Hungry for More (2012) by Chelsea Scott, D. Oland, J. Welch Read Free Book Online Page B

there hours ago. No telling how much of a cock up those fu-!”
    Bridget looked pointedly at Tad (who, thankfully, didn’t seem to have registered the swearing). Paul looked sheepish.
    “Old habits,” he muttered. “I just want to make sure the staff isn’t…uhm…having trouble.”
    Bridget nodded.
    “What time will you be back?”
    “Don’t wait up,” Paul answered with a casual shrug. Then he was gone.
    Bridget and Tad passed a busy and pleasant afternoon. First, she took Tad to Central Park, as she had promised. The apartment was conveniently close to one of the playgrounds, so she let him run and play until he was worn out. Then she brought him home to nap.
    It started to rain in the late afternoon, and so she unpacked some more of Tad’s toys. She let him play with them in the living room, while she set about “perking up” his quarters.
    One of the tasks that she’d seen to at Phoebe’s apartment was stealing the decorations from his old room. Obviously, Paul didn’t see any problem with storing a four - year - old in a Japanese minimalist bedroom- but she certainly did. She thought that the place looked a lot more cheerful and appropriate with Tad’s dinosaur quilt and sheets, and his triceratops rug. It was a struggle to hang the curtains on her own, but she managed. Her efforts were rewarded by Tad’s obvious delight!
    Paul hadn’t thought to set out dinner, and she couldn’t think of anything to prepare with the fixings on the second shelf, so they had leftover pizza for dinner. Tad took a bath and went to bed at half past eight without any fuss at all, leaving Bridget with the rest of the evening on her own.
    She spent part of the time arranging her own belongings and reading a book. Then, when the clock read one a.m. and Paul still hadn’t made his way home , s he decided to go to sleep.

Chapter 5
    It was another horrendous service for Paul.  Just as he had anticipated, none of the prep work was quite ready, or quite right, when he arrived at the restaurant.  The kitchen seemed to fall to pieces whenever he wasn’t there getting on everyone’s case.  Why couldn’t the lazy morons motivate themselves for a couple of hours?
    “They’re worried about their jobs.”  
    The maitre’d had taken him aside to have a word (after he’d reduced a commis chef to tears) making Paul’s night even worse.  So everyone in the restaurant knew that changes were afoot, did they?  Fantastic.
    Paul slid his key into the lock of his front door and crept inside.  He was hoping that tonight he would be able to slip straight into bed without any drama.  The apartment was totally dark. It was also blissfully silent.  Deciding not to turn on a light, Paul kicked off his shoes and crept quietly towards his bedroom.
    Everything was going fine until he reached the middle of the hallway.
    A curse hurled out of Paul’s mouth as hard, spiky plastic bit in to the sensitive skin of his foot. He lurched away in pain, and collided with the only piece of furniture in the hall.  His hip smashed into the corner of an occasional table and another string of viole n t expletives left his mouth.
    Immediately, a light clicked on in the spare bedroom.  A second later Miss Parker appeared.
    “What on EARTH is going on?” she demanded.  She sounded faintly panicked, but Paul scowled at her angrily.
    The light from her bedroom illuminated the hall and he quickly spotted the offending item.  He limped back over to it and picked it up. Then he thrust the plastic dinosaur under the nanny’s nose accusingly.
    “Oh!  We looked for him for ages this afternoon!” Miss Parker exclaimed happily.  “Tad was afraid that he had been left behind in the move!”
    “No such luck!” Paul spat.  He was pleased when the nanny finally realized that the toy’s sudden reappearance was not a cause for celebration.
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Devoe,” Bridget stammered quickly.  “I hope you didn’t hurt yourself?”
    “Yes!  I