Playing for Keeps: Harford Scarlet Series by Toria Lyons Read Free Book Online Page A

of any observers. He strode away through the door towards the bar. Sarah tore her gaze away from his departing back, released a breath, gathered her thoughts, and turned to the watching committee.
    ‘OK, I’ve got the compliments slips. I’ll take them home tonight to finish stuffing envelopes. They should be out in the post tomorrow,’ she announced brightly.
    ‘Er, all right, Sarah. That’ll be fine. Are you OK?’ asked a concerned Mike.
    ‘Never better,’ replied Sarah. ‘Tom and I were just catching up on old times and got a bit distracted.’ There was a spluttering noise from Alan’s corner. ‘I mean, he was my coach and we were using some of our moves from uni.’ Another stifled laugh from the corner. ‘To get the box down.’
    Sarah hurried over to her seat, blushing. Mike cleared his throat and started the meeting. ‘We’ll begin with apologies. Gwyn can’t make it, neither can Rachel …’
    Sarah sat in a daze for most of the meeting, only speaking when needed. After Mike tied up at the end, she gathered her notes and coat, made her excuses, and bolted out of the door. Ducking past the entrance to the bar, she almost ran to the gates and turned up towards her street. Only slowing when she was outside her flat, she fumbled for her keys and wrenched the front door open. She slipped inside, then turned and locked herself in. Once the door was secured, she rested back against it, gulping for breath.
    She was safe in her little flat. She paced through it, hands touching the oak cupboards in the kitchen, the overstuffed sofas in the cheerful living area, the ornate, twisted metal headboard in her blue-toned bedroom. She smoothed a non-existent crease out of the cobalt quilt cover – the colour of his eyes. A vision flashed of her and Tom naked, twisting on the bed, and her heart leapt.
    Her knickers were damp between her legs, the tissues against them swollen. She resisted rubbing there, or at her breasts, the nipples as sensitive as if he had been sucking at them. She had to stop thinking about him, about them .
    Slowly, she calmed herself down, poured a bowl of cereal, and sat in front of the TV. She tried to immerse herself in a crime drama but the images just flickered past. When she realised, after half an hour, that she’d seen that episode before, she got up and wandered into the kitchen.
    The soft tap on the door took her by surprise. ‘Who is it?’ she quavered, her heart starting to race again.
    ‘It’s Annie, from next door. The postman delivered some of your post to me this morning by mistake.’
    ‘Oh. OK. Wait a minute.’ Sarah unlocked the door to see her elderly, stooping, purple-rinsed neighbour on the step. The woman handed her a couple of letters.
    ‘Thanks awfully for bringing them round.’
    ‘Ooh, I like to help. That young postman doesn’t really know the route yet.’
    ‘Thanks again. Would you like a cuppa?’
    ‘No, I’ll be getting back to my soaps. Charlene is dumping gorgeous Gerald in Sunny Bay and I can’t wait to see how he reacts.’ Annie giggled. ‘He thinks she doesn’t know about his affairs – fancy that!’
    She turned and tottered down the steps, turning to wave goodbye with a grin on her wrinkled face. ‘Just like your young men down the club: not a faithful bone between them but they do make even my heart go pitter-patter.’
    Sarah laughed obediently, waved back, and closed the door. Her laughter turned brittle and faded. Annie doesn’t know how right she is, she thought drily.
    The second tap on the door didn’t make her leap and she pulled it back open.
    ‘Ann – Tom! What – how?’
    Instead of her neighbour, a well-built, muscular figure filled the doorway. Tom glowered at her as heat refilled her body.
    ‘You forgot to meet me in the bar. And you also forgot to take the mailing stuff.’
    She only then noticed a familiar box in his hands.
    ‘Mike was worried about you so I told him I’d drop them off as I was passing. He’s