Alexander by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online Page A

longer. He was growing so much. Then there were the presents she wanted to get him for Christmas.
    Last year had been rough on them. Grandda had had a very bad cold and all their extra money had gone to medicine for him. She’d had to work some parties that she didn’t care for just to make the rent. Nothing bad in the parties; she just hated drunks. Laughing, she thought about her Friday night job and went back in. The frigid air had made her feel more awake. She was taking out the next batch of cookies when a man walked in the kitchen.
    “ You’re not allowed back here. This is the kitchen and the pastries and stuff are out there.” She pointed to the door he’d walked through. “I’m sure whatever you looking for is out there.”
    He grinned and Heather felt her belly clench up. Man, to have a man smile at you like that could hurt a girl , she thought. He was gorgeous and sexy-looking standing there leaning against the doorway. She felt herself flush when she thought of sex. It had been years…She closed that thought off immediately.
    The man was tall, really tall, and he looked like he could keep a girl happy all night. She flushed again when that thought popped in her head. She turned around to her dough. Christ, love a duck . She must be more tired than she thought. His laughter made her think he knew just what she’d been thinking. And for whatever reason, that pissed her off. “You need to go away. There’s no reason for you to be back here.” The timer went off again. “I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
    “ Smells good back here. You must be the baker. I’m Alex.” She could hear him move, but ignored him. “Can I help you with that?”
    When he started for her, she moved and the bread shifted on the pan. When it did, she had to shift it to keep the bread from falling to the floor. In doing so, she felt the hot edge of it touch her forearm. She couldn’t help the cry of pain, but she didn’t drop the pan.
    When she got it on the rack, she rushed to the sink to run cold water over it. She could feel the tears spilling down and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming at the man.
    “ I need you to go to the front,” she stated calmly when she was jerked around. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Let me go.”
    He growled at her to hush and pulled her injured arm to him. She could smell him now, expensive. He had on something that probably cost more than she made in a week. And that made her mad.
    “ Let me go you baboon. I want to put water on it. If you’d just gone to the front like I told you I wouldn’t have gotten burned. Now let me go.”
    “ If you want to blame me then go right ahead, but you should have let me help you. I was trying to be a gentleman.” He was patting a towel over the burn when she looked down.
    “ Oh shit. I’m going to be sick.” She jerked from him and rushed to the bathroom. She had just locked the door and was leaning over the toilet when she threw up.
    Hard heaves came up from her belly and burned her throat. It was always like this when she was hurt, worse when Jack or Grandda was hurt. She just couldn’t stand seeing open wounds. When she thought she was finished, she stood up and looked in the mirror, careful not to look at her arm. Turning on the cold water, she stared at the woman looking back at her.
    Who was she? Heather had been working so hard for so long, she didn’t know her any more. She looked like one of those women she saw in Wal-Mart at two in the morning. Too tired to wear makeup and wearing jammies. Heather didn’t own any makeup, but she refused wear jammies in public. With a splash of cold water to refresh her, she stepped out of the bathroom. It was too much to hope Mr. Expensive would be gone.
    ~~~
    Alex had called Lisa back to tell her what had happened to the girl. She said her name was Heather. Lisa said she’d call her mom and have her come in. He’d found her coat near the door and was holding it when Heather