What She's Looking For Read Online Free PDF

you spend all of your time sitting on
the floor.”
    What the hell did he mean by
that?
    “I left it at my old place,” she
said, not technically lying. “I thought I‘d buy new stuff here. Saves
the hassle of moving it.”
    He chuckled. “Made of money are
you? Or is it the girl who wasn’t sure what she could afford for rent?”
    “I … well, it’s not as simple—”
    “I have no doubt about that,
Ashley. See you tonight.”
    She was about to try to explain,
put some window dressing on her dissembling. But he’d already hung up.
    Who cares, Ashley. He’s just
some guy.
    But a small part of her did care. Cared that he might think she was a liar.
    * * *

Laying it on a little thick
aren’t you, Parker?
    He dropped his phone on the dining
room table, shaking his head at the astoundingly small amount of table space
that wasn’t covered in metal parts. Drake was rebuilding the transmission on
his old Dodge, and for some reason he eschewed the nice, big workbench in the
garage for … the dining room table.
    Parker knew it was risky to call
her the next morning. It might seem presumptuous, pushy — or just plain
desperate. He didn’t even know what he was going to say as he dialed her
number. But he knew one thing.
    He didn’t want her to get away.
    Parker had a pretty good idea Drake
was on to her too. Though figuring out what Drake was thinking was about as
easy as finding water in a desert with a divining rod, he thought he picked up
keen interest there. Something he’d never seen him exhibit with Kimber.
    Sure, Drake’s girlfriend Kimber was
beautiful and intelligent, but she was missing something. To Parker it was as
obvious as a smack in the mouth what that something was. But sometimes Drake,
for all his powers of observation, tried especially hard not to see certain
things when he didn’t want to.
    Parker only wished Drake hadn’t
taken the better part of a year to push the issue with Kimber. Life was short —
and too often he’d seen it cut shorter for those who didn’t deserve it to be.
He just wanted his friend to be happy.
    Happiness meant being who you were.
Raw, without filters, veneers, or facades. Just you. A person able to reach
that state can ask for nothing more — unless it’s to reach it with the woman he
loves. Drake thought he’d found it, and Parker was still looking. Erik was too
young and dumb to really know what it was — but he was learning.
    As Parker spoke to Ashley yesterday,
looking down into those pretty hazel eyes of hers, he saw a depth in them. He
wanted to dive in, explore — claim.
    Her.
    He knew it was crazy, but looking
at how she stood there, motionless (the only part of her moving was her eyes)
stirred something in him, roused the predator. Maybe it was that way for all
men when they were attracted to a woman. Maybe his was just a slightly
different bent than others’. His was the urge to possess, control — conquer.
    Her.
    Parker disliked the terms thrown
about for what he was: Dominant, Top, Sadist — whatever. He might be all of
those things, and none of them. He didn’t really care. His was not an urge to
front, to pose, to convince all of his control, his power. The only one he
cared to make sure understood his power and control was one person.
    Her.
    Maybe Ashley was that girl.
    Maybe you’re just in a long dry
spell, Parker.
    He stepped out into the crisp late
September morning air. The mornings were the best times to run, when it was
cold and quiet, nobody around. A time to think, or just enjoy being alive. He
and Drake had developed a path that followed the lot lines of Parker’s
property, and it was the perfect mix of hills and flats, open brush and forest.
His land encompassed the better part of fifty acres, so he never had to deal
with anyone else. Just him.
    But during the run, he kept coming
back to the same subject.
    Ashley.
    He was being an idiot, that was for
sure, but he kept picturing those beautiful big eyes looking up into his as