Treasure Me Read Online Free PDF

didn’t agree to share the apartment.” Until he was reinstated at the Akron Register , he was done with women. The commando angel was beautiful and hostile, a perverse combination sure to test his self control. “You can’t do this. I need the apartment.”
    “And I have a business to run. I need a waitress to help Delia and that fool Ethel Lynn.” Finney planted her hands on her hips and regarded the woman. “Well, miss? Do we have a deal?”
    The angel shrank back as if she’d seen a rat scuttle past. “You mean I’d be waiting on people. Taking orders and stuff?”
    Delia nodded eagerly. “We could sure use the help.”
    Hugh almost pitied her when she opened her mouth then closed it again. Finney, who also seemed to sense her distress, said, “We’ve been shorthanded for months. And Hugh’s a big reporter so he gets first dibs on the apartment. He made our town famous, didn’t he? Now, I can make him share the place with you. It’s unorthodox, but seeing the two of you don’t particularly get along I’m sure there won’t be any shenanigans. Even so, if you can’t wait tables you’ll have to find somewhere else to stay.”
    The woman chewed on her lower lip. “I guess I can help you out,” she finally said.
    “How many hours a week do you want?”
    “How many do I have to take? I don’t have to work fulltime, do I?”
    Delia plunked her elbows on the counter. “Not if you don’t want to! Part-time is great.”
    After they discussed hours, Finney returned to the kitchen with a load of cash—inspired by her negotiating skills, she’d hit up Hugh too. She was whistling off-key as the door swung shut behind her, leaving an uneasy silence in her wake.
    Delia poured coffee and Hugh murmured his thanks. The angel glared at him with enough ire to melt sand into glass. Her fury was amusing—and damn enjoyable. Worming your way into a woman’s good graces was an interesting challenge when she wanted you dead. Maybe he’d luck out and get some angry sex before she unpacked the kitchen knives.
    Basking in her growing hatred, he slid onto the barstool next to hers. “Since we’re stuck together, what’s your name?” he said, thrilled when her gorgeous eyes flashed a deepening violet. If he brought her to full rage she’d probably resemble Helen of Troy. “We don’t have to split the rent fifty-fifty. I’ll talk Finney into giving some of your money back. I’ll pay sixty percent, you’ll pay forty.”
    She gave him a look that implied she was thinking about knocking him off his barstool. Then she surprised him by saying, “Let’s try this—seventy-thirty. You’re a hotshot reporter. You probably earn six figures. I’m a part-time waitress who only makes—” Digging into her breakfast, she looked at Delia. “What’s my hourly wage?”
    The waitress told her in a quick, grateful voice. Nodding with satisfaction, she threw her attention back on Hugh.
    There was a whole forest fire in those violet eyes, the sort of feminine hostility a man could wrap around himself like a warm blanket of succor. Hello, Helen.
    He dragged his attention back to his coffee. You’ve sworn off women, remember?
    Then his trusty antenna went back on alert. He immediately understood why. The angel, still nameless, couldn’t keep her eyes from straying to the walls of the restaurant. A reporter’s inbred curiosity shivered through his veins.
    She was searching for something.
    * * *
    “Blossom! What did you do to my dog?”
    Flinging off the blankets, Meade Williams stormed to the door and yanked it open in the hopes of finding her quarry on the other side. In the corner of the guest bedroom her miniature poodle, Melbourne, yipped wildly.
    The red plaid bows behind his ears were gone, no doubt snatched by the devilish thirteen-year-old she’d agreed to patrol for several days. Worse still, a gooey substance dripped from his toothpick-sized legs. Beneath the goo, his white fur was covered in an art fiend’s