Reckless Pleasures by Tori Carrington Read Free Book Online Page A

reasoned he wouldn’t really be lying to him now. The last thing Dari would ask him was if he’d banged his girl. Which meant that he’d never have to answer the question.
    Megan nodded and pushed the wisps of hair that had escaped her ponytail back from her sexy face. “Right.”
    “You’re happy?” he asked.
    She squinted at him.
    “At his coming back,” he clarified.
    He couldn’t bear it if his indiscretion had turned Dari’s girl away from him.
    “Of course,” she said.
    She looked away from him, and Jason could tell by the wistful shadow in her eyes that she was, indeed, happy.
    He released the breath he was holding. Good.
    If there was a small part of him that wanted her to say otherwise, he wasn’t going to acknowledge it. They’d had sex. Nothing more. Nothing less.
    Mind-blowing, hot, sweaty, naughty sex…but sex nonetheless.
    There was no love between them.
    Not the love that so obviously existed between Megan and Dari.
    Why, then, did he suddenly envy that love?
    “I, um, am meeting Dominic in the car outside.
    We’re going to ride over to the church,” she said.
    He knew that. After all, he’d just helped her map out the morning’s activities just a few moments ago.
    But within that time span, it seemed the whole world had tilted on its axis.
    It was up to him to figure out a way to set it right.
    Even if that meant doing nothing at all.

    AN HOUR LATER, Megan looked around the simple house that sat next to the small chapel, the setup similar to countless others she’d seen in her lifetime, as well as attended in every town in which her father had been transferred to, growing up. There were faded, frilly curtains at the kitchen window, worn linoleum on the countertops and floors. A plate of homemade cookies on the table.
    The current pastor had been in residence for the past year and a half and was maybe about thirty-five, forty, tops. He and his wife had two ’tween girls who were rushing adulthood, much like every other normal girl their age. He’d been happy to talk to her, to do anything he could to aid in the search for little Finley, but he hadn’t given her much more than she already had.
    Dominic waited outside, as she’d requested. The rain had stopped and a blazing sun turned the atmosphere into a hazy sauna.
    “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I didn’t give you anything you could use, did I?” Pastor Dewayne Dryer said as he walked outside with her.
    “I appreciate your time. I’m sure you’ve already talked to several people about the case.”
    He nodded. “And I’ll talk to several others if it helps bring Finley home.”
    Megan noticed a couple of people walking into the chapel.
    She gave the pastor a card that bore the main office’s number along with the one to her cell, and asked him to add it to the pile he already had for those wanting a call if he thought of anything else.
    She nodded toward the chapel. “Do you mind if I have a look around?”
    His brows rose slightly. “No. No, of course not. Be my guest.”
    She slid her pad into her back pocket, and thanked him.
    Dominic pushed from where he leaned against the SUV. She gestured for him to stay where he was as she walked the twenty yards or so to the chapel door.
    Megan paused momentarily to allow her sight to adjust to the dimmer interior. Minimalism was the name of the game when it came to decorating. There were maybe twenty-five pews on either side of the aisle and a simple cross hung on the back wall. The pulpit was covered with blue indoor-outdoor carpeting, a plain podium to the left, what looked like a railing for the choir to the right. It smelled like cheap furniture polish and flowers, although she didn’t see any fresh blooms. Had there been a recent funeral, maybe? Or a wedding.
    She knew there had been several calls for prayer scheduled over the past ten days specifically geared toward the safe return of Finley. She counted sixteen people there now, spread around the pews. Most were elderly women,