Dirty Truths by Renee Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

for a reason and only a fool would let them pass by unnoticed. He’d see her eyes light up again, if only for a moment, before he let this silly fantasy go. Maybe he’d see more. As he stopped at the red light at the end of town, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Damn if his pants didn’t grow tighter at the thought. Wade imagined her whispering his name and groaned. If things were different, if Kristina were different, he’d have had her by now.
     
    ***
     
    Kristina set her keys on the counter and carried Cadence to the living room. In the playpen, she covered the baby with her favorite pink blanket. Cadence stirred, curled one corner of the soft cover into her fist, and rubbed it against her cheek. Kristina smiled and turned to check the phone. The light on the answering machine next to it flashed. Her stomach ached. Probably Daniel, calling to confuse her some more.
    Sighing, she pressed the play button and waited. Wade’s deep voice startled her. The sound released a strange feeling, like tiny bubbles bursting around her heart. She replayed the message to hear his voice again.
    “Hey Kristina, it ’s Wade. Bet you didn’t think I’d call so fast. I had to make sure you didn’t have time to back out,” he chuckled.
    Her breath caught.
    “Could you come in Friday and Saturday around eight? I’ll have a shirt for you. I think I have one to fit, but if not we’ll figure something out.”
    Kristina smiled at the thought of the slinky shirts.
    “Oh, and don’t worry about pants. Just find something dark, even blue is fine and once I have your size I’ll pick some up for you. No arguments.”
    The machine stopped and Kristina reached to delete the message, her finger pausing over the button. She knew it was silly but she didn’t want to erase his voice. Except for her father’s, it had been a while since she’d heard a male voice filled with warmth. She pulled her hand back and walked to the stairs to shower and change. She’d leave it just until tomorrow, in case she forgot when she was supposed to work.
    She climbed the stairs and pulled her shirt over her head. When Kristina reached the landing, she tossed it in the hamper next to the bathroom feeling silly for keeping the message. She scowled at her reflection in the mirror. It’s not like Wade would want her anyway. He offered the job because he and her dad were friends and he wanted to help her out. Wade could have any woman in town. It wasn’t just that he was attractive, although it definitely helped. He had an aura about him, a way of making a woman feel special that was hard to resist.
    Kristina turned on the water and slipped her pants over her hips. She glanced at her body in the mirror and snorted. No, Wade would never want her and she was being ridiculous just thinking about it.

CHAPTER 6
    Kristina pushed through the steel door and walked the short hallway into the bar. The smells of beer and stale cigarette smoke clung to the narrow space, although no one had smoked in Dirty Truths for years. She cringed at the stained red carpet; it had probably been there from the day they erected the building.
    Tugging her pants away from her legs, Kristina tried to breathe slowly. Despite Wade’s orders not to, she’d gone shopping with her mother and bought the low-rise black jeans similar to the other girls’ at the bar. Kristina refused to come out of the changing room and only relented when her mother enlisted the sales girl to bully her out. She’d never worn pants quite so tight, or so low. The waist just covered her hips. Giving them another little tug before entering the bar, knowing they wouldn’t go higher no matter how many times she hiked them up. A girl with short dark hair waited on the customers, most of them men, running back and forth carrying bottles, money and glasses, smiling and joking the entire time.
    Shit. Kristina stared after her, despair eating away at her stomach. She couldn’t do it. Carrying dinner plates,