Sizzling Read Online Free PDF

kitchen and grinned. "I don't believe that
was in the contract I signed, but I'll have to go check. Besides, I'm
having a good day. On good days I want to cook."

Lori
studied her sister's face, searching for lines of fatigue or paleness
in her coloring. Neither was there. Instead Madeline looked serenely
beautiful, as she always had.

In Lori's mind, the family gene
pool had a killer sense of humor. Lori was average height, Madeline a
few inches taller. Lori had inherited awful orange curls that had
thankfully faded to a more muted reddish-gold. Madeline had auburn
waves. She woke up looking like a 1940s movie star. With a little
effort and some mascara, she looked like a goddess. It had taken Lori
most of her life, but she'd finally learned not to be bitter.

"How
was day two?" Madeline asked. "Gloria still a
challenge?"

"She defines the term. This morning she
nearly hinted that she liked having me around and then spent the rest
of the day insulting me. I have to say there's nothing wrong with her
brain. She's really good at the one-line put-down."

Madeline
folded her arms across her University of Washington sweatshirt. "You
still like her?"

"I do. I know I shouldn't. There's
a power struggle in our future and I'm going to win, but still,
there's something about her. She's trying too hard to be a bitch and
I can't figure out why. Is it a defense mechanism? A way of coping?
Did she have to be a bitch to get ahead all those years ago and
forget to turn it off? One of her grandsons called. This guy named
Cal. He wanted to come by and check on her. Gloria wouldn't take the
call and told me to tell him that she would be dead soon and then he
could be happy."

Madeline shook her head. "You
didn't tell him that, did you?"

"No, but it made me
wonder."

"Not every sick person is a saint. Aren't
most of them exactly like they were in their regular life?"

"Yes,
in theory. But I just don't want that to be true in Gloria's case. I
keep thinking something's there. Maybe it's because Reid was so
insistent that she was awful. When I interviewed for the job, he made
her sound like the devil."

Madeline grinned. "Oh, so
we're back to talking about Reid. You do have him on the
brain."

Lori willed herself not to blush. "I have no
idea what you're talking about." She sniffed. "I smell
garlic but nothing else. What's for dinner?"

"Don't
try to change the subject. Admit it. You have a thing for Reid
Buchanan. My practical sister has totally fallen for a sports
hero."

"Not exactly fallen," Lori muttered. "I
have a stupid crush on him, okay? It's chemical, which means it's not
my fault. I react to him. But it doesn't mean anything. I'll get over
it. I'm smarter than him."

"Being smart doesn't have
anything to do with it."

"So my hormones keep
telling me."

"Maybe you should go out with him,"
Madeline told her. "Maybe he's better than you think."

Madeline
was possibly one of the nicest people on the planet. She saw good in
everyone and believed in miracles. But Lori had never been a
believer, and most people got on her nerves.

In Madeline's
fairy-tale universe, men like Reid Buchanan would absolutely date
women like Lori. They would probably find them fascinating.
Unfortunately, Lori didn't live in that universe.

She pushed
up her glasses. "I don't think I'm his type. I get on his
nerves. I'm not deferential enough." All excuses for the real
thing— Reid would never see her as a sexual being. She was his
grandmother's nurse. Sort of a living appliance. No matter how much
she wanted that to be different, it wasn't.

"You're funny
and pretty and smart. Of course you're his type."

Lori
avoided mirrors whenever possible, but she couldn't escape them.
Pretty? Not so much. She was average. Nothing more, nothing
less.

"You're an optimist," she said. "Sometimes
that's annoying."

Madeline laughed. "You can't be
mad at me. I made spaghetti with garlic bread."

Lori's
mouth watered. "A carb fest for dinner?"

"Absolutely.
I was in the mood."