Second Time Around Read Online Free PDF

months of freedom before college started in the fall.
    For once, Quinn had stood up to him, threatening to withdraw from college if he weren’t allowed to spend summers at the ranch. And for once, Edward had realized he wasn’t bluffing. He’d meant every word. His father hadn’t given in gracefully, but he had given in and that was the only thing that mattered.
    Trying to ignore the burning ache in his groin, he glanced around the dark balcony of the only theater in town. There were only a few couples scattered through the seats, most preferring the bottom floor. As far as he could tell, no one was paying any attention to them.
    While Susie’s panting breath slowed, he kept his hand cupped on her. Her head was buried in his neck, his free arm around her shoulders, his hand inside her blouse as he teased a plump nipple.
    As soon as he was sure she’d recovered enough, he let his fingers do the walking.
    Instantly, she arched into his hand, another moan quivering from her lips.
    “God, Quinn. Are you trying to kill me?”
    “If you want me to stop, just say the word,” he murmured.
    “No,” she gasped. “Don’t stop. There. Oh, yes, Quinn. Yes.”
    A high-pitched, mocking voice came from right behind them. “Oh, yes, Quinn. Yes.
    Don’t stop, Quinn.”
    Quinn froze.
    “Man, you two are so disgusting. Why don’t you get a room? Hasn’t it occurred to you that some people would actually like to watch the movie?”
    He turned his head enough to identify the small figure as female. From her size, a very young female, although her words indicated she might be older than she looked.
    “Go play with yourself, kid.”
    “At least, if I feel the urge, I’ll do it in private,” she shot back. “Watching that kind of stuff could warp my delicate psyche, you know.”
    In spite of his irritation, Quinn couldn’t stop his lips from twitching. The kid had a smart mouth on her, that was for sure.
    “Come on, Quinn. Let’s get out of here.” As they stood Susie shot a glare at the girl.
    “You breathe one word of this, Lanie Stewart and I’ll know where to come looking.”
    2Even in the dark, he could see the girl’s gray eyes widen in mock innocence.
    “Leaving on my account, Susie? You sure ‘Studly’ here can walk with that boner?”
    Damned if the kid wasn’t right. He could barely walk. He didn’t need to look down to know the bulge in his jeans was really obvious. Trying not to hobble, he followed Susie down the aisle, still chuckling over the kid’s remarks. He pitied the man who had to handle that one when she was full-grown…
    ~~~~~
    Duncan was laughing out loud by the time he finished the story. “When Lanie found out I lived next door, she spent the rest of the summer driving me nuts. Followed me everywhere, always smarting off about something. Almost ruined my love life, popping up at the damnedest times. But we wound up friends. Maybe because she didn’t know anyone else,” he mused.
    Friends right up until the time he’d realized that Lanie had done something no other woman had ever done to him before. She’d made him fall in love with her. It hadn’t been a stunning revelation, captured in a single instant of time. It had been a gradual thing, building up over the years as she’d matured. Looking back, he suspected a part of him had fallen in love with the flat-chested, skinny-as-a-rail kid he’d met that first summer.
    Now they had a child together. A child he was on his way to meet for the first time.
    * * * * *
    Lanie braced herself, leaned down, and snagged Zack around the waist as he darted past her, heading for the back door. “And just where do you think you’re going, cowboy?” She lifted him onto her hip in spite of his struggles to get free, and inhaled the sweet little boy aroma.
    “Mama!” His bottom lip extended in a pout. “I want to play with the puppies.”
    “Nap first, puppies later.” She ran a hand through the black hair that was so like Quinn’s.
    “But I