A Date on Cloud Nine by Jenna McKnight Read Free Book Online Page B

have great peripheral vision.”
    “Fine, use it on me, but watch the road.”
    “A few minutes ago you were worried about my meter cheating you and now you want to stop at a food kitchen and give away money?”
    “It’s a charity, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “They do good, right?”
    His second “yes” came slower, as if he was trying to figure out her angle.
    “I want to write them a check.” She dug through her purse to make sure—Yes, there it was. Her checkbook; her ticket to having a son.
    He looked as if he wanted to argue some more, but finally made a right and circled back, parking in front of anold brick church. It was squeezed in by a neighborhood that had once been actively growing and encroaching, but now seemed little more than deserted.
    “You really going in there?” he asked when she unlocked her door.
    “Yes.”
    He reached over and opened the glove box, bumping her knee with the back of his hand as he did so, which sent her traitorous libido off on a tangent. He said something to her, but none of his words registered. She preferred to blame it on the drugs they’d given her at the hospital, but she didn’t think they’d given her anything that would account for this. Still, if he noticed anything amiss, that’s exactly what she’d claim.
    “Take it off.”
    Startled, she dared ask, “What?”
    He leaned back in the corner where his seat met the door and stretched his right arm along the back between them.
    “It’ll be safe in here, really. Don’t look at me like I’ve got two heads. Most of these people are all right, they’re just here for a little help, but why tempt the one who doesn’t care that he can hock your diamond for only twenty bucks? To him, it’s that much closer to his next fix.”
    “Oh, my ring! I thought you said my, uh, my drink, and of course I don’t have one.”
    “Actually, I said ‘jewelry.’”
    She stuck her finger in her ear and wiggled it. “Darned explosion. I still can’t hear right.”
    When she started to remove the one gold earring that hadn’t been lost in the blast, he leaned toward her and brushed her hand down. “Don’t make a show of it.” Hisgaze darted around, checking their surroundings.
    “What?” Her gaze followed the path of his. “You’re expecting an onslaught of eagle-eyed homeless people to storm the car?”
    “Go on, make fun of me if you want, but they have pride, just like anyone else. They don’t need rich people flashing their gold jewelry in front of them.”
    “Oh.” She really did need a mentor.
    “Take it off.”
    She surreptitiously removed her earring and dropped it into the glove box, followed by her rings.
    “The bracelet, too.”
    “I don’t have a—”
    He stared pointedly at her right arm, so she did, too.
    Oh yeah, that . It had two gold tone chains. One held three oval charms, each engraved with a single word: Serenity , Courage , and Wisdom . Dangling from the other were small stars, shiny, some embellished with a single rhinestone, the rest punch-cut with numerals one to eighteen. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was responsible.
    “Whatever you do, don’t take it off.”
    She heard it as clearly as if Elizabeth were sitting beside her, which Lilly knew she wasn’t, because she looked. She turned around and checked the backseat, too, and just outside the car, in case she’d traded in her long white robe for a dirty, threadbare overcoat.
    “Meter’s running.”
    That got her moving. And when she realized her actions were motivated by money— again —she started to chide herself, but then gave herself a break because she’d been blown sky-high today, literally, and she’d do bettertomorrow. Besides which, she’d been around and around this darned bracelet half a dozen times, with no luck.
    “There’s no clasp.”
    He leaned back in his corner again, a picture of patience. “Well, how’d you get it on?”
    “Elizabeth did it.”
    “The same Elizabeth you think sent