No Holds Barred Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t forget that.”
    “I hadn’t lost anything Ella. I’d found it. When I woke up and found you gone, that’s when I knew that I’d lost something I hadn’t even known I’d been looking for. It’s taken me a year to convince you to meet me again.”
    She reached up and pulled gently on a hank of hair that had come loose from his braid, drawing him toward her mouth. “It’s taken me a year to believe I should.” She squinted, angling her head back and forth. “You’re just so damn beautiful, it’s scary.”
    “Look me in the eye when you say that,” he growled, playfully and she laughed and drew him down until their lips touched, then laughed again when her stomach growled. “I think it’s time to feed you dinner,” he said, feathering her lips with another kiss. “Nothing fancy but it is quick.”
    He reached for her hand and led her into the open galley kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter watching him as he assembled the ingredients for carbonara . He set a pan of water boiling for the spaghetti and started slicing the pancetta, garlic and onions.
    “You’re a careful planner, aren’t you Jake?” She laughed low in her throat and he almost nicked his thumb.
    He looked up from slicing the onion. Her voice held only a hint of accusation and the smile that lit her face. “I thought I was very crafty about finding out what whetted your appetites.”
    “You could make a lot of money as an analyst. People would tell you anything.”
    “Okay, let’s test that theory. Who’s your oldest friend?” he asked, dropping a handful of spaghetti into boiling water.
    “Maryann Koska , she once beat up a boy who called me a troll.”
    “I think Maryann and I will get along. What happened to the boy?”
    “He grew up and married the prettiest cheerleader in high school. They have six kids and a monthly mortgage that would feed a small country.” She shrugged. “Maryann decided tough love should be administered on a daily basis when she woke up one morning horribly attracted to the captain of the football team. I’m godmother to their oldest daughter, Marlee .”
    “I can’t wait to meet them. What’s a secret you’ve never told anyone?” He smashed two garlic cloves with the flat of his knife and looked up when she didn’t answer. “Not a secret-keeping kind of girl? I must be slipping in my analytical assessments.”
    She grimaced, looking miserable and embarrassed. “I once put brown hair dye in my beautiful blonde sister’s shampoo bottle.”
    He fumbled the egg he’d been cracking into a bowl and had to fish a piece of shell out. “How much trouble did that cost you?”
    “She looked our parents in the eye and with a very straight face told them she’d decided she wanted to look more like me and tried to dye her hair. I hadn’t realized until then how badly Francesca wanted me to be her friend. How vulnerable she was. How badly she could have been hurt. She never told, ever. She made me promise I wouldn’t either. It was our first pact.”
    “Older sister?”
    “ Frannie is younger.”
    “Remind me never to piss you off,” he said, draining the spaghetti while the pancetta, onion and garlic sizzled in a small pan. He put two heated bowls on the counter while he assembled the carbonara and divided it into them.
    “Believe me, it was the last time I ever pulled anything remotely that stupid,” she said, searching through the cabinets, pulling out two wineglasses and pouring them each a glass from the bottle he’d already opened.
    They ate at the long low coffee table, sitting across from each other on the turquoise and gold cushions. She taught him how to deftly swirl the spaghetti on the fork against his spoon, laughed when a sticky piece hit his chin, then licked it off.
    “What about you,” she asked. “What haven’t you ever told anyone?”
    “My best friend growing up was a kid named Casey Roberts. When we were fifteen he told me