Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

tomorrow?”
    He’d taken her hand and kissed the knuckles. “Count on it, my love.”
    That flame of hope wouldn’t be extinguished. It burned brighter every minute that passed. Tony had shown him to the kitchen and had opened the refrigerator. “Help yourself,” he said. “Nothing is off limits.”
    When Tony had turned, Derrick took a reflexive step backward. “What do you want?” he’d asked out loud.
    Tony had held his hands up. “I don’t want anything from you. I felt led by God to help you and I typically do what He says.” Derrick didn’t know how to trust him. He had continued speaking. “Just a couple of rules.”
    This was it, Derrick thought. Now the hand would be played. He felt his shoulders tense up defensively, but Tony surprised him. “If you live here, you can’t break the law – that includes illegal drugs and underage drinking. As long as you stay straight, you can stay.”
    Derrick shrugged and stuck out his chin defensively. “Yeah? What else?”
    “You go to church with me every time I go.”
    He could probably manage that, maybe. “And?”
    It was Tony’s turn to shrug. “And nothing. Semplici .”
    What Tony had casually brushed off as “simple” was the world to Derrick. Slowly, daily, gradually, his trust built. That flame of hope never flickered again. It grew, burned, and filled him with passion for his new life, his new family, his new relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, when he stepped off the elevator and into the living room, one word echoed through his mind.
    Home.
     

    SARAH stared dumbly at the dashboard of her car. Not knowing what else to do, she turned the key again. Nothing. None of the little warning lights on the dash even lit. She leaned forward and rested her head on the steering wheel. Not tonight. She didn’t have it in her tonight. She hadn’t been able to nap and instead decided to go visit her dad. The visit took a lot longer than she thought it might which is how she happened to have her car in the hospital parking garage. Then she’d gotten caught up in a difficult delivery and ended up working well past her eleven o’clock end of shift. At this point, she hadn’t slept in more than a day.
    Accepting that the car simply wasn’t going to start, she determined that she’d have to walk. It would take longer to get seated on a train than it would to just walk to the apartment.
    While she had worked the weather had turned and a light but very cold rain served as the harbinger of the harsh winter to come. With a sigh she grabbed her purse and umbrella, deciding to leave everything else there, then locked the car. The apartment was just around the corner. Her feet ached, but walking would be better than waiting for a taxi in the light rain. By the time a taxi got there, she’d already be in a warm robe, sipping on a cup of tea.
    On Friday nights, even this far into Saturday mornings, the downtown streets were far from quiet. The air felt a little cool, but the jacket of her nursing uniform shielded her arms, and after being in the controlled air of the hospital for nine hours it came as a welcome relief.
    It never crossed her mind to worry about walking downtown after midnight. Of course, if she mentioned it to her mother, she’d hear every unpleasant possibility in a seemingly endless litany. She grinned as she rounded the corner. Her mother was a melodramatic worry-over-every-nuance kind of person. It helped when abstract details needed deliberation, but it grew tiresome when one was a daughter discussing a date or a social function. Thinking of the date as an ax-murderer could be hilarious in hindsight, but beforehand could put a damper on dinner plans.
    Sarah reached the building and pushed into the lobby. She wanted to groan out loud when she recognized the guard working the security desk. Brian was nice, but extremely talkative. It was late, she was on the edge of exhaustion, and she just wasn’t in the mood.
    “Miss Sarah,” he said with