Her Name Is Trouble: A small-town contemporary romance (The Daimsbury Chronicles Book 2) by Zee Monodee Read Free Book Online Page A

I’ll bring everything.”
    He didn’t debate this suggestion and went out of the kitchen. Missy breathed in a long inhale when he left, then she shuddered because his leaving made the room cold and empty; two sensations creeping up into her heart all of a sudden.
    She should get a grip on herself. Luke was here for food, not anything else. And she needed to mine some information from him.
    So with a resigned sigh, she took both the pot of grits and the cooked shrimp to the table and settled opposite him.
    They didn’t share any words as she served the food and they both started on their servings. He made a sound like a happy groan when he pushed his empty plate away. The satisfied note stirred longings inside her. Would he moan that way when he experienced pleasure?
    A hot blush stole up her cheeks and she excused herself to duck into the kitchen and get the pie.
    “Do you mind if I move to your front room?” he called out.
    “Of course not. Go ahead.” His foot must still be troubling him, and sitting on a hard chair must not help matters any.
    Missy cut two hefty slices of cherry pie and ladled a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each. She quickly carried the plate into the other room, and the sight there almost stopped her in her tracks. Luke had settled on the plush rug in front of the fireplace, his back propped against the sofa, left leg straight in front of him. He presented such a picture of casual ease, the unholy thought that he belonged here in this room with her ran skittles through her system.
    Bad line of thought. If he came to know about her...
    Pulling all her resolve together, she stepped into the front room and made a beeline for him.
    “You have exactly ten minutes before the ice cream melts and everything becomes an inedible puddle of goo,” she said as she handed him a plate.
    “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
    She settled down next to him, feet drawn under her in a lotus pose. “Never eaten pie before, sugar?”
    He motioned for her to wait with his fork, then he plunged it into his pie and brought a morsel to his lips. His eyes closed as he ate, and they popped open only after he’d swallowed.
    “You’re a goddess,” he said.
    A laugh escaped her. “It’s just pie.”
    “Tastes like heaven.”
    A warm glow spread through her at his compliment. “Eat up before it gets ruined. There’s more if you want.”
    She ended up taking two more trips to the kitchen to refill his plate, and each time, he demolished the slice with as much gusto.
    Missy laughed as she watched him finish the third serving. “I thought models didn’t eat, and certainly not dessert.”
    He winked. “We make exceptions from time to time.”
    “So what’s your poison?”
    A sheepish grin touched his mouth. “Frozen yoghurt.”
    She shook her head. “Empty calories, but well worth it.”
    “What’s yours?”
    “What’s mine what?”
    “Your caveat?” he asked as he put the plate down and settled back more comfortably against the sofa.
    “I’m not a model.” She knew what he got at, but the urge to tease gripped her and she relished the light sensation.
    “Even so, nobody keeps a figure like yours while eating a full Sunday roast at each meal.”
    “Unless that person is bulimic,” she quipped.
    “Are you?”
    The serious tone jolted her, and she sat up straight. “What? No!”
    “So you mean to say you are naturally thin?”
    What was he getting at? “Of course not.”
    “But you don’t eat? You hardly touched your plate tonight.”
    How could she tell him she’d been so captivated by watching him eat, by his lips on the spoon or his tongue licking creamy grits off his thumb, that she’d hardly needed any other sustenance?
    Another thought crossed her mind. She needed him to think she was as different from Iris Ann Taylor as day from night, so he’d know who Missy was if he ever learned the truth about her identity. Maybe the time had come to spell out her truth.