Read Online Ice Cream Man by Melody Lane - Free Book Online

that?”
    “Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. I paid my dues.” Janice raised her eyebrows. “I’m still paying my dues.” She watched as he sipped the wine. He didn’t seem upset that she had been divorced. Time for the next shock. “I just turned forty.”
    Antonio looked up at her, but didn’t flinch. Instead his eyes locked onto hers. “When?”
    “Last week.”
    “Our birthdays are only a week apart.” He smiled. “Too bad we didn’t know each other then. We could have celebrated together. Want to hear my story now?”
    “Sure.” Janice’s heart was pounding. Antonio didn’t act like he cared that there were thirteen years between them. It was a non-issue. Multiple points for Antonio again.
    “I’ve already told you I’m from Houston. Got my degree there, then moved down to Los Angeles when I was twenty-four. Had a few modeling jobs.” He shook his head. “I didn’t like it there at all. You really need a car in LA. I think that was part of the problem for me. I wanted to live in a place where public transportation and walking were the main modes of getting around. I don’t really care about having a car.” He grinned. “Plus, I wasn’t having any luck getting regular work, so I moved here.”
    “I understand the car thing.” She chuckled. “I don’t miss having one at all.”
    “I’ve had a variety of jobs for these last three years. I already told you that. None of them were very exciting.” He let out a breath. “I’ve lived here a year longer than LA but the outcome has been the same. No significant acting work.”
    “But that might all be changing now.” Janice took another sip of her wine. “You might catch a break tomorrow.”
    “I hope so.” He cleared his throat. “There’s another thing I’d like to tell you.”
    “Yes?”
    “I send my mother money every month. She’s retired and needs it.”
    “Hmm. That’s commendable. What a good son you are.” As she stared up into his eyes, she saw something there that she hadn’t even seen in her own lately.
    Hope.
    He had grown up in Houston and she came from a suburb outside of Detroit, but they had found each other. New York City had called to them for different reasons but their paths had crossed. They decided it was fate that they had met yesterday on his very first day of being an ice cream man.
    When Antonio grabbed her hand from underneath the table, Janice felt like a schoolgirl. Just yesterday morning she had been old, poor and lonely. Today it was just the opposite. There was a new woman in East Village and Janice Freeman was ready to take on the City like never before.
    By the time they entered her apartment, mouths and hands were going everywhere. Good thing they had left the street and were alone now. They were unable to keep off of each other any longer.
    His fingers slid to her breasts. “I want this shirt off.”
    Janice pulled the shirt up and over her head and threw it over the kitchen chair.
    He turned her around and unhooked the yellow gingham bra. His head bent to slowly kiss her shoulders. He ran his lips from one side of them to the other. “You’re so soft,” he breathed out. “I missed you today while I was working, Bella .”
    She closed her eyes and breathed out. It felt so wonderful for someone to say that to her. No one had ever said they had missed her before. She let the straps of her bra fall down her arms and pulled it off. Her body twirled to see him.
    His curly hair had spilled over one side of his face. His chestnut-colored eyes appeared almost black. They were lustful, for her. She had never been aroused so easily before just looking at someone. He leaned down and ran his lips across her breasts. It felt glorious.
    She cradled his head in her hands against her. “Pull off your clothes.”
    Antonio leaned back and unbuttoned his shirt, then let his jeans and briefs drop to the floor. Janice did the same with her jeans. She stared at his well-built chest as he pulled off his shirt,