Fool That I Am Read Online Free

and let me steal some of that sugar behind your ear!” Girlish
giggling and high-pitched squeals soon followed as Sam scooped the little girl
up into his arms and pretended to chomp on her neck with playful “nom, nom,
nom” sounds. Finishing up his routine, he hefted Lola into the air like a
heavyweight dumbbell and bench-pressed her toward the ceiling while she counted
out the reps to ten. When he was done, he deposited her back to the floor where
she staggered away drunkenly while giggling like mad. Apparently, he has
that effect on girls of all ages, thought Billie sardonically.
    Next, it was Derrick’s turn to greet Sam and he tried so
hard not to be too obvious, but Billie could read the eagerness for Sam’s
attention in the set of Derrick’s shoulders and the large grin that split across
his face. Sam pulled the slender boy into a brief one-armed hug and ruffled his
hair lightly.
    “I heard you’re out of reading material again, dude,” Sam
told the smiling boy while pulling a small card out of his wallet. “Here’s a
gift card to Amazon to download some new books to your Kindle, but there’s a
catch,” he warned as he snatched it back from Derrick’s grasping fingers.
    Pushing his gold wire-framed glasses back up his nose,
Derrick smiled brightly and replied, “You name it, Sam! I’ll do it!”
    “I’ll hold you to that, man. Now that it’s November, the
gutters on this house are getting full of leaves and other nasty stuff. You’re
going to help me climb the ladder and clean all the gutters on the house and
rake leaves the next weekend you’re home. Is it a deal?” Sam asked with an
arched black eyebrow.
    “You bet! Can I have the card right now or do I have to
wait?” Derrick asked him covetously, his eyes trained on the little black
plastic card.
    With a loud laugh and heavy clap on the back, Sam handed the
card to the excited boy and replied, “You can have it now, but you have to wait
until your mom says you can use it, okay? We all know who the boss is around
here, and it ain’t me.”
    Feeling cranky at this latest gesture of monetary gifts,
Billie muttered, “Let’s just hope you remember that later.”
    As Derrick ran back to his room to hide his precious card
and Lola chased after him to see where he would hide it, Sam turned to Billie
with his hands up in defensive mode. “It’s only for $25, B.J. Don’t get your
panties in a wad.”
    Billie fixed him with her sternest glare, but that didn’t
deter her friend from enveloping her in a bear hug that made her squeak when he
picked her up off the floor for a second before placing her feet back on the
cracked linoleum.
    “Let me go, you big oaf!” Billie laughed, even though she
didn’t really mean it. Every time his arms wrapped around her, she took a split
second to breathe deep of his scent of fresh air and Polo Black and catalogue
the sensation of his arms like steel bands around her and the feeling of his
muscled chest pressing tight against her breasts. Later that night, when she
was tucked into bed, she would take those memories out and relive them over and
over again as she imagined a different outcome.
    Taking a much-needed step away from Sam’s overwhelming
presence, she made herself busy by pulling out plates, ketchup, and tartar
sauce while he sprawled in one of the mismatched chairs at the table. Billie
darted glances at him while he took a deep drink of his sweet tea. At well over
6’3”, Sam Garrett was the quintessential ex-football player with a large body
of muscles that were kept in peak condition by his job as a Field
Superintendent for a profitable construction company in Elizabethtown. When he
wasn’t actively supervising his crew, he was on the project with his guys by
helping to lift, carry, climb, or any other task that would help them meet
their deadline. His hair was as black and shiny as a raven’s wing, and usually
longer than it should be since he never took the time to keep it trimmed.