Skin (McCullough Mountain 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

those things? He’d likely be kissing
Erin’s magic spot within an hour. Ugh. She was pathetic.
    The group of elbow nudgers left and she was
relieved. As she sipped her water she tried to calculate her
alcohol consumption in a made-up formula of time and beers per hour
to determine how much longer she had to wait to drive.
    “Excuse me?”
    She turned and found a handsome guy in his
early twenties. Veal. She looked over her shoulder and
realized he was talking to her. Okay, she could do this. “Hi.” She
gave him her most friendly smile.
    “Is anyone using this stool?”
    Her smile faltered. “No.”
    “Thanks.” And just like that, he dragged the
stool away, and taking with it any hopes of someone else sitting
beside her, providing some much needed company.
    Fuck it. She was going home. After tossing a
few dollars on the counter, she slid off her stool and left. No one
stopped her. No one even noticed she’d left. She should get in her
car and drive straight back to Philadelphia.
    But she didn’t. She made it home safely,
stripped off her clothes, pulled on her favorite nightshirt, and
climbed into bed. Her fingers curled around the remote and she
found Nick at Nite. Maybe she should get a cat—or twenty.

Chapter Three
     
    August was hot and buggy. Sweat burned her
eyes as her soles slapped over the pavement. Her knees quaked with
exertion. Fourteen pounds. She was so close to crossing the
mini-goal of fifteen pounds by the end of summer. It was the only
thing that kept her working.
    As she jogged, she ran her slick arm over
her brow and panted to the rhythm of Beyoncé. She could do this.
Her brain played over images of supermodels and smooth bellies. No
matter how hard she worked, she’d never wear a bikini. Her skin was
scarred from carrying around too much weight and no diet could
un-tattoo that road map. She hated stretch marks.
    But this wasn’t about being skinny. It was
about being healthy. She had to keep telling herself that, because,
while her scale proclaimed she was fourteen pounds lighter, her
mirror informed her otherwise.
    The marker on the park path came into view.
Four miles. She should do five, but her heart wasn’t in it today.
As she approached the little mile marker her steps lagged and she
strolled across the finish. Her shaking fingers uncapped her water
bottle and she guzzled the lukewarm liquid.
    A petite woman walking her dog and smiled.
It took every thing Mallory had not to sneer at the skinny thing.
God, when had she gotten so bitter? She unlocked her car and
chucked the empty water bottle in the back. After rolling down the
windows she blasted the air.
    One week until she started her new job. Good
thing, because she was going stir crazy. It had been weeks since
she’d gone out. After the night she was ditched by Finnegan, she
lost the urge to be social.
    Don’t blame him. He’s not responsible for
you.
    When she returned home, she took a shower
and bagged up her laundry to take to the Laundromat. Another
exciting Saturday.
    She didn’t bother with makeup or a blow
dryer. After lugging her bag down the steps, she carried it across
the street to the Laundromat. Once the clothes were loaded and
spinning away, she busted out a novel, and settled in to the
awkward plastic chair for a long wait.
    She was turning to chapter three when there
was a knock on the glass. Startled, she glanced up and found
Finnegan—or his twin.
    “Philly!” The glass muffled his shout.
    It was Finnegan. She stuffed the romance
into her bag and waited as he entered the Laundromat. The bell
chimed and he fell into the seat to her left. “What are you doing
here?” he asked.
    “Having my taxes done,” she said, giving him
a sarcastic look.
    He laughed. “You snuck out the other
night.”
    “Um, no…I sat at the bar alone for two hours
and then went home.”
    “There were a bunch of guys around you. I
thought you were inviting them to your magic spot.”
    Her brow lifted. “No. They were just