Tempting Nora by A.M. Evanston Read Free Book Online Page B

of her faded sofa.
    Still the chair had been moved, darn it!
    She rushed over to her phone and found Robert's name in the address book. I'm going to call him. I need help. He'll be able to…to…what? Oh, good grief. She didn't know.
    She gazed at the chair again. At that moment she realized how ridiculous she was being. She thought the chair had been moved, but maybe she was wrong. After all, she was the woman who'd once put her cell phone in freezer. Also, she wasn't even sure she'd heard a bang. And if she had, maybe she'd heard it from upstairs. The tenants above her were pretty quiet, but they did have three young children. One of them could have dropped something that made a sound loud enough to wake her up. On top of that, how could she assume that somebody had snuck into her apartment when the windows were all closed and the door was locked? Thieves and rapists were stealthy, but they couldn't walk through walls.
    She let out a nervous laugh. Boy, she was ridiculous. She'd always been a little paranoid before, but not to this degree. It was probably that stupid note. It was making her uneasy. She wished she knew who wrote it. Shaking her head, she debated returning to bed. No, I don't think I'll fall asleep. Her adrenaline still rushed, even as she soothed herself with logic.
    There was only one thing that could help her when couldn't sleep—double chocolate chip ice cream with whipped cream.
    ****
    Nora had gotten less than two hours of sleep and felt like the walking dead. It was her own fault. The ice cream had made her hyper, not sleepy. It was a good thing it was her day off. She could take a nap later if she needed to. As she yawned and placed her teapot on the stove, somebody knocked. Mr. Fleas flew out of her bedroom and started yapping at the door. Chubby, not the type to welcome guests, padded into the kitchen and started whacking his food dish across the floor.
    Who the heck is it? she wondered. She hadn't brushed her hair yet and felt like the female version of Attila the Hun.
    The person knocked again.
    "Nora, are you in there?" Robert called.
    Feeling exhausted, she padded over to the door and opened it. When Robert saw her, his mouth dropped open. He stared at her as if she was as repulsive as a gaping wound. Charming. Maybe she shouldn't have answered the door after all.
    "What the heck happened to you?" Robert asked. "You look exhausted."
    "I was a bit paranoid last night and wouldn't let myself sleep." Since no one had attacked her, she knew she was the victim of an overactive imagination. "It's my own fault."
    For the first time, she realized that Robert was holding a large box of donuts. She sniffed twice and the smell of chocolate made her mouth water.
    "Boston cream?" she asked.
    "Naturally. They're your favorite." Robert nodded. "I bought them for you."
    Uh-oh.
    "Why are you bringing me my favorite donuts?" she asked suspiciously, holding the door open for him.
    " Because I'm your friend." Robert stepped inside.
    Yeah, he was her friend alright. The kind of friend who wouldn't have bought her donuts even if she was terminally ill.
    "Robert." She sent him a dark look.
    "Okay." Robert groaned. "So I may have bought tickets to a Trevor Malone concert."
    Trevor Malone was a hot shot singer who she couldn't stand, though she had to admit that his music had much improved since he started writing songs for his wife, Katherine.
    "Right." Her teeth clenched. "What about the tickets?"
    "Well, I bought them for Meg, you know, as a surprise," Robert said.
    "Uh-huh." She nodded again.
    " It turns out that she knows him personally and doesn't feel comfortable going," Robert said. "She's worried he might see her."
    "She knows Trevor Malone?" Even she was shocked. Most people didn't know celebrities.
    "Apparently the redheaded woman you saw at the bar dated him for a while and then dumped him for the man who's now her husband." Robert looked flabbergasted that anybody would dump Trevor Malone.
    "Smart woman,"