and along came SPIDER ( A Martina Spalding Thriller ) (Spider Series Book 1) by J.R. WRIGHT Read Free Book Online

At least no one here seems to know who Parker Thomas is!” 
She reached over and squeezed his muscular arm.  “Just checking!”
    “So, you did miss me?” 
He laughed.
    “Well, I wasn’t going
out of my way to save my virginity for you, if that’s what you want to know.” 
Marti laughed with him. 
    “You know, if you would
have asked for McLean, you’d have fared better.  Most everybody here knows me
by that.”
    Marti was confused.  “I
thought your name was Parker Thomas?”
    “Parker Thomas McLean,”
he clarified.  “In college they called me Mister Clean.  But, that may partly
have been because I wore my hair clipped short for football.”
    “Mister Clean it is
then.”  She tapped her bottle to his, sitting on the bar, and took a drink.
    “Oh, no!  I’m not going
back to…  Look Doc, you can call me anything you want, just not that, okay?”
    Marti laughed.  “Why
not?” she teased.  “I like it.”
    Parker was fun to chat
with, but when seven pm rolled around, Marti was getting a little hungry and
wondered what had delayed Gloria.
    Seeing her check her
watch, Parker asked, “Is there somewhere you have to be?”
    “Not exactly.  It’s
just that I’m getting a little hungry and…”
    “Let me take you
somewhere nice and buy you dinner,” he offered.  “What kind of food do you
like?”
    “That’s a really
generous offer, Parker.  Thank you.  But I have a friend that’s supposed to
meet me here,” Marti said concernedly and again looked toward the door.
    “Should I disappear,
Doc?”
    “Why?”  She glanced up
to him — saw the disappointment on his face.  “Oh, no!  It’s my
roommate, silly.  I’m sure she’ll be along any minute.”
    “Well, since you can’t
leave, then at least let me buy you one of Hannity’s World Famous, guaranteed
to bust a gut if you eat it all, Sausage Dogs.”  Parker laughed.
    “I will if you share it
with me.”
    “What will it be then:
cheese, chili, kraut, half kraut — half chili, chili cheese, or the
works?” he read from the menu on the wall.
    “I haven’t tried the
works.”  Marti acquired a puzzled look. 
    “Are you feeling
adventurous, Doc?” Parker made a point of looking into her sparkling hazel
eyes.
    “I am!”  Martina
giggled, something she hadn’t done in years, and it surprised her.  And she was feeling adventurous, at least where Parker was concerned.  Now she wondered
where all of this would eventually lead.
    Lenny thought better of
saying his usual, “spread’em wide,” when delivering the near foot long sausage
on an enormous bun, topped with everything including onions and pickle wedges. 
He didn’t want to risk embarrassing Martina in the presence of her newfound
friend.  In all Lenny’s years of being a bartender, he had become astute at
spotting newly acquainted couples from the careful attention they paid each
other.  And the affection displayed thus far between these two told him a
romance was definitely brewing. 
    Putting out forks and
napkins, Lenny, finding he couldn’t help himself did, however, say, “Eat it, or
beat it!”
    Hearing this, Parker
glanced to Marti.  She seemed not to notice, but rather busied herself at
picking onions off the divided half of the sausage dog closest to her, on a
single platter.
    Seeing their beers were
near drained, without asking, Lenny brought fresh ones.  “These are on me,
kiddos.”  His eyes produced a Santa Claus twinkle.
    “Now, can you beat that?” Marti said, with a sheepish smile to let them both know, even with her
mind being on extreme hunger, worry over Gloria’s prolonged absence, and the
notion she may soon be giving up her virginity, she wasn’t completely absent of
her surroundings. 
    This brought amused
laughter from both men, as she smartly took the first bite.
    When eight o’clock
rolled around and Gloria still hadn’t showed, Marti was beside herself.  As of
now, Gloria was two hours later than she