Resounding Kisses Read Online Free Page A

mistaken. No one got the best of Terrence Paxton, but he’d let her think that if it made her feel better.
    By the time he stepped out of the building and began walking back towards his brother’s place, he was grinning from ear to ear. He started whistling, the tune for a new song taking shape, and he had Ivy to thank. She’d inspired him to write a song.
    It didn’t bother him that she’d turned down his lunch invitation. And whether she knew it or not, he hadn’t missed the smug smile she’d tried to hide when she ordered him to come back first thing tomorrow morning. She wanted to see him tomorrow, and that worked perfectly with his plan. His plan to see her again.
    He didn’t even let the early meeting time throw him. It was common knowledge among his friends and family that Ter detested getting up early. Like most musicians, he was a night owl, sleeping until noon most days, his nights normally spent in one bar or another, either performing or just hanging out.
    But for the lovely Ivy, he’d gladly get up and be at her office at whatever time she chose, because it meant he had another chance to see her. Another chance to ask her out.
    She was the most beautiful, most intelligent woman he’d ever met and he was more than a little taken by her. He’d had a hard time concentrating on the contract with her sitting so near, and now he was composing a new song because of her. That had to mean something.
    The tune still in his mind, he stopped at a corner deli, something New York City had in abundance, and grabbed a sandwich and some chips. He let himself back into Grant’s apartment ten minutes later and quickly ate while letting the song take shape in his mind.
    After tossing his wrappers in the trash, he headed down the hallway to the guest bedroom, stretching his arms above his head as he yawned. A nap would be nice. He lay down on the bed, the new tune rolling around in his head with the image of Ivy fueling his inspiration.
    Ter jerked awake when the bedroom door flew open and Grant strolled in with a happy smile on his face. “Hey, man. Why are you still in bed? Get up.”
    “Why do you look so happy, that’s disgusting,” he teased his older brother. Since Grant had fallen madly in love with his childhood friend Samantha Armstrong, he wore that dreamy face every time she was nearby.
    Sure enough, his brother answered, “Get up and put on something decent. Sam is here. I’ll make coffee.”
    Ter licked his lips. Grant was a coffee aficionado, and with his little baby – the La Pavoni Professional spring piston lever espresso machine – he made the best coffee on earth. At the thought of coffee, his mind reverted to Ivy – not that it had strayed far from her, not even while he was asleep.
    “Sure. I’ll be up in a few.”
    When he strode into the living room, Sam hugged him tight, “Ter, you’re in New York City. What are you doing wasting away the day at our place?”
    They sat down on the couch and Grant came in with three cups of steaming hot coffee. The smell filled Ter’s nostrils. “Hmm, if you’re ever out of work, you can become my personal barista.”
    Grant chuckled. “Personal barista to a starving musician? No, thanks.”
    Sam took a sip of her coffee and then bounced up and down to get Ter’s attention.
    He looked between his brother and his sister-in-law to be. “What are you two so excited about?”
    “Grant will do a spectacular blow up on Saturday,” Sam said excitedly.
    Ter raised a brow at that information and then looked to his brother for an explanation. “What?”
    Grant nodded. “Yeah, we’re taking down an eleven story building. Right in the center of Newark.”
    “Wow,” Ter offered, not sure if he was as excited as they were. “Congratulations.”
    Grant was a demolition expert and specialized in difficult cases, like eleven story buildings, where the surrounding buildings were a mere stone’s throw away. With the construction craze in the Big Apple, his