Valentine Collection (Valentine Anthology) by Jennifer Conner Read Free Book Online Page B

rattled. And Cecilia was never rattled. He flopped down in the large overstuffed leather sofa next to the desk and put his bare feet on the coffee table. “A-1 Teriyaki.”
    She glared at him. “What are you talking about?”
    “You wanted my new password. Ha! You didn’t figure it out and now it’s bugging you.” He raised a clenched fist in victory. “You’ve been harping on me for a year to stop using the same old password-, telling me I would be eaten to bits by the big bad wolf.”
    “Hacked.”
    “So I mixed it up. Uppercase, lowercase— AND a number!”
    She tried to hold a smile back, but it snuck through. “I’m so proud of you. You used a takeout place’s name for your password?”
    “Not just any takeout. This place just opened around the corner and they are my new best friends. Great food, I can remember the name for my password and they are…”
    The doorbell rang.
    “Fast! I think they have ESP and know when I’m going to call.” He rose and moved to open the front door. He paid the delivery kid - then after a side trip to the kitchen, came back with plates and forks.
    Cecilia was hard at work on his computer. After ignoring him for a minute, she  turned and said, “There you go. All your virus protection is updated from hackers and big bad wolves.”
    “As usual, I know you won’t let me pay you and I doubt you’ve eaten dinner since you came straight from work. So help me with this double order of General Tao chicken?”
    “It smells awfully good. And I am starving.”
    He scooped out generous portions of the chicken and fried rice onto the plates then they took opposite ends of the couch. It was nice to have CC there. She was over a lot and he liked it. Lee hated spending the evenings in an empty house. He must be getting old, because all the things that seemed terribly important in the past were moving down the list.
    He loved being a lawyer and was good at what he did. Along with that came money for the house and car. Lee glanced at the folder on the desk. He thought of telling Cecilia about the dating service, but she’d never understand. To the outside world, it looked as though he had everything.
    The idea of using a dating service was lame, but he had a friend who used it and met a few nice girls. As he wrote down on his profile, No pressure on any potential dates, let’s just take it easy and become friends.  One-night flings were fun, but they were no longer enough. That’s what he really needed right now, good friends, who came over after working an eight hour day to fix your virus protection software.
    He hit the button to turn on his big screen TV and found the Travel Channel.
    “Hey!” Cecilia exclaimed and jumped  up. “That’s the Deschutes National Forest .  We went hiking there last year with Tami. Remember when she thought she heard a bear and ran to hide in the Sani-can? I’m surprised she ever went hiking again. She still talks about that.”
    Her grin was contagious and he smiled. She dropped her tall, lean body back on the couch and pulled the band off that held her hair in a ponytail. A cascade of rich brown hair fell over one shoulder before she twisted it up in a knot. He tried to remember if he’d ever seen her hair down before, or if he’d just never paid attention. He paid attention now and saw how silky it was.
    As she watched the TV, he watched her.
    With Cupid’s Okay , maybe he’d find someone like CC.

    #

    When CC left, he cracked his knuckles, turned off the TV and buckled down to finish the online profile. Too bad you couldn’t just snap your fingers and have it  fill itself in . Ugh . Computer work.
    Lee opened the folder and typed in the web address. He put in the login information and waited.
    The screen said, Welcome back.
    Huh?
    Had he filled out the rest of the application and forgotten he’d already done it? He was really tired last night when he started and had a glass of wine. Maybe it cosmically knew his info. Had he been