Undeniably Yours Read Online Free PDF Page A

she’d put off doing the test so now she didn’t know for sure and she’d hate to get their hopes up. Though she’d disappointed them by dropping out of business school to be a nomad, they loved her unconditionally and a grandbaby would make them ecstatic. And they’d rejoice at her having an irrevocable reason for growing up.
    There was also a possibility they’d drop everything and show up on her doorstep. The problem with being the only baby to survive five pregnancies? Smothering. Crushing, suffocating micromanagement and hovering. With the amount of time they spent coddling and hugging her as a child, she was surprised she got enough oxygen.
    Then came her teen years. Where was she? When would she be home? The constant checking in. It only got worse when she started business school, and that’s when she first packed a suitcase and got on a bus. Not to sever her claustrophobic relationship with her parents, but to save it.
    “About that cruise…”
    Beth smiled, picturing her mother picking at her thumbnail. “You should go, Mom. Really. Where I work now gets busy with Christmas parties and stuff.”
    “Are you sure? We can go another time.”
    “I’m sure. Go with Bob and Adelle while you can. You know you and Dad will get bored with each other if it’s just the two of you. Send me postcards.”
    “You won’t move while we’re gone will you?”
    That made her laugh, which got another sigh. “No. I’ll stay put so you don’t need to worry about me.”
    They chatted a few minutes about life in a Florida retirement community. Her parents were on the young side, her father being a wise and lucky businessman, but it suited them as well as her wandering suited her.
    “Your father’s waiting for me now. He’s got a coupon for the salad bar, but it’s only good during early-bird hours.”
    After her mother assured her several times her cellphone would work on the ship, they said goodbye and there was nothing left for Beth to do but pee on a stick.
    Three minutes later, there was a blue plus sign in the window.
    Her future flashed before her eyes. Diapers. Minivans. And Kevin Kowalski.
    ***
    I can suck a golf ball through a garden hose. Call me!
    Because he was a gentleman, Kevin gave the woman a wink and a wave instead of letting her know claiming a level of suction that would turn his balls inside out wasn’t really all that sexy. And he waited until she was gone before tossing the napkin in Paulie’s direction.
    It was almost a full minute before she stopped laughing. “Be cheaper in the long run to stick your dick in a vacuum hose.”
    He shuddered, then took the napkin back and tossed it into the basket Paulie kept next to the register for that purpose. The guys would like that one.
    “You should keep her number,” Paulie said. “She might come in handy if the sink gets clogged again.”
    She was still laughing when she walked by, balancing a tray of drinks, and he slapped her on the ass as she went.
    Paulie Reed was his assistant manager-slash-bartender-slash-waitress and she brought in the big bucks. Flaming red hair, breasts that mounded into cleavage so spectacular a man could suffocate in there. Slim waist, legs that went on forever and she knew the ERA for every pitcher to take the mound at Fenway. She was a walking, talking, stats-spouting wet dream for a sports bar-frequenting kind of guy, but if you laid a hand on her, chances were you wouldn’t be able to hold a fork for a while.
    She’d come with the bar when he bought it a couple years back and it had taken him all of about five minutes to realize she was worth every penny Jasper had paid her. It had taken another few days and one misguided, mutually disappointing kiss in the kitchen pantry to realize she might be one of the hottest women he knew, but they had zero sexual chemistry.
    And speaking of sexual chemistry, he looked up just in time to see Beth walk through the front door and the memory of their chemistry had an immediate