Lovers and Takers by Katherine Cachitorie Read Free Book Online Page B

think would be a social butterfly.   But he wondered about that.
    He also couldn’t stop wandering his eyes downward, toward her cleavage.   This woman was packed solid.   And he liked the view.   He had become so accustomed to women in his bed with barely a nub of a tit to fondle that he began to wonder if there were any real women out there anymore.    Skinny was fine when you wanted to tap an ass without having to work at it, but when you wanted to take your time and give   pleasure back, this voluptuous woman right here was what he would have in mind.   He, in fact, began to look forward to their night together.   He was going to enjoy fucking her.
    Roni ate slowly, as she noticed that Jake, once again, was staring at her.   For a man known for his hit and run, well-experienced reputation, he was doing an awful lot of staring.   And she didn’t understand it.   So she stopped trying.
    She, instead, watched as Kara’s sense of humor had everybody laughing as dinner progressed.   Jake was slightly bored, as he really would have preferred to eat alone with his children tonight, but even he didn’t come across as a killjoy.   And after the laugher, the conversations shifted again.
    While Druce and Aubrey were discussing some issues with one of their salesmen in the field, Kara and Pam began playing up Roni.  
    “Isn’t she gorgeous, Daddy?” Pam asked her father outright as she looked adoringly at Roni.   “With her dark skin and hazel eyes, isn’t she a fantastic sight to behold?”
    Jake, however, didn’t respond, which didn’t surprise Roni.   She just wished they would cut it out.   This man wasn’t going to be impressed by their ridiculous accolades.   But Kara kept it going.
    “What I like most about Roni has nothing to do with her looks,” Kara said.   “I like her heart.   She’s the most caring person I know.”
    “For real, girl?” Pam said , to keep Kara talking.
    “For real.   She gives until it hurts.   Don’t you, Roni?   I have to tell her all the time to hold up, pump those brakes, girl, you are doing entirely too much for these ungrateful convicts.   But she keeps trying to help them.”
    “Dad likes caring ladies, don’t you Daddy?” Pam asked her father, determined to rope him into the conversation.   But Jake wasn’t feeling the tug.   He remained silent.
    “Yes, he does,” Pam answered her own question when it was obvious that he was going to let her hang herself before he allowed her to rope him in.    She detested that about her father, his unrelenting self-restraint.   Even when it embarrassed his own child, he wouldn’t budge.
    And it continued that way during remainder of the dinner, with Pam and Kara talking up Roni, and Jake listening politely, occasionally even nodding, but never showing an ounce of interest.   Although Roni was a little perturbed by his lack of interest, she nonetheless kept up the cheeriness, determined not to let his disinterest bother her.   She had expected it, so she’d be foolish to let it bother her.
    Although, if she were to be honest, it did bother her.
    And this shift in the conversation bothered Jake.   He had pegged Roni differently, but by the way Pam and Kara were talking her up, he began to feel as if his impression before he met her was dead-on.   Her appearance here, if this conversation was any indication, was all plotted and schemed.   Which placed him back on his guard.   She was no different than any of the other women who’d crossed his path, and he had to remember that.
    He watched and he listened to the outlandish praise Kara and his daughter were reaping on Roni.   Let them tell it she was a veritable Mother Teresa, heart of gold and all.   He wasn’t buying it of course.   For them to sell her this hard must mean she was a hard sell.   She was probably a barracuda, a leech, a woman who loved the limelight and saw in him the possibility of the brightest lights.
    And this renewed