A Real Page Turner by Rita Lawless Read Free Book Online Page B

friend.”
    “Who was the friend?” she asked.
    “He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask,” Titan said. He lifted his glass and took a long swallow.
    She knew that was bull, because when she called someone to tell them something like this, she usually started the conversation with, “So and so just called and said that this happened.”
    Before April could ask more questions, the waitress was back, this time with food. Wouldn’t you know it, she thought, that food would come quickly when you didn’t want it to, and it would be late when you were starving. Right now, what she wanted was to know why Titan was so interested in April’s death. After the meal had been delivered, Titan dug in like he hadn’t eaten in months. April stared at her plate. All she could think about was her friend, someone she didn’t know that much about, really. Just that she liked to read Regency romances, and she liked to submit to her lovers.
    “What were you doing at the store?” April asked. He set down his burger and wiped his mouth as he swallowed what he was eating. To her, it seemed as if he were stalling, so he could form an answer that would make her happy.
    “Well? Did you come to see me, or did you come to probe about Virginia? And, if you did come about her, how did you know I knew her? And why were you there at the same time the cops were? Are you a cop? Is this some sort of undercover thing where they send in the ‘official’ guys, and then send in someone else to probe me?”
    She hated the grin that appeared on his face. “Sweetheart, the only probing I want to do with you involves both of us being naked.”
    Heat rushed through her, warming her cheeks and other pertinent parts of her body. “I’m not talking about sex,” she said when she’d managed to get herself back under control. “Are you a cop?”
    “Nope.” He started to eat again.
    “Then why are you asking me what I told them?”
    “Curious,” he said between bites.
    “Curious my Aunt Fanny!” she said, realizing too late that she’d screamed the words. People from several tables over turned around to look at them, to see what was happening.
    “Sorry, sorry,” she said to the other diners. Their waitress approached to make sure everything was fine. Titan assured her it was. When she was gone, and people were only glancing at them and not openly staring, April leaned toward him like he’d done to her and Misty earlier.
    “How is it that you just happened to be at the store when the cops were there, and you just happen to ask me what I said to them about a murdered woman?”
    “Something like that.” He wiped his hands on his napkin. After he tossed the used paper on the table, he drummed his fingers on the surface.  Something about the quick movement of his fingers told her he wasn’t a happy camper right now.
    She glanced at Misty, who was looking at her plate as if it were a priceless work of art, and she wanted to memorize every line and color.
    “Tell me the truth,” she said. “Why were you there?”
    “I wanted to see you,” he said, shrugging slightly. “Is that so hard for you to believe?”
    April wanted to believe it, but she knew that, if that were the truth, he wouldn’t have started the conversation the way he did.
    “Then why didn’t you ask about me? Why did you immediately want to know what I said to the cops?” She knew she should believe him, but right now it wasn’t an easy thing to do. She was still too freaked out by the whole situation.
    “Because I figured that’s why they were there, and it brings us right back to my original statement. I was curious. It’s a state of mind that happens to a lot of people.”
    April pushed her untouched plate toward the center of the table. Somehow the thought of putting anything in her mouth made her sick. All she could think about was Virginia, and the way she smiled the last time she’d been in the store, happy that she’d met someone who might make a perfect Dom for