Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,25

with a menu.

Hannah and I stare on wide-eyed.

“Ouch. Mama.” He holds out his hands.

She shakes her head, her eyes piercing into him. “Don’t give the phone number out again.”

Chelsea laughs, obviously understanding whatever it is that’s going on here. “Still?” she asks him, and he shoots her a smirk as if to say, can you blame me?

“It was nice meeting you.” He swings his arm around his mama’s shoulders and the two of them walk away, speaking Italian.

“Cute,” Hannah says. “Too young for me, but you two should think about it.”

“You couldn’t be more than five or six years older than him,” I say.

“Doesn’t matter how old he is, that’s a big N-O from me,” Chelsea says.

“A paramedic with a body and face like his? I imagine there’s a lot of competition and he probably likes it that way,” I say.

Chelsea points at me. “You have good intuition, Vic. His mom is mad at him because he gives all the women he meets at bars the deli phone number.”

Hannah wipes her mouth. “Never mind then. He’s not the one for either of you.”

We all stand and dispose of our trash. Chelsea runs over and gives Luca a quick hug goodbye. He raises his hand in a wave to us and we each smile with a wave back as we’re exiting the door. I turn and run smack dab into a man wearing a suit and my heart halts for a moment before I realize it’s not Reed. Why would it be?

“Excuse me,” I say, sliding by the man.

“No, excuse me.” His eyes flit over my body like I’m on the menu.

“Is that the steak?” Chelsea jokingly asks as we walk by, ignoring the guy.

“Yeah, baby. King cut T-bone. Want a bite?”

Hannah and I stand there with our mouths ajar. Seriously, a little kid just walked by.

“I’d have to douse it in A1 sauce before I could even stomach looking at it.” Chelsea lets the glass door shut behind her and we rush to the entrance of our building laughing uncontrollably.

It really is good to have girlfriends again. Just another reason to stay single. I let a man distract me from growing new friendships before. Never again.

Chapter Six

Eleven-fifty-five Saturday at the McDonald’s on Peterson, Jade and I walk in, hand in hand. I glance around, not seeing Reed or Henry, so I order a happy meal for Jade and a meal for myself.

We sit down with our food in a booth that Jade picks out. So far everything’s going great. Until the door opens behind me and Jade’s eyes widen, a huge smile overtaking her small face.

“Henry!” she exclaims, her hand up in the air.

Like the other day, I smell him before I see him. That musky and citrus mix that’s like a heat-seeking missile right between my legs.

“I would have bought you lunch,” he says, arriving at the edge of the table.

Henry and Jade talk about the play area and I take him in. Faded jeans, a black pullover jacket, and a pair of soccer sneakers. A memory of going to one of his soccer games at a park once flashes through my mind. It was like a rec league or something. I thought he was jaw-dropping in a suit but his casual look makes me want to nuzzle into him on a Sunday afternoon all day.

“Don’t you know yet, Mr. Warner, I’m the independent type.” Jade glances over to me with a strange look on her face.

A smile creases the edges of his eyes and an embarrassed flush, runs through my body. How stupid did I just sound?

“I do know that Ms. Keebler.”

“Clarke now.”

He rocks back on his heels, a look on his face to suggest he had wondered.

“So, you’re not the cookie maker anymore?” he chuckles, and I eye Jade because the poor girl still holds her father’s name. “Who doesn’t want to be associated with E.L. Fudge? He’s the best.”

Jade smiles and then goes back to her conversation with Henry.

“Usual, Henry?” he asks the little boy.

He nods at Reed and I really need to finalize who he is to him.

“Great, I’ll be right back.” He taps the table with his knuckles and then heads around the row of tables to the front.

“Can we play?” Jade asks.

“After you eat. Come over here, Jade.” I slide closer to the wall, waiting for her.

Her face loses the excitement. “I’ll sit with Henry.” She situates herself and I wonder how the fact that she picked out a booth did not set