Trouble With Harry Read Online Free PDF

of glassy, he watched a girl in skimpy shorts race by on a pair of roller blades, the music from her MP3 blasting through her headset loud enough for everyone within ten feet to hear.
    “Every day.”
    “Are you crazy? Is everyone in this city mad? And how in hell did they manage to construct buildings even higher than the Eiffel Tower? And for what purpose?”
    “Because they can?” Digging past the bottle, papers, pens and the little can of mace her father insisted she carry in her purse, Edie surfaced her keys, laughing. “Look, Harry. A lot has changed.”
    “Especially the people.” Harry frowned as a teenage boy swaggered by, baggy shorts barely hanging from his hips, SpongeBob Squarepants boxers plain to see above the waistband.
    “Yeah, but underneath the mohawks, piercings and micro-shorts, they’re still the same.”
    A door creaked open and steps sounded on the lower landing. “Edith Ragsdale?” A shrill voice called up the stairs.
    “Speaking of the same,” Edie whispered, “that would be my nosy landlady.” Never before had she invited a strange man to her apartment. What would Mrs. Bartelli think? With a stubborn frown, Edie decided she didn’t care.
    “Will she have issue with you letting a man into your apartment? I don’t wish to damage your reputation.” He tugged at the gaping lapel of the coverall.
    Edie touched the key to her chin. Her landlady didn’t scare her, but— “She does know my father.”
    “And will report back everything she sees or hears?”
    “Yes.” Mrs. Bartelli would be sure to fill her father in so fast the phone lines would smoke. After all the years of trying to please her father without success, what would it feel like to shock him? Could Edie the Mouse be so bold and do something with the sole purpose of shocking someone, maybe even dear old Dad? A shiver of anticipation crept across her skin, blossoming into butterflies in her stomach. “Just once I would like to surprise the hell out of Mrs. Bartelli.”
    “How so?”
    “I don’t know, I wish I could have a man make passionate love to me in the hallway. That would show her.” And her father that she wasn’t so ugly she couldn’t attract a man, and that she had a life of her own and didn’t need her landlady or father butting into it. Thunder rumbled as a surge of power swelled up her chest and made her cheeks burn. She’d spilled her guts to a complete stranger. Homely Edith Ragsdale had just wished out loud for a man to make love to her. Ohmigod! The feeling of going from Edie the doormat, to super Edie in sixty-seconds flat, made her head spin. Then reality set in. “I know that’s foolish, and I’d never find a man willing. I mean really, look at me. It’s a dumb idea.” She jammed her key in the lock, missing the first time.
    “Edith, your father called wondering where you were.” Footsteps sounded on the stairs.
    Countless times her father told her she wasn’t as pretty as her mother. The framed magazine covers of her mother posing in designer gowns decorated the walls of her father’s apartment lending credence to his hurtful words. All her life, Edie lived in the shadow of a spectacularly beautiful woman, a woman she couldn’t measure up to. What man would want to bed much less kiss her when they could have a prettier partner? And she couldn’t even bring herself to hate her mother, because she’d been as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside.
    When Edie’s eyes filled with tears, her mortification was complete. She was a pathetic virgin spinster in a time when sex was more or less an accepted form of recreation. A pastime she’d been too insecure and shy to participate in.
    Harry’s hand pressed against her shoulder, turning her around to face him. His finger tipped her chin upward. “I think you’re beautiful.”
    Edie’s gaze riveted on his full, sensual lips. Lips hovering lower until they pressed against hers.
    “Edith!”
    She heard Mrs. Bartelli’s cry