Love Scars Read Online Free Page B

anxiety shot through me. I stood up. This was a mistake. I didn’t want to lie to the woman who planted this garden. Hell, I didn’t even want to know her. We’d find another way to deal with Steve Heron and MolyMo.
    I left the rose with the iron fairy as an offering and headed back to the SUV to get the Pashley. Brad would know I’d gone when he saw the bike was missing. I opened the back and reached for the bike and noticed the paper bag next to the back wheel. I’d forgotten the bottle of Grey Goose I brought for the hostess.
    Funny how your whole life can turn on an incidental, meaningless moment. If I hadn’t seen that brown paper bag lying on the floor of the SUV, would I have gotten on the bike and gone home? I honestly don’t know.
    You might as well take it in, I told myself. No harm in that.
    I grabbed the vodka and went through the gate to the backyard. Brad was in heaven, dancing with his angel on the lawn. He’d kill me for interrupting them, but I wanted to drop off the bottle and get out of there.
    “Dude,” Brad said when he saw me. “Hey, Lisa, this is J.D., my best friend.”
    I shot daggers at him with my eyes, but it was too late.
    “Best friend?” she said. “I thought he’d only been working for you two weeks.”
    “We’ve known each other since we were kids,” I said. “I wouldn’t be at BlueMagick if it wasn’t for Brad.” That much was true.
    “Brad’s a good guy.” Lisa flashed an amazing smile.
    Of course Brad was crazy for her. That smile defined her in an instant. She had the same inner calm as he did, the same contentment that looked out on the world and expected to find good things. Brad and Lisa were both basically happy people.
    She looked in the bag. “Ooh, Frank’s going to like that.” She handed it back to me and grinned, jerking her thumb toward the deck at the back of the house.
    My gut felt like it turned over. “Oh, no.” I must have said the words aloud, because I could feel the strange looks coming from Brad and Lisa both.
    My attention was caught, bound up, and focused on a girl sitting with a guy on the deck steps. Her arms were wrapped around her bare legs and her long brown hair was draped over her shoulders. She had the deepest, sweetest brown eyes, and I was falling into them.
    Help! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!
    My heart pounded like a maniac. Against my will, my body followed Brad and Lisa to the deck. Lisa threw her arms around the guy as he stood up, and I vaguely heard her call him Frank.
    I couldn’t talk. I had to get out of there. Danger Will Robinson!
    “Nora, this is J.D.,” Brad said. “We work together at BlueMagick.”
    “Hi, Nora,” said someone using my voice. My hand reached out to shake hers. “It’s nice to meet you.”
    What was my hand doing? I had to get out of there. She smelled like mint and rosemary. I wanted to run my hands through that thick brown luxury of hair and pull her close, feel my lips on hers, right there in front of God and everybody. Must run. Must run now.
    Her hand was so small in mine. Everything in me screamed a primal demand that I protect her. The only way to protect her from me was to turn around right that minute, walk through the gate, and ride out of her life.
    “Hi,” she said.
    Damn. I was hoping she’d have a screechy voice. Something, anything, to drive me away from her. No such luck.
    Then she was gone. She followed Frank and Lisa to the bar. It was my chance to get out of there. I looked at the gate. All I had to do was turn and walk. Make my legs go, one foot in front of the other. Easy peasy .
    I think I would have done it. I think I still had a measure of self-control left, enough to get me through that gate and peddling down the driveway. She was at the bar talking to Frank and Lisa, her back to me. I could disappear while no one was looking.
    If only she hadn’t reached behind her head and swept her hair over one shoulder, exposing the perfect tanned skin of her back. If