Trust in Me by Beth Cornelison Read Free Book Online Page A

check-out counter and presented him with the homemade pie and a sugary smile.
    "Thank you, ma'am. It looks delicious. That's really nice of you."
    "Glad to do it, Kevin. I know how much you love them." She tucked a blonde curl behind her ear, and he couldn't help but compare the faded straw color of the woman's dyed hair to the shiny gold of Claire's.
    "What can I do for you today, ma'am?" Kevin cut a quick glance to the door of the break room, wondering if Ray had made an ass of himself yet. He itched to get free of Mrs. Jernigan so he could check up on Claire, protect her from Ray's less than sterling personality. As it was, the widow chatted about the weather and her plans to visit her sister in Charleston for a good ten minutes before she told Kevin goodbye and left the store. Strawberry pie in hand, Kevin headed to the back room to assess the situation, glad to have the pie as an excuse for being there.
    "Here." He set the pie on the table where Claire sat sipping a diet drink. "Y'all help yourselves to this. I can't eat it."
    Ray took one look at the pie and laughed. "Old lady Jernigan's been by to drool over you again?" The stock clerk stuck his finger in the pie and scooped out a berry. "Pity the only women you attract have dentures and arthritis, Fuller." He sucked the strawberry off his finger with a loud slurp. "When you gonna tell her you're allergic to strawberries?"
    Claire lifted her head and regarded Kevin with a look of surprise.
    "I'm not going to tell her." Kevin shoved his hands in his pockets and gave Ray a level stare. "It would embarrass her and hurt her feelings if she thought I didn't eat her pies."
    "That's sweet of you," Claire said.
    He glanced at her and found her smiling at him with a breathtaking admiration in her eyes. His pulse jumped like a hopeful puppy at the pound. Down boy! She's not in the market for a mutt.
    He shrugged. "It's nothing."
    Claire scowled. "Kindness is never nothing. It's thoughtful of you to protect her feelings like that. So...you're really allergic to strawberries?"
    "I break out in hives. Not a pretty picture."
    Ray snorted. "Look in a mirror, Fuller. You ain't so pretty now ."
    Kevin ground his teeth together and sent Ray a dark glare. Somehow the teasing he usually let roll off his back stung a little bit in front of Claire. Because Ray was right. Though he wouldn't call himself ugly, he wasn't anything special either, didn't turn women's heads. Especially exquisite women like Claire.
    Ribbit .
    "I don't know, Ray." Claire pushed back her chair and took her soda can to the trash. "Most women find thoughtfulness a very attractive quality. I know I do."
    Hold the phone! What was this?
    Claire moved to the sink to wash her hands, and Ray edged over next to her. Kevin was still musing over Claire's last comment when he saw Ray sidle up to Claire and murmur something into her ear. The look of disgust that crossed Claire's face and the fact that Ray followed his comment by copping a quick feel of her bottom told Kevin all he had to know. A slow burn ignited in his gut and raised his blood to a boil. Somehow the sight of Ray's hands on Claire was particularly obscene. He didn't stop to analyze why.
    Claire drew back from Ray with a gasp.
    "Ray Lowery, do the words 'sexual harassment' mean anything to you?" Kevin barked.
    The teen smirked. "Yeah, I was just checkin' out her-ass-ment."
    Kevin choked down the urge to smash his fist into Ray's disrespectful mouth.
    There's never an excuse to resort to fighting. Violence is a foothold for the devil, his mother's voice echoed in his mind. He shuddered and sucked in a deep breath for calm.
    "Ray, you've been warned. If you ever touch her again—"
    Claire turned a wide-eyed expression toward Kevin. "Kevin, it's okay. I can—"
    "It's not okay." He faced Ray as the teenager sauntered past him and toward the door. "I won't stand for any more of your crudeness."
    Ray lifted a hand and shot Kevin a foul hand signal.
    An impotent rage