Broken Read Online Free Page B

wished she didn’t.
    “You’re not interested in me personally, or is it because of Melly?”
    She gasped. Talk about blunt. “Neither.”
    “Then go out with me.”
    “I…” She frowned into the phone and sat straighter. Two could play the shoot-straight game. “Why do you ask? Are you looking for a replacement mother?”
    He swore. She expected him to hang up, but he was silent for a few minutes. She waited, half hoping he would end the call, half wanting him to keep talking to her.
    “I’m a man. I see a beautiful, sexy woman, and I want to get to know her. You’ve seen Melly. You already know I have a thing for black women. I don’t know what it is, but I want it. I’m not going to say I want you because that would be moving too fast.”
    She smirked. “I think you just said it.”
    He chuckled. “How about just you and me. No pressure. No expectations.”
    She was scared. Over the past two years, she had dated a little, but the men weren’t anyone she would fall for. They were frankly just warm bodies to ward off the pain and loneliness. Anyone could see Nathan was different, and she wasn’t ready for different.
    Ciera opened her mouth to tell him no and to hang up. “Okay, fine.”
    “Great!” He sounded too pleased. She wanted to shout she had made a mistake. Panic drove her to her feet, but try as she might, she couldn’t tell him she had changed her mind. Nathan shared the details of their date, but she didn’t hear a word.
    “Uh, what did you just say?”
    “Are you always so attentive to a man?”
    “Yup.”
    He laughed. “Okay, check my ego. Got it. I said, if you were brushing me off, and you’re available tomorrow, I’ll take you to lunch. If not, any day this week. Since Melly’s in the school program, I have lunch free, but not at night. I’ll have to find a sitter for the evening if we hit it off.”
    A single dad. What was she thinking? Just talking to him was torture. “Well—”
    “Don’t be chicken, Ciera.”
    Annoyed, she gripped the phone tighter.
    “I can hear it in your voice. You’re about to make excuses again. Don’t be scared. I promise I won’t bite you.”
    “You say that.” Your very existence bites me. “I’m not chicken, and I wasn’t about to back out. Maybe you’re paranoid because you think every woman will reject you.”
    “Ouch. Are we going to trade barbs?”
    “Don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing,” she teased, and grinned.
    “I guess I am a little paranoid. The last two women I asked out asked me why would they ever date a ‘white boy.’ I never got the hang of being able to tell which black women might be interested.”
    She shook her head. “Yeah, it’s probably not like gaydar. If it is, you do suck because I’ve never dated outside my race and never even thought about it.”
    “Ouch again.” He sounded amused. “Okay, well, I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed. I’m a good guy, and I’m very sexy.”
    “You’re confident. I’ll give you that.” She thought about her own body and how the last time she and Tony were together, he had said she let herself go. Later, he testified in court that he wasn’t attracted to her anymore. The little thing hanging onto his arm when she ran into him weeks later gave truth to those words. Ciera had never been small. All her life she had been thick and curvy. After she got married, she’d put on some weight, but she thought Tony would always love her. She had been so wrong.
    The next afternoon, Ciera stood before her mirror, fighting with one of only three skirts in her wardrobe. The one she tried her best to get buttoned was a jean skirt that stopped just above her knees. She’d thought it was cute when she bought it but had been too stubborn to buy it in her own size. How stupid was that when she couldn’t get the thing closed? After dragging it off and throwing it across the room in disgust, she returned to her closet. If she didn’t find something that didn’t