Present Danger by Susan Andersen Read Free Book Online Page A

there was the possibility it would impregnate her. The thought hurt more than he could ever let her know. Angrily, he turned away. “I’m going to work,” he said stiffly. Grabbing his jacket from the closet, he headed for the door.
    “Otis.”
    He stopped in the open doorway but didn’t turn back to her. Lola came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek against the warm muscles of his back. “Don’t go. You don’t have to be there for hours.”
    He remained stiff in her embrace. “I’m sick of this, Lola. We had something so rare and good, and I can feel it slippin’ away. I want to be wanted just for myself again, not because it’s time for me to play the stud.And I swear, if my brother offers his services one more time, I’m gonna flatten him.”
    “I know.” Her hands slid down his hard thighs, then slowly rose again. Long, brown fingers brushed seductively back and forth across the fly of his slacks. “I’m sorry for my lousy attitude, mon. I love you.”
    He remained where he was standing but slowly reached out and closed the door.
    “Let me start over again,” she whispered. “Say ‘mornin’ baby.’”
    “Mornin’ baby.”
    “Mornin’ yourself, soldier boy. Wanna fool around wid an island girl … just for the heck of it?”
    “Yeah.” He turned in her arms. “Oh, baby, yeah.”
    “Happy Halloween, Lola,” Aunie said cheerfully when the door opened to her knock. “Otis home?”
    “No. He’s on his rotation at the firehouse.”
    “Oh, rats. The lamp in my bedroom quit working and I was hoping he could help me fix it.”
    “ Help you?”
    “Okay, fix it.” Aunie’s unrepentant grin slowly faded when it was not returned.
    “James is home,” Lola said flatly. “Get him to fix it for you. He’s better wid the electrical stuff anyway.”
    Aunie frowned. “Lola, have I done something to offend you?” Ever since the day they’d met, Lola had felt like a very good friend. Friends had never been overabundant in Aunie’s life. Today, however, she was receiving the distinct impression she was not welcome, and her self-esteem dropped a notch lower than usual. She backed up a step.
    “No.” Lola reached out and gripped Aunie’s wrist. “I’m sorry. I’m just depressed today, and I’m takin’it out on everyone around me.” Her dark eyes filled with quick tears. “I made Otis angry wid me earlier and now I’m hurtin’ your feelin’s.”
    “My feelings will survive. You want to talk about it or should I go away?”
    Lola pulled her through the door. “I want some company.”
    “The doctors, they can’t find anything wrong wid either of us,” she confided awhile later. Her chin rested on her updrawn knees as she gazed unhappily at Aunie. “We’ve been married for seven years and tryin’ for a child for nearly four, but I just cannot seem to get pregnant. For a long time it didn’t matter so much, but lately it’s practically all I can think about. It’s become such a sensitive issue, Otis’s sister Leeanne dreaded to tell me she was pregnant, and wid good reason. I was hoppy for her, but also I was so jealous I could have screamed. Now, it’s startin’ to drive me and Otis apart; and, Aunie, if I let that hoppen, if I drive him away because I can’t stop obsessin’ ‘bout having a baby, I don’t know what I’ll do. I love that mon so much.”
    “Have you ever considered adoption?”
    “That’s what Otis wants to do, but I don’t know … I want to give him his own child.”
    “I wanted a baby when I was married,” Aunie said slowly. She had never admitted this to anyone except her mother and lawyer, and it was difficult to admit to now; but perhaps, if she could make Lola see how lucky she was to have Otis … “My husband refused even to consider the possibility. The reason he gave me was that it would ruin my figure.” When Lola stared at her incredulously, Aunie met her eyes and continued, “Kind of gives you an idea