Fool's Gold (A sexy funny mystery/romance, Cottonmouth Book 2) by Jennifer Skully Read Free Book Online Page B

it.”
    “Good. While you’re thinking, let me get on
the computer.” He wanted to check out Simone Chandler’s
website.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Goodness, she was consumed by sexual
thoughts. Every time Simone tried to describe the hero in her
story, he had short blond hair and blue eyes, though her client had
asked for tall, dark, and handsome. Tall and handsome, yes, but no
matter how many times she hit the delete key, he always came back
with blond hair and gazed at her with arresting blue eyes as he
crawled down the length of her body to...
    It was rather pathetic when you couldn’t
control your own wayward fingers. For typing, that is.
    The phone rang. She pounced on it without
checking caller ID. Simone never answered the phone unless she knew
who it was. Why, a person could lose an hour of their life if they
picked up for the wrong caller.
    At the moment, however, anything was better
than wayward fingers or wayward thoughts . “Hello?”
    “You didn’t screen.”
    “Hello, MOTHER.” That’s how Simone always
thought of her mother, in capital letters. “I saw it was you.”
    “You didn’t.” Her mother had blocking.
    “It must have been telepathy then.” If it had been telepathy, she would have been sure not to
answer. Not that she didn’t love her mother dearly. Ariana Chandler
was the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful mother in the world. At
least, that’s how everyone described her. And she was. Truly. Very
thoughtful, caring, helpful, concerned. But these monthly calls
were...well, they were like the monthly curse; Simone needed to
take a muscle relaxant for five days afterward.
    “Did you get the care package your sister and
I sent?”
    “Yes. Thank you, MOTHER.”
    “And they fit?” Why did her mother sound so
surprised?
    “Of course.” Actually, Simone had never even
tried them on. More than satisfied with her own clothes, she’d
driven to Bullhead and given all her sister’s designer castoffs to
Goodwill. She was not a designer kind of girl, and Goldstone was
not a designer town. She would have looked ridiculous walking
around in Ralph Lauren. If her mother had ever visited Goldstone,
she’d know that.
    “I knew what an incentive that first box of
beautiful dresses would be in helping you with your little weight
problem. So I thought you deserved another set. Besides, Jacqueline
needed to go through her closet and get rid of last year’s
fashions.”
    Simone did not fit into her sister’s size
zero clothing. She would never fit into size zero clothing. She
didn’t want to fit into them. Her head started aching. She
knew her mother meant well, she did, but she really, really didn’t
think she had a weight problem. Except once a month when her mother
called.
    “So, how’s the job hunt going, dear?”
    Simone’s stomach lurched. Her mother had
never gotten over her daughter’s spectacular failure, which had,
embarrassingly, made it into the L.A. papers. Even the memory of
all those delinquent accounts receivables and unreturned phone
calls to insolvent clients gave Simone a migraine. “Don’t put all
your eggs in one basket,” her mother had always said. But Simone
had. When the stock market dropped the basket, Simone had gotten
crushed beneath the broken shells. Ariana never stopped hoping that
Simone would “turn her life around.” Despite the amount of time
since her business debacle, her mother had not given up.
    “It’s coming along,” Simone fibbed. “I’ve got
a few bites out there but nothing solid yet.”
    She hadn’t searched for a job in three years.
She loved her new life. With all the nifty payment options
available on the Internet, she got her clients funds before she
sent them a word. She’d learned that lesson the hard way. Show
me the money first. Her alluring fantasy website was going
gangbusters. “Tell me your wildest dreams,” her banner advertised,
“and I’ll write you a story to send you and your lover into orbit.”
Sex on the Internet was