The Halo Effect (Cupid Chronicles) Read Online Free Page A

whispered in her ear, He was trying to protect you . Her soft, girly parts sighed in response. She couldn’t help it. And she’d yelled at him and treated him like he was the bad guy. She cringed at the memory.
    He probably thinks I’m loony toons now.
    “I really need to apologize to the man,” she whispered aloud, guilt niggling her.
    He was usually at his house when she got home from work in the evenings. Or at least his truck was. On instinct, she pulled into the grocery store parking lot. There was one way to make good with a man. Well, okay, one that could be purchased at the Kroger bakery.
    Twenty minutes later, armed with a fresh dozen chocolate chip cookies and a smile, she made her way up to the reclusive, yet hot, neighbor’s door and knocked. She glanced around and noticed he kept the place neat, if a bit “bachelor-ish,” with not a living thing in sight other than the grass in the yard and a tiny spider up in a corner web. Not even a welcome mat.
    She knocked again, a little louder. Still no answer. She pivoted as the air brakes of Tristan’s school bus hissed in the distance. She wanted to be home to meet him. She scrambled, wondering what to do with the stupid cookies. She set them down and fished through her pockets. She came up with the receipt from the store for the cookies, her Diet Coke, the chicken she’d bought for dinner, and a box of Tampax.
    “Whatever,” she said with a sigh.
    She pulled the Sharpie still stuck her pocket from school and scribbled a quick apology for her behavior on the back of the receipt, as well as a thank you for his attempt at rescuing a damsel-in-distress. Hopefully he would appreciate her sense of humor and forgive her.
    She tucked the note in the corner of the box and left the cookies on the doorstep, hoping he’d find them before the ants did, and ran home. Oh well, she’d tried.
    She stood in the driveway and waited, glancing around at her small yard, proud of her thriving grass, even though she’d just moved in, and her fresh bed of cotton-candy-colored phlox. She was even getting to know some of the neighbors—for better or worse. Mrs. Arnold’s yappy little dog? Definitely worse. Hottie next door? The jury was still out.
    Someone’s hickory smoke barbeque scented the cooling Texas evening air. A bird cawed, making her turn to seek it out, having to shield her eyes from the sun. That’s when she finally spotted him. Tristan ambled down the street at his own meandering pace with his iPod earbuds firmly in place as usual. She watched as he approached the mysterious next-door neighbor’s house. Something there seemed to bring him out of his pubescent reverie. He snapped to attention, his eyes focused in on something intently. His steps slowed as he began to pass the garage. From her vantage point she couldn’t see what had her son so enthralled, but the curiosity was killing her.
    A sudden roar rumbled out of the neighbor’s garage and settled into the low vibration of a powerful motor. Tristan’s head jerked around faster than his body. He stumbled and fell, landing on the cement just as the man flew from the garage on a big, black motorcycle like something out of a dark mysterious dream.
    In slow motion, Braelyn started to run toward them, a cry forming on her lips. It was all moving too fast. Her child was about to be run over and there wasn’t a thing she could do. Helpless, she waved her arms frantically as she ran on legs that had turned to jelly.
    Unable to see what was happening behind a row of shrubs, fear clawed brutally up her throat as the threats she’d been running from caught up with her in no time flat. A thousand miles might as well have been one if she couldn’t protect her son.
    Oh, God! Please don’t let him be hurt!
    As she neared, he was lying motionless, crumpled on his side. Her heart thumped painfully and hot tears sprung to her eyes.
    Finally, she could see him fully. He propped himself up on one elbow slowly and turned to