Bodychecking Read Online Free

and he frowned. “Whoever told you that, Bellani Maxwell? You’re the most intriguing, fascinating woman I’ve ever met.”
    “Only because I’m the only woman you’ve never managed to catch.” She wouldn’t be pulled into his web. She didn’t have a clue what his sudden penchant for settling down was all about, but his insistence that they have a real relationship sent her running away out of fear, even though she kept circling around the block and coming right back to him.
    The man was a player. He liked her, but he’d never fall in love with her, because she knew the truth, even if no one else did.
    Bellani Maxwell was not lovable.
     
     
     
     

Chapter 2—Slammed Against the Boards
    Bella paced the floor of her small apartment. She couldn’t concentrate. Whenever she felt restless like this, things were about to change, and not necessarily how she wanted them to change.
    Her past MO was to force a change before something blew up in her face, like transferring out of a psych class required for one of her many majors before she flunked out, or quitting her waitressing job before she was fired, or moving out of her apartment before she was evicted. Yeah, her life was a long line of quitting-before-it’s-obvious-you-failed incidents. Izzy swore over and over again that someday life would throw up an impenetrable roadblock on a one-way street, and she’d have to face whatever difficulties were thrust in front of her instead of flipping a U-turn every time it got tough.
    She hated it when Izzy was right, which was almost always.
    No one really understood. Bella didn’t run because she was afraid—she ran because she was easily bored. She was a kick-ass, take-no-prisoners kind of woman who loved to have a good time and didn’t give a shit about the consequences. Because for her, there’d been no consequences. At least, not until recently.
    Yet now she was twenty-six fucking years old. She could do some deep soul-searching or give introspection the finger and go out and party.
    Bella hadn’t planned on going out this Saturday night. Being one day after Christmas, it’d be dead, and none of her usual partners in crime happened to be available. She kept glancing at her phone, hoping Cedric would text her to hook up for a booty call. He didn’t, and she recalled him saying something about a charity auction tonight. In fact, now that she recalled, he’d invited her to attend, but she’d declined. They already had a date for the wedding, and she didn’t want to give him more encouragement.
    Staying home with only her confused self for company wasn’t an option either.
    Bella finally succumbed to her restlessness by texting George and Hank, a married couple she knew, to join her for a drink at O’Reilly’s. After debating what to wear, she decided to dress down rather than dress up. She couldn’t bring herself to go to the bother to put on her party clothes. After all, she wasn’t on the make tonight, and it was just O’Reilly’s, definitely a jeans-and-sweatshirt establishment.
    Bella was late, as usual, and they were just leaving, which served her right for being over an hour late. She stayed for a drink anyway.
    The bar was dead. Ike wasn’t working. She didn’t recognize anyone among the smattering of patrons, nor did she have the slightest inclination tonight to flirt with strangers. She could go to a nearby club, but she wasn’t in the mood for the club scene either. Even more bored than before, Bella left after one drink.
    As soon as she exited the building, the rain started. Protected from the elements by a flimsy, hooded sweatshirt, she stood under the awning for a moment and shivered in the thirty-eight-degree temps. The parking was crazy-stupid downtown with all the new construction, and there was no parking in front of the building, which had forced her to park several blocks away in a neighborhood of soon-to-be-torn-down buildings. Cursing her stupidity for not wearing a raincoat, she