Impulsive by Catherine Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

again."
    She hung up, but before she could unplug the phone, it rang again.
Even knowing better, she answered it. "Can't you take a hint?"
    "If you won't fax your responses, give them to me over the
phone. I promise confidentiality on the really personal stuff."
    "Look, James, give it up. While I appreciate this modern
technical age, I don't trust it with private matters. That goes for computers,
modems, fax, phone, and mail. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some
sleep."
    "Wait! Don't hang up yet!"
    She sighed audibly. "What is it now?"
    "Meet me in the morning. Here. There. Wherever you choose. We
can have breakfast and go over the list of questions one by one. For every
reply you give, I'll match it. You can even add to the list if you want."
    "And delete those I don't like," she bargained.
    "It's a deal. Where and when?"
    "Neutral ground.
Denny's, near me, at nine. You pay."
     
    "You're late." Jess speared Ty with a put-out look.
    He slid into the booth seat opposite her. "It took me a while
to find the place," he told her, his voice rife with exasperation.
"I'm not all that familiar with Columbus as yet, and your directions,
'Denny's near me,' weren't very explicit, you know."
    She offered an indifferent shrug. "Sorry about that."
    He snorted in disbelief. "And pigs fly, too." Placing a
sheaf of papers on the table, he said, "Did you bring your copy?"
    "Yes. I thought about using it for toilet tissue, but I
figured as stubborn as you are you'd only run off another batch."
    He grinned. "You bet your sweet tush, I would. Shall we get
started?"
    "Can we at least order breakfast first, Mr. Impatience?"
    Ty ordered eggs, bacon, blueberry pancakes, juice, and a pot of
coffee on the side. Jess requested French toast, juice, half a melon, and a
glass of chocolate milk.
    "Chocolate milk?" Ty teased. "No grown-up
beverage?"
    Jess scowled at him. "I intend to have coffee, too, but I
want my calcium."
    "Then why not order white milk? I recall hearing somewhere
that you deplete all the vitamins and minerals in milk when you add chocolate
to it."
    "Hogwash. Pure, unadulterated tripe. All the chocolate does
is add flavoring, which is the only way I'll drink it. I detest plain milk;
have since I could toddle."
    He pointed his fork for emphasis. "See there? That's the kind
of thing I was talking about. Common everyday details. Wouldn't it seem odd if
we went someplace and I ordered white milk for you? People would naturally
assume, if we're seeing one another regularly, that I would know you didn't
like it."
    "I suppose so," she conceded. "That or you're just
a big snoop."
    "And you, as a reporter, aren't?" he huffed. Jess held
up her hand, signaling for a truce. "Okay, okay. Point taken."
    Ty drew his pen from his shirt pocket. "Let's start with the
easy stuff. What books have you read, and what movies have you seen
lately?"
    Forty-five minutes later, Jess sat back with a sigh. "Whoa.
Stop. Enough. I'm drowning in trivia here. I need some time to assimilate what
you've told me already."
    "Me, too," Ty admitted. "Let's adjourn and pick it
up later. Say tonight, for dinner? Just you and me?"
    She thought about it for a moment, then agreed. "As long as
it's not someplace swanky. I don't do swanky unless it's absolutely
imperative."
    "Why?"
    "Because I hate to wear flats or those stupid-looking dinky
heels. Even I know they don't complement an evening dress worth beans. I might
as well wear army boots and have done with it."
    "So wear regular high heels."
    She wrinkled her nose at him. "Right. And look like a
giraffe? Besides, I don't even own a pair."
    "Buy some. You can wear them when we go out, if no other
time. I'll still be taller than you." He paused a minute, then added,
"You should stand tall and proud, Jess, with your back straight, and your
chest thrown out. You can't do diddly damn about your height, anyway, so why
not flaunt it instead of creeping around all hunched over, as if you think
you're some freak?"
    "Easy for you