Bondage Wedding by Tori Carson Read Free Book Online

backyard rather than walk close by her. Amanda didn’t like it. She’d gone to sleep remembering their kiss. It had kindled some very sensual dreams and she’d woken contemplating reenacting one or two. What had happened since she’d fallen asleep?
    She followed him outside and tried to soothe the tension growing between them. “I love your yard. The trees make it feel like your own private sanctuary. I like that they hide the view of the fence. I think the fences surrounding every yard was the hardest thing for me to get used to when I moved to Arizona.”
    Amanda lifted the cover keeping her breakfast warm. Scrambled eggs, bacon and toast—such a manly meal for first thing in the morning, but she wasn’t complaining. She’d been living on yogurt and oatmeal for so long she was thrilled at the change of pace.
    “I appreciate my privacy.”
    She nodded her head trying to figure out how to respond to that. She was feeling decidedly uncomfortable and unwelcome. “Thanks for cooking. Everything looks great. Do you mind if I grab the ketchup?”
    James raised one eyebrow. “You use ketchup on your eggs?”
    Heat spread across her face. She chose bravado to get through the awkward moment. “Yep, have you tried it? It’s a pretty tasty combination.”
    A smile seemed to twinkle for a moment in James’ eyes. Instead of answering her question, he removed the cover from his plate showing his eggs with a smattering of ketchup. “I’ll get it for you. Drink the orange juice, it’s fresh-squeezed.”
    Amanda watched as James went back into the house. He was wearing casual jeans that framed his butt and fed her hunger for more than food. When he turned to come back outside she quickly drank her juice, trying in some small way to appease James.
    “Thank you.” Amanda took the bottle and applied a generous helping of ketchup to her eggs. “It’s delicious.” She pointed to the juice. “You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. I usually just eat on the run. This is a real treat.”
    “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” James checked his watch. “Eat up. We need to leave soon.”
    Amanda ate the food, thinking she could definitely get used to this. If only James wasn’t so uptight. “Did the patio furniture come with the house or did you track down the mid-century set?”
    “I bought it separately.”
    She nodded and gave up trying to draw him into conversation. Maybe he just wasn’t a morning person. “Did you have any luck printing the paper?”
    “It and your laptop are in your backpack which is leaning against the front door.”
    “Great. Thank you.” Amanda stood and gathered the dishes. Before she could pick them up, James grabbed them.
    “Get the door for me, please,” he ordered.
    Amanda pushed the chairs back in then rushed to the door to get there before James. After he set the dishes into the sink he put the ketchup back into the refrigerator.
    “Are you ready to go?” James sounded gruff.
    “In just a minute. Let me clean these off.” Amanda started rinsing the dishes.
    James opened his mouth like he was going to argue with her, but he bent down and opened the dishwasher instead.
    Before long, they were out of the door.
    In an awkward silence, James drove Amanda to the university campus. He had decided not to call her on his discoveries until he had a chance to follow up on a few things. After parking in the closest visitors’ lot to the Business Administration building, he walked Amanda to class. After checking out the classroom and seeing there was only one way in or out, he took a seat in the student lounge just across the hallway.
    Once the students were in class, he made the phone call he’d been dreading.
    “André, it’s James, how did the rest of the evening go?”
    André’d had high hopes for the club’s Mardi Gras event. Instead of bringing the community together and increasing membership, André’s friend and business partner’s wife had been abducted