Kidnapped Hearts Read Online Free Page B

herself to let Jake help her, but outside him and the men of the
BOFs, she wouldn’t tolerate anyone else. The office walls felt as if they were
closing in, suffocating her.
    She sucked in a breath, then released it.
The sensation subsided. Damn Sam for putting her life in turmoil!
    She picked up a fitness magazine and
speared it at the trashcan, and the contents spilled onto the floor.
    “I don’t want a babysitter,” she fumed,
as her shoulders slumped. Not able to stand the trash on the floor, she righted
the can, tossed the rest of the junk mail in, then proceeded to clean up the
mess on the carpet.
    She needed her good friend and protector.
Steve would help solve this ugly prank. She stepped backed into her chair and
stared at the desk, her eyes unfocused. Steve Anderson had been to her rescue
ever since the time she contemplated jumping from the dock into the turbulent
water, putting an end to the sadness. Her mind jumped back to that terrible
day.
    Pamela
had won a spelling bee contest and received a gift certificate to her mother’s
favorite restaurant. That day, instead of hugging her grandparents, as she
always did when she arrived at The Memory Café, she dashed by Grand Ben and
Grand Ann toward her mother’s office. Her mother wasn’t there. Instead, her
father sat in her mother’s chair with a piece of paper clutched in one hand.
The other hand supported his head as he sobbed.
    She
took the note from his hand and read that her mother wanted to become a model
in
New York City
.
    “Dad,”
Pamela called.
    “Not
now, Pamela.”
    At
fourteen, Pamela’s interpretation of the letter and her father not wanting to
talk was distorted. She believed Vivian was disappointed in her only child, and
therefore, had left, leaving her father broken-hearted. The guilt overwhelmed
Pamela.
    She
tossed her schoolbooks on the floor and ran as fast as her legs would go until
she reached the city docks and peered over the edge. The turbulent
Rappahannock
River
stirred below, offering to remove
her sorrow.
    “I
wouldn’t,” a voice commanded.
    She
slid her hands over her cheeks, drying them, and faced the most popular boy in
school.
    “I’ve
pondered it. There’s nothing that’s worth jumping in water with a strong
undertow.”
    Ever since that day when Steve stopped
her from plunging into the water and she learned his mother was dying from
cancer, they became close friends.
    “Pamela.” A
deep voice demanded her attention.
    She cleared her
head and looked at the doorway, expecting to see Jake, but other eyes gleamed
at her. The man had dark hair, sun-kissed skin, exquisite.
    The handyman,
A.K.A.
Panama
Jack, smiled at her.
    “Are you done?”
she asked, not having any reaction to him.
    “Yep, is there
anything else you need me to do before I take off?”
    The innuendo
wasn’t lost on her. He had asked her out previously, but it was right after the
whole Sam incident. Besides, she didn’t feel the same zing for him as she felt
for another dark-haired man. “I don’t think so.”
    “I’ll send you
a bill.” He winked, turned, and left.
    Pamela watched
him leave her office. A second later, her head waitress popped into the office,
though her gaze followed the jeans walking toward the front door. “Panama Jack
has one fine ass.”
    At five foot,
her sassy head waitress knew how to be discreet, as a rule, but not this time.
“Sue, don’t talk so loud.”
    “Are you afraid
we’ll embarrass him?” Sue slowly shifted her eyes away from the jeans cupping
his muscular butt and looked at Pamela. “I think he stopped being embarrassed
when he turned fifteen. Women have been throwing themselves at his feet ever
since I met him.”
    Despite her
foul mood, Pamela laughed.
    After regaining
her composure, Sue said, “I saw the vases on the bar. Do you want me to
distribute them on the tables?”
    “Yes, I’ll
help.” Pamela pushed away from her desk and followed Sue.
    “I love irises
and daisies in an arrangement