Divine Grace Read Online Free Page A

told him she might get back with him since he could fit her in the following weekend. A week, in summer, in Texas, with no AC. What could be worse?
    Just then, Owen came in. Oh yeah. Owen definitely made it worse.
    “Got any cash on you? I need to get some gas. Me and Dave are goin’
    out.” He saw the pot on the stove but made no move toward it. He undoubtedly planned on eating out because he made no move to fix himself a bowl of stew. She felt like giving him the money just to make him go away. But as luck would have it, she’d cleaned out her wallet at the grocery store. She hadn’t stopped at the bank because she was anxious to get started cooking for Jack.
    Jack. Right now she really wanted Jack. Even if all he did was sit there and flirt with her. She wanted him bad. There were decent men in the world.
    He was living proof. She knew he would never ever ask her for money. He 20

    would never belch as a greeting. And if he intended to go out, he’d take her with him.
    “Sorry, spent my cash on groceries today.”
    “Didn’t you get paid yesterday?”
    “Yes, electronic deposit.”
    “Can I borrow your ATM card?”
    “No.” A girl had to have limits, dammit.
    “No?” he asked petulantly, putting his hands on his hips, where his boxer shorts rested several inches above the waist of his jeans. That was not a good look for anyone, in her opinion, but on him it was positively asinine.
    “No.”
    That’s when his buddy Dave piped up. “Come on, man, we’ll stop by my house.” He lived in his parent’s garage. They could go sponge off his family for a while. She felt exhausted.
    “Thanks for nothin’, Grace.”
    Back at ya, asshole, she thought but didn’t dare say. “Sorry.” Yeah, for ever having let you into my life.
    The screen door slamming shut was the only response she got as he left.
    He never even asked her how they were going to solve the AC problem. It was her house, her problem, as far as he was concerned. What an ass.

    21
     

Chapter Two
    Jack left Stigall’s that afternoon with the altered pants wrapped in plastic on a hanger. When he’d gone back to the store, he’d been looking forward to seeing Grace again. He was disappointed to find out her boss let her off early. He saw the note she had written on the work order and smiled to himself. It said, “Make sure pants are pressed and ready to be worn. Very special customer!” She was the special one.
    He’d been making excuses to stop by Stigall’s on the weekends because he knew she worked in the menswear department. He’d also recently decided that all his work shirts needed to be personalized with the logo she had designed at Harper’s. He really just wanted to see her. He’d always teased her about breaking up with her boyfriend and going out with him. But somewhere along the way, he realized he wasn’t really kidding with her.
    He’d love the chance to take her out and spend some time getting to know her better.
    Her boyfriend had stopped by the store one day to ask her for money while she was waiting on Jack. What kind of self-respecting man asked his woman for money? Jack had taken an instant dislike to him when he’d patted her ass and made a show of kissing her good-bye, embarrassing her in the process. Jack recognized a man marking his territory like a cat pissing on a tire. If her boyfriend acted like that in public—at her job, for crying out loud—how did he act in private? It galled him to think of it. It made him feel protective of her.
    She was over twenty-one and could make her own choices, but he knew she could do better, and he knew where she could start—with him. The idea of spending time with her was no longer a playful notion, something to tease a sweet sales girl about. He started really paying attention to her after that.
    Earlier in the day, when the dressing room door had popped open, her cheeks had flamed adorably. He really couldn’t find it in his heart to be 22

    embarrassed, at least not too