Read Online Chemistry of Desire by Melanie Schuster - Free Book Online

ladies, raise your glasses. Here’s hoping that he’s just as miserable as he deserves to be,” she said with a steely glint in her eye. “I don’t care what he said. He’s somewhere right now feeling like the world’s biggest moron, which he is.”
    “I concur,” Sherri said.
    Emily didn’t say a word. She just finished her wine.
    Alexis took a few sips and put her glass down. “Just don’t get down on yourself, Emmie. I think the chemistry was too much for him,” she said slowly. Sherri nodded in agreement, although Emily looked puzzled.
    “Chemistry, honey,” Sherri emphasized. “This is your field, Emmie. You should understand it better than anyone. Chemistry is the attraction between men and women, and it’s a very potent thing. It’s what keeps the world turning, so to speak. Yours is really powerful, girl. You turned that man inside out and ran his butt back to Chicago. That’s power,” she said as she and Alexis did a ladylike high five.
    Emily’s cheeks were hot, and she decided to ignore them as she cracked more pistachios. Shehad to smile at the image of Todd fleeing Hilton Head to escape her womanly wiles. I know that’s just sister-love on their part, but I truly hope he’s suffering the results of all that so-called chemistry. And I hope he feels as bad as I do.
     
    It was a miserable, rainy day in Chicago, and it suited Todd just fine. He’d been in a foul mood since he left Hilton Head, and clear, sunny weather was wasted on him. He managed to keep his angst under control when he was working, but when he was alone it was a different story. He was too health-conscious to wallow in alcohol and his personal convictions made drugs totally taboo, but he still needed an outlet for his conflicted emotions. Working out seemed to be his best bet, and he’d been doing so with a vengeance since he returned home. His loft apartment had a corner that held gym equipment that he used when he couldn’t get out to run, like today. He was pounding away on his treadmill when his brother Jason came into the loft.
    “Did I invite you here? Because unexpected is uninvited,” Todd growled.
    “If you’d answer your phone or return a call I wouldn’t have to invade your privacy,” Jason replied. “But since you’ve put up this huge wall around yourself lately, this was my only recourse.”
    “Why don’t you just recourse yourself on out ofhere?” Todd slowed the treadmill down to a walk and wiped his face with the towel that was slung over his shoulder.
    Jason didn’t seem to react to his brother’s rudeness. In fact, he looked a tiny bit amused. He went over to the refrigerator to see if there was anything worth eating and shook his head when he saw nothing but some withered fruit and takeout containers. “There’s something very familiar and ironic about this situation,” he mused.
    Todd got off the treadmill and went to the kitchen area to get a big glass of water from the water cooler. “What are you talking about?”
    “It wasn’t too long ago that you were coming to my place, uninvited I might add, to needle me about the state of my love life. And now I get to do the same thing to you,” Jason said with a grin.
    Todd’s face darkened with anger, and he was about to tear into his brother when Jason held up both hands. “Look, man, I’m concerned about you. I’m not trying to yank your chain for the fun of it. You went on vacation to get some rest because you were stressed out and tired. You come back from vacation looking like hell and evil as a black snake. I know you well enough to know that something happened between then and now, and you need to talk about it.”
    “No, I don’t. There’s nothing to talk about,” Todd said stubbornly. “Why don’t you go on backto your happy home and mind your own damned business?”
    Jason ignored him as he went over to the super-size sofa and sat down, picking up the remote and turning on the giant flat-screen. “I’m not going