Dirty Boss: A Second Chance Romance Read Online Free Page A

that they gave in at last to her whines and booked an earlier flight home. They never reached home but died in a fatal plane crash.
    By the time, she was through, silent tears were rushing down her face. Through it all, Ryan patiently listened and did not utter a single word. He simply held her hands in his, gently rubbing her knuckles with his fingers to urge her on. Encouraged by his silent actions and the empathy she saw in his eyes, she took a deep breath and dabbed at her tears with the tips of her fingers. She felt so drained and wished she could just get up and leave the place.
    “I think we need to get out of here,” he muttered as if he read her thoughts precisely. He was already standing up and taking her with him.
    Emily didn’t know how but Shannon was beside them in an instant.
    “What is going on here?” she demanded.
    Emily sniffed and attempted to explain but Ryan beat her to it.
    “I guess you are the friend she came with. I am Ryan Jones and I will just be taking her out for a walk,” he said. “She is safe with me, I promise.” He added.
    Shannon looked into his eyes for a long moment while he held her gaze. Shannon gave a small nod at last as if coming to a decision. Without another word, she hugged Emily and turned back on her heels. Some part of Emily recognized that Shannon had just helped her make a decision about Ryan and pronounced him safe enough to be with her friend. She decided that if Shannon thought he was safe, then he must truly be; her Irish friend was never wrong about an individual’s personality in all the four years they had been together.
    She followed Ryan out of the hall.

Three

 
    He took her to an ice cream bar.
    They both sat outside a nearby convenience store in the dark of the night with the stars smiling down at them both. Ryan had not said a word concerning her sordid tale but he was with her emotionally, she felt it. She wondered how he was able to do it; showing her his support without so much as a single word.
    Strangely, her mind was completely blank as she dug into her plate of ice cream.
    “You did not kill them.” She heard him say.
    She looked up into his eyes. They shone like a cat’s in the neon signs of the store and the night stars. They bored right into hers. His plate of ice cream remained unopened in front of him.
    She nodded her head slowly.
    “I know,” she whispered, “though they would still be alive if it weren’t for my petulance.”
    Ryan was shaking his head.
    “Maybe they would but you don’t know that for sure. There are a thousand and one ways to die, Emily,” he said with a sad inflection in his voice. Before she could dwell on it, he talked on. “Shit happens and we sometimes allow it or cause it to happen but when it does, the greatest mistake we do, the greatest ill we do to ourselves is allow ourselves be soaked up in the shit. When we do this, Emily, we will be living a life of worry. We put our lives on hold for nothing but conjectures when we should only try to become a better person in the most positive way.”
    She stared at his lips as they moved. If she were to place his age, he couldn’t be more than two or three years older than her twenty-two but his words revealed a wisdom beyond his years. As much as she was intrigued by his words, she also knew that they were true.
    “I know. It is just hard to let go,” she said to him.
    “What would your parents have you do?” he asked suddenly.
    His question came as a blow to her senses. There was no doubt that her parents wouldn’t have blamed her for their death. They were most loving and kind, their only fault was loving their daughter so immensely. They would still want her to be the best she could be.
    “Emily, your parents’ death should have taught you the most vital of lessons; life is short and you have to live it to the fullest. Aim high, shoot higher; go for your dreams; scream with friends; make yourself happy. It is the only way to live,” he said.
    She