Seeing is Believing Read Online Free PDF

forward. She looked torn between not wanting to go with him and not wanting to be left behind. Brady figured he might as well take advantage of the opportunity. “Come on,” he said, and took her hand in his. Not even her father could object to a little hand-holding in the face of malevolent spirits.
    Her hand was tiny in his, and she squeezed back with a pressure he wasn’t expecting. It had been a long-ass time since he had held hands with a woman, because most women he knew were too independent for it, and he had to admit, he kind of liked it. He dug feeling like the big strong man next to her instead of the loser who couldn’t buy a career woman dinner and a night on the town. As he walked, Piper inched in even closer to him, until their hips were bumping.
    “Is this the right way?” he asked her.
    “Yes. There.” She pointed to the corner under the stairs.
    All Brady could see was a stack of boxes and old shelving with floral contact paper on it in avocado green and brown. An ancient blender rested on one, but the others were empty. “Okay, let’s just take a closer look.”
    He didn’t think he was going to see anything at all. It was a matter of whether Piper was going to see anything or not. All he could do was just look around and wait for an all clear from her.
    “So, do you see anything?” he asked, turning to see her face.
    What he didn’t expect was her eyes to go wide and a bloodcurdling scream to leave her mouth.

Chapter Three

    “WHAT? WHAT’S WRONG? WHAT DO YOU SEE?”
    It took Piper a second to slow down her heart rate as she pointed behind Brady to the blender on the shelf. “Oh, my God, that is the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my life!”
    She hated spiders. They eased into places you weren’t expecting them, like silent, furry intruders, and this one was huge. A silver dollar was smaller than that arachnid. She could slap a saddle on it and ride it to the back field for God’s sake. It was so enormous that she forgot about the black shadow and the fact that she was holding hands with her childhood fantasy.
    Brady’s mouth dropped and he loosened his grip on her hand. “Are you kidding me? You’re screaming over a spider? Jesus, I thought a killer clown was under the stairs or something.”
    That startled Piper out of her fear. “A killer clown? Why would there be a clown down here?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. But what’s scarier than a clown? Not much. Be honest.” He shook their mutually clasped hands to emphasis his point. “A painted-on smile? Come on, that’s messed up.”
    Piper fought a smile at his decided opinion. Clowns didn’t particularly scare her, but if one was under the stairwell with a butcher knife, she certainly wouldn’t be amused. “I’ve never been to the circus.”
    “Well, don’t go. And when you have kids, don’t take them either,” Brady said vehemently. He looked behind him, scanning under the stairs. “But other than a spider, is it all clear? I don’t see anything, but the question is, do you see anything?”
    She shook her head. Whatever it was, it was no longer hanging around. “But do you think you could kill the spider?” She hated to ask, but she hated the thought of that thing crawling towards her even more.
    “I don’t even see it.”
    “It’s on that shelf next to the blender. It’s moving.” An involuntary shudder coursed through her. She knew it was an irrational fear but she couldn’t stop it. That was why it was called irrational.
    “You grew up on a farm. You must have seen lots of critters running around.” Brady obligingly moved towards the spider.
    Piper forgot her fear when he bent over, his jeans pulling taut over his backside. She really appreciated the way that denim hugged every inch of his firm butt. “Um . . .” What was the question? She forced her attention back to the matter at hand. “We had five dogs running around. Plus a barn cat. They take care of everything moving.”
    “Five