Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan Read Free Book Online Page A

so angry that he couldn't think straight. If Slick had only been willing to listen to him, it wouldn't have happened. But Slick had laughed at him, told him it was out of his hands now, and Aaron got so pissed off that he reached around, grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on, and hit that little pecker in the head with it—blood everywhere, all over his new Reeboks and down the front of his shirt.
    He'd had to drive out to the boonies and start a fire at the edge of a farm field, where he burned everything to a crisp.
    And he'd just paid a hundred bucks for those shoes! He drained the drink and thought about leaving. He had a long drive and he'd had a lot to drink.
    But the woman at the bar was still looking at him, still grinning at him, still sticking her boobs in his direction.
    Why the hell not?
    He got up and walked toward her. It's not like he was married anymore. Not that that had ever stopped him.

Chapter 3
Heart of Glass
    « ^ »
    I f Emma had been alarmed at the sight of Thomas Tobin in a suit, then how could she describe what she was feeling now, seeing him sprawled out in a waiting room chair with disheveled hair, unshaven face, and worried eyes, his powerful legs sticking out of a pair of loose shorts, his broad shoulders and chest draped in a washed-out rugby shirt ripped at the elbows and splayed open at the collar?
    Stunned was a good word. Like a doe in the high beams. Like a dieter looking into The Cheesecake Factory display case. Like the love-starved woman she was, looking at the most delectable serving of man she'd ever seen.
    Thomas raised his eyes to the door. He scrambled to his feet, tucked Hairy into the crook of his arm like a football, and waited for her to reach him.
    The journey across the waiting room played havoc with Emma's sympathetic nervous system. Her mouth went so dry she was afraid she'd dehydrate while her hands were so wet she had to wipe them on her sweatshirt.
    She came to a stop and slowly raised her chin. Thomas hovered over her, his blond head lowered, his eyes wary and waiting. "Hey, Emma," he said in a husky whisper.

    A bolt of hot lust spiked Emma to the floor through the cork soles of her Birkenstocks. Just a simple two-word greeting in that raspy male voice and she was toast. A goner.
    Hairy began to squirm.
    "He's got to pee." Thomas began to walk away but suddenly turned and peered at Emma, like a man double-checking the door lock before leaving on vacation. He narrowed one eye. "I'll be back."
    Emma wheeled around to watch the Terminator stride out the door, noticing how long his legs were, how much taller he was than her, how much bigger, and how if she wanted to she could reach her arms straight out and they'd be the perfect height to grab on to his tight butt.
    She blinked hard and shuddered. What was she—insane? Why the hell did she drive out here—to torture herself? She must be ovulating.
    "Your boyfriend's been real worried about his little dog."
    Emma spun back the other way. She hadn't noticed there was anyone else in this room, in the world! But an older couple sat on a pair of yellow vinyl chairs just a few feet away, and the woman smiled sadly at her.
    "My boyfriend?" Emma was trying to force the haze from her brain. It was one in the morning. She was tired. She was crazy. She was ovulating—how was she supposed to carry on a conversation?
    "I'm sorry. Your husband, then?" The woman produced a brave smile and Emma could see she'd been crying. The man had been crying, too.
    Emma sank down into the chair next to her. "Actually, I'm the little dog's vet. I'm here to—" She stopped, unsure how to finish and aware it wasn't important anyway. She reached for the older woman's hand, thin and dry in her own. "Why are you here tonight?"
    The woman's chin began to crumple and her lower lip trembled. "Leonora—she's our Shih Tzu—didn't come in from the backyard after Letterman."
    "I knew right then…" The man lowered his eyes and shook his head.