Juicy by Pepper Pace Read Free Book Online Page B

bed. This entire nightmare was beginning to seem like a distant memory. She was suddenly so tired. She was asleep before she could complete that thought.
     

 
     
    CHAPTER 4

Juicy's eyes popped open. Something was wrong. Troy was kneeling beside her bed bare inches from her face. Juicy jerked up to a sitting position and yelled. Troy's face had lost its color and a second later he reflexively yelled too.

"What the--? Troy what are you doing?" She had pulled her covers up to her neck and her eyes were wide as she stared at him.

"I—you were so quiet. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." She noticed that he was holding the little mirror from the bathroom in his hand.

She stared at it for a few moments. "You were holding a mirror up to my mouth?"

Troy blushed. "I—yeah..." Juicy couldn't help it, she laughed. She couldn't stop and before long her eyes were streaming tears.

Troy stood up. "I thought you'd be mad because I was in your bedroom."

Juicy tried her best to straighten up. "I'm glad that you cared enough to check on me."

He put the mirror on her neat dresser. "You weren't waking up on your own."

She glanced at the clock. It was just after two. She couldn't seem to get her bearings. Was it am? pm?

Reading her thoughts Troy answered. "It's the afternoon."

"What?!" She scrambled out of bed. "Why'd you let me sleep so late?"

"You probably needed it."

Juicy slipped on her house shoes. "How long have you been awake?"

"Since about seven-"

Juicy straightened her doo rag. Her hand froze in mid tug. "Oh my goodness. I didn't mean to leave you alone for so long."

"It's okay." He shrugged.

"Did you find the food I left for you?"

Troy smiled. "Oh yeah. I ate that. Thank you. I hope you don't mind but I showered and made breakfast."

"No, of course not." Her bedroom was beginning to feel a bit too closed so she went out into the living room where Troy was happy to follow.

"How do you feel this morning?"

She shrugged. "It's hard to say. I woke up so fast that I feel a little jittery."

"Ohhh." Was his response. "Well come on and sit down. I made enough breakfast for you. I put it in the microwave."

"You made me breakfast?"

"Yeah. Sit down." He walked past her to the neat galley kitchen. Juicy watched him moving around comfortably. His longish hair was still a bit damp from his shower and he was barefoot. She liked how at home he looked.

"I hope you like pancakes. I saw that you had syrup." He pressed some buttons on the microwave and then opened the fridge. "Your milk was still good." He glanced at her. "You do drink milk don't you?"

She was so preoccupied by the way his legs looked in his jeans that she missed his question. With a blush she replayed his last words.

"Milk...yes, I love it."

He poured two glasses and placed them on the table in front of her. Then he went back to the microwave. Juicy didn't stop her eyes from admiring his butt. He had enough...

He returned with a plate piled high with pancakes and bacon. Wow! They were picture perfect.

"You made these? From scratch?" Because she knew that she didn't have any pancake mix in the house.

Troy grabbed two plates and some silverware and the syrup while trying to hide his pleased smile. "Well I know a thing or two about a thing or two."

He sat down opposite her and before she could serve herself he placed pancakes and bacon on her plate.

No man had ever served her like that before. After smothering them with extra syrup, she took a big bite of the pancakes...and WOW! They were the best she'd ever had! And that was saying a lot because Juicy liked to eat!

"What is in this...? Banana?" But she didn't have any bananas.

Troy was nodding. "You had a box of instant banana pudding in your pantry. That's the secret ingredient--not so secret anymore, I guess."

"Pudding?" She savored another bite of pancake. "I would have never thought..."

There wasn't one raw spot on the bacon, nor was it burnt; it was just right. Juicy peeked at