petras’s camera shop, she parked her bike in the stand out front and went in the store, the bell over the door announcing her.
    “I’ll be right there,” a voice said from a speaker placed in front of a curtained door leading to the back room.
    Lotus knew it was Petras’s habit to keep his cash box in the back room and his display case locked while he was in the back. She heard the whir of his wheelchair just moments before he came through the curtain. “Hi, friend,” she greeted him.
    Lotus! Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick. I’ve tried to call three times, and the third time I called you were so mysterious. Weren’t you able to get the file?”
    “You weren’t supposed to call.” She tried to smile at the man who had been more like another brother to her. “I have it.” She patted her tote 'I’ve been carrying it around in here for three days. "
    “What?” Petras looked up at her. “Are you crazy? If anyone at the casino discovers that file missing His lips compressed as he looked at her. Richard has been very concerned about you
    too. You haven’t been in contact with him either. My God, girl, do you know what could come down on you if anyone at Cicero’s suspected?”
    “They won’t,” Lotus said with more confidence than she felt. Now that she knew Dash better she was sure that he was tougher than either Richard or Petras had even guessed, but she didn’t dare tell Petras that she had been in such close contact with the man he considered to be so dangerous. She wondered if he knew that Dash was sexually dangerous as well. She shook herself to clear her mind. She had to concentrate on the job at hand.
    “Do you