Breaking All The Rules (Book 1 - Second Chances Series) by Rhonda McKnight Read Free Book Online

“You want the usual?” she asked twisting a lock of her needed to be tightened weave around her finger.
    “Yes, ma’am. Extra fries please. I’m hungry today.”
    She blushed and switched her big behind away from the table. Ethan spared me the agony of watching her move that thing by keeping his eyes on me.
    “See, I told you I wasn’t stalking. I’ve been eating here everyday since I came home.”
    I grunted. Surprised it bothered me so that someone was coming on to him.
    “And how long has that been?”
    “Nearly a month,” he replied. “But forget about me. I want to know what’s eating you.” He took my hand in his and played with my fingers. His touch burned…sizzled. I couldn’t remember the last time a man touched my hand so intimately.
    I cleared my throat. “It’s everything. The time, the cost…not that I don’t have the money, but I don’t know it just weird that everyone would presume that I should pay for everything. Where’s Terrance’s money?”
    Ethan let my hand go and threw his back against the chair. “Tied up right now. He’s in the middle of a business deal and trust me, he is capital strapped.”
    I remembered why Ethan said he was in town. “Is it the same business you’re here for?”
    He nodded. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell Janette.”
    I nodded agreement.
    “Terrance went on that reality T.V. show called Investment Bank a few months ago. He didn’t get a deal with one of the investors, but I and a few other folks I know thought it was a good idea, so we’ve put some money up.”
    “Seriously.”
    He nodded. “Janette doesn’t even know he did the show. It’s a surprise. It’ll air in a few weeks.”
    “Interesting,” I said, thinking about how much my sister loved reality television shows. “So, if it’s such a good idea why didn’t the investors on the show go for it?”
    “He said he didn’t do a good job with the numbers.”
    I raised a curious eyebrow. “The numbers aren’t good, but you’re helping him anyway?”
    “The numbers are great. He just flubbed the presentation, I think. You know how Terrance gets when he’s nervous.” Ethan frowned. “Anyway, I managed to get a few buddies to go in with me. We’re in for over a half a million dollars.”
    “Over half a mil? I knew you soccer players made good money, but that’s a lot to invest in a new business.”
    “It’s a good business and besides, it’s just sitting in the bank. He needed it. Why not?”
    “Because, as you said this morning you guys never seemed to like each other.”
    Ethan shrugged. “We’re family. We don’t have to like each other that much to go into business together. I can trust him.”
    I couldn’t argue with that. If Terrance found ten dollars on the street he’d take out a newspaper advertisement to find the owner.
    “And besides it’s not that we didn’t really like each other,” Ethan continued, “The real battle was over what it always is for men – a woman.”
    I was curious now. “What woman?”
    Ethan smiled like a Cheshire cat. “You of course.”
    “Me?” I laughed out loud. “Sure it was? You’re what seven years younger than us. When we were seniors you were in the sixth grade.”
    “Seventh grade. Old enough to recognize a hot chick.”
    Amused, I shook my head. “You’re so silly.”
    “And I wasn’t in seventh grade five years ago when you were taking care of your dad,” he said, his voice becoming less playful. “The season was over. I was in town then.”
    “I remember,” I confessed, pausing reflectively. I also remembered his attending the wake and funeral, the amazing flowers he sent to the house and the huge donation he made in my father’s name to the cancer center. “You were extremely generous.”
    Ethan smiled reminiscently. “That was just money.” He tilted his glass back and forth and I thought he had the strongest looking hands I’d ever seen. He cleared his