Reason Is You (9781101576151) Read Online Free Page B

Surely, the likelihood of me having to do that had to be pretty slim.
    “Well, enough to get around. I’ve walked it a lot. Fished off a lot of points.”
    She nodded and wrote something down. “You’ll need to go out with a guide and get the scoop.”
    My hair started to sweat. “Um, don’t they need to know things like what bait to—”
    “Yep. Ask whoever brings you.”
    I smiled as I felt my ears catch fire, and I tried to catch Miss Olivia’s eye, but she was focused on unwrapping a peppermint she snagged from a bowl.
    “Uh—I—don’t know.”
    Marg leaned on her elbows again, piercing me with a hard stare. “You got other options?”
    The weight of that reality settled on me like wet concrete. “No.”
    “Neither do I.” She ripped a blank application off a pad. “I need help, and you’re all I got. Call it bonding. Here, fill this out, I need it for payroll.”
    I felt sick. But I grabbed a pen and filled out my information blindly. Previous work history—
seriously?
I left it blank.
    “Are there really that many people that want fishing guides here? I mean, don’t most fishermen already have their own spots?”
    Marg sorted out Miss Olivia’s soaps. “You’d think, huh? You’d be surprised what people’ll throw money at.”
    She perched tiny glasses on her nose and scanned my applicationquickly, looking up at me like I’d secretly plotted to kill the president. “No previous work history?”
    I smiled. “Nothing relevant.”
    “Hmm,” she grunted and looked back down. “Be here tomorrow at six.”
    “In the morning?”
    “Very same.”
    I turned for the door and somehow made it out. Miss Olivia and Marg exchanged a few more niceties and then Miss Olivia followed me out. I leaned against my car door as she stopped to face me.
    “I’m in hell.”
    She laughed softly as she ambled on to her car. “Get some rest tonight, you got an early day tomorrow.”
    “So I heard.” I licked my lips. “I have to go out on the river.”
    She nodded and her hat bobbed with it. “You’ll be okay. Just breathe.”
    I lifted my hair off my neck and inhaled the scent of old dust. “Yeah.”
    “Gotta go cook me some beans, now.”
    I blinked my drama free. “Who’s snapping them for you, now?”
    She waved me off. “Girl, I buy ’em in a can now. Don’t got time for all that mess.”
    I smiled as I sunk into my car, cranked the ignition, and listened as the air conditioner groaned its death rattle.
    “Of course.”

Chapter 3
    B OJANGLES met me at the car, all tongue and wet slobbery love. At that moment I could have ridden him into the house. No one was home, and I was so grateful. I didn’t need any more witnesses to my pathetic state. I just wanted to go have a meltdown.
    My clothes felt oppressive and sticky. I stripped on the way up the stairs, and was down to my bra and panties and almost out of them as I walked toward my bed.
    “Nice.”
    I whirled to see Alex draped in the chair by the window. His old spot. He had a half smile on his face but new interest in his eyes as he panned down.
    “Shit!”
    I stumbled backward over a pair of shoes, missed the bed, and landed flat on my ass on the floor. I yanked at a corner of comforter and pulled half the bedding over me while he tried really hard not to laugh.
    “Damn it, Alex, you can’t do that.”
    He grinned, and my insides went all wobbly. “Do what?”
    “Just—be there like that. Without warning.”
    “Never bothered you before.”
    “Well, I was a kid then. Probably didn’t do much parading around in the buff, either, I don’t think.” I blew out a breath to calm my heart rate. “Oh, that’s a lie. I probably wished you’d catch me.”
    His eyebrows raised. “What?”
    I struggled to sit normally while still covered. “Hey, I was a hormone-ridden teenager and not exactly on anyone’s A-list.”
    He grimaced. “God, please stop there.”
    I laughed. “Why?”
    He shook his head and held a hand out. “Because