Read Online Asking for Trouble by Anna J. Stewart - Free Book Online Page B

didn’t see?”
    When Jon turned his phone around, Gage stared at a photo of himself and Morgan dancing very, very close. That look on her face made Gage frown. She seemed happy, sultry. Why the hell had she run away from him? Not that it mattered. Except that it did matter, and the fact that it did bugged the crap out of him.
    â€œNo. I didn’t see.” Gage’s chest felt as if it were suddenly overflowing with a troupe of Chinese gymnasts. Shit. He’d bet his mother was ordering wedding invitations online at this moment.
    As if waiting for a cue, Gage’s phone erupted into that obnoxious boy-be-bop song. He stared at it for a good ten seconds, considered using the rubber mallet to silence it for good.
    â€œAnswer it, man,” Jon whispered from behind him, but when Gage looked over his shoulder, Jon stepped away, hands up in surrender. Or preparing to run for his life. “You know how she gets when we ignore her.”
    â€œYeah.” Gage turned his attention to the phone as Jon headed home. Police academy training, fifteen years on the job, and he’d rather walk unarmed into a drug den than answer that phone. “Coward.” Gage winced as he snatched the phone and clicked on. “Hey, Mom.”
    â€œWe made a deal after you got shot, Gage. I’m supposed to hear from you every two days, remember?”
    Gage took a calming breath. Hard to forget any deal made with a tube down your throat and a catheter up your—
    â€œI figured you’d be busy working on Stephen’s birthday party.” His life was never more peaceful than when Theresa Juliano was in event-planning mode. Thank God there were five other siblings to occupy her.
    â€œI’m finalizing the menu as we speak.” The edge of fear he’d heard in her voice when he’d first answered the phone was gone. Probably helped that she knew he wasn’t lying dead in an alley somewhere. Not that Lantano Valley had that many alleys. “Are you going to invite Morgan Tremayne or should I?”
    â€œInvite Morgan? Mom!” Oh, God. He’d just squawked. As bad as she’d been about his dating life before, she’d ticked up yet another notch on the crazy meter. “Mom, you have to stop doing this. My life is
my
life.”
    â€œBah. Your life is mine as long as you breathe. It’s either her or I’ll call that darling Millie girl from the library.”
    â€œYou do that and I’ll head straight over to St. Augustus and take a vow of chastity.” His Catholic upbringing reared its vengeful head and made Gage cross his fingers. Maybe he should spin three times and spit on the floor. The silence that followed carried an unfamiliar tension. “Mom?”
    â€œYou’re alone. You shouldn’t be alone.”
    How many times had they had this conversation? And it had become more frequent since the shooting. “Wounds heal. Memories fade.” Maybe not as fast as he’d have liked, but they would. “I’m fine. I like my life the way it is.” Despite the thoughts of Morgan skipping along the edges of his mind like a stone on a pond.
    â€œ
Fine
and
happy
are two different things,” Theresa corrected. “We haven’t seen you in weeks. You’ve buried yourself in work, in this new job, this Nemesis business. You need someone in your life and judging from what I saw in the paper, she’s the perfect solution. Besides, I want grandbabies before I’m too old to enjoy them. So. Yes or no on the date?”
    â€œMom.” Was he ever more exhausted than when he talked to his mother? “I love you. You know that. But the last thing I need is you hounding me about my procreation intentions. It’ll happen when it happens, if it happens. Besides, wouldn’t you prefer a nice legal daughter-in-law you could pester instead of me?”
    â€œLegal, ha. At this point, I’ll take what I can get, and I get what I