Lethal Affair by Noelle Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

pressed her lips
together, savoring the lingering taste of what to her seemed like
nectar from heaven. She turned her back on him and focused on the
cutting board, efficiently dicing the zucchini while staving off
unwanted tears.
    Her face was averted but Lyle didn't
miss the dewiness on her lashes. Not only a boar, but a heel.
Gently he turned her to face him and wiped away the single drop
that fell onto her cheek with his fingertip. “You see? Already I've
hurt you. You understand why this cannot be, don't you?”
    “ Then why did you kiss me
just now?”
    He grimaced. “My brain goes to mush
around you. Maybe we should re-think this whole thing.”
    “ Re-think what thing?” It
was Kim, too early for work. He had literally sneaked in on
them.
    Lyle made a quick adjustment. “Kim!
Just in time. I was going to show Jolene how to prep the kitchen to
my personal standard. Now you can do it.” He tugged off his apron
and tossed it in a bin. “Got paperwork upstairs.” He bolted, but
not before Jolene branded him with a furious glare. He didn't miss
Kim's muttered, “Coward!” either.
    Kim heard Jolene mumble something
incoherent under her breath.
    “ Whatever that was,” said
Kim, “ditto. The big guy is a walking contradiction. C'mon, let me
show you where we keep everything.”
    Steering her into the storage room,
Kim knew this had been bound to happen. Oh yeah, he'd caught the
kiss, so intense for them both that neither had heard him come in.
Remaining out of sight until hearing fighting words, he'd
intervened just in time to break things up before his boss made an
even bigger ass of himself. What had he been trying to prove, that
he could be impervious to her? All Kim knew was that if Lyle had it
half as bad for Jolene as he himself had it for his own wife, he
was a goner.
     
    *
     
    Will chugged off his beer bottle while
flipping turkey burgers on his monster stainless steel grill, then
stared off into the Olympic mountains across the Juan De Fuca
Strait to Port Angeles. The rear patio of his house faced that
large expanse of water offering ever changing views depending on
Mother Nature's temperament. Today was cloudless and hot, so much
so that his beer had already gone warm.
    Eileen, cashier and mother goose at
the diner, was setting the picnic table with actual plates, glasses
and cutlery. No paper stuff for his backyard barbeques; he was a
stickler for perfection when it came to serving food.
    Other employees wandered the yard with
its flirty summer flower beds. There was Jimmy, their home delivery
guy, and there was old-timer Buster who kept the diner ship shape
maintenance wise, making goo-goo eyes at Eileen.
    Sausages sizzled alongside the
burgers. Couldn't be too health conscious or it wouldn't be a
party.
    The screen door slammed and Lyle
charged out of the house armed with two six-packs. He dumped them
into a cooler and noisily pushed the cans under the ice, then
cracked one and sauntered over to the grill.
    “ Howdy.”
    “ Hey.” Will clinked his
bottle against Lyle's can. “Here's to the lazy days of
summer.”
    “ I'll drink to
that.”
    Bluesy jazz drifted up from the garden
speakers and a bumble bee droned past to land on a fuchsia blossom
nearby.
    “ Who'd you invite this
time?” asked Lyle. It was their custom to bring someone new into
their circle at these bi-monthly summer events.
    Will pointed with his bottle. “The
brunette with the ponytail.”
    “ How did you meet
her?”
    “ Came in looking for a job.
I'm thinking she might work for our Langford location. Name's
Lillian McFarley.”
    “ Isn't it a little early to
begin hiring?”
    “ We open in October, and
once summer dies out we'll need to be ready. Besides, she really
needs the job. I'm going to have her shadow Jolene in a coupla
weeks to see if she's up to snuff. She's never been a waitress
before.”
    Lyle snorted. “You and your projects.
Hope we don't end up with inferior staff.”
    Will bit off a comment about