Invisibility Cloak by Jill Elaine Prim Read Free Book Online Page B

friends. They were in the same Rangers Regiment and had been together through hell and back a few times before they both got out. Jeremy married his sweetheart who waited for him and now they had a small baby.
    “How are Emma and Sue?” Both his wife and infant daughter had the six foot Army Ranger both wrapped around their small thumbs. “Still putting you through the paces?”
    “You know women!” Jeremy grumbled on the other side of the phone, but Ryder could almost see his grin when he spoke. “Absolutely. I’m a big mass of putty in their hands. But you didn’t call to ask about my women.” Jeremy got serious. “Whatcha need, pal?”
    “Have time to run a plate for me?” After hearing Jeremy’s obliging grunt on the other end of the phone he went on. “License BFTL569. That’s BravoFrankTangoLima5-6-9. Copy?”
    Jeremy’s laughter almost broke his eardrum at the other end. “Yeah, got it. Let me work on it and I’ll call you back. Oh and just for the record, it’s Foxtrot, not Frank, ass-wipe.”
    “It’s been awhile, okay?”
    “Yeah, yeah. Later, dickhead.”
    Well, it had been awhile Ryder thought wryly as he pulled up into Amanda’s driveway.
    A manda was grinning like a crazy lady on the inside. She was going to have a hunk at her place. Panic temporarily gripped her. What in the heck was she thinking? Was she nuts?
    No. After willing herself to calm down, she took a few deep breaths.
    I can do this. Giddiness fluttered in her belly. Ryder Stevenson was hands down the hottest guy she had ever talked to. And he was coming over. She wondered how old he was.
    Her eyes darted to the rearview mirror. Ryder’s black Jeep Cherokee followed behind her and it looked like he was talking on the phone. Who’d he call? Was it another woman? Her confidence stumbled and she gripped the steering wheel.
    Who was she kidding? A man like him could never be attracted to a science geek like her. She shook her head. Oh well, they could maybe get to know each other a little over a drink. She looked around her familiar neighborhood wondering on Ryder Stevenson’s motives for asking her out for a drink. One more block and they would be pulling up to her house. Her thoughts bounced to her place. Oh God! Was it clean? If the kids were home alone . . .
    She groaned, who knows what it looked like! Too late now; they were here. Amanda reached up to punch the button to open the garage door, but accidently pulled down her sun visor instead. Finding herself looking at her reflection in the mirror, she noted her ordinary face staring back at her with wide eyes, and frowned. Ryder probably had tons of women after him. Women like Sophia Edgington. She’d certainly pawed him all evening; seemed she couldn’t keep her hands off him tonight. Every time Sophia touched him, Amanda ground her teeth together, not liking it.
    As if I have a right to . She snorted.
    Sophia was a stunner, too with her blonde, California good looks. Her eyes flew back to her reflection in the visor mirror. Her own dark blond hair flew out crazily around her face, with frizzy wisps spiraling out. Yep, the twisted up-do bun she tried earlier was done for the evening. Wilting.
    I’m not anywhere near the polished Sophia Edgington.
    No red, sultry lips or deep garnet nails. Definitely no sleeked back chic hairstyle, that was for sure. She clearly did not come across as a player, for heaven’s sake. Flipping up her visor, she pushed on the garage door remote and waited a few minutes as the garage door swung up.
    Slowly.
    The door lurched on the side guardrail as it sluggishly opened. Uh oh, was it time for a new garage door? The door looked like an old man, barely being able to open and close. It seemed to always be something to fix around the house. Her mind flitted back to the house and what it might look like. But more importantly―why would a man who looked like Ryder ask her out for a drink when a woman like Sophia Edgington was clearly