Read Online Fool Me Once (Codie Snow #1): A Romantic Suspense Series by Jade C. Jamison - Free Book Online Page B

drumming his fingers on the table to emphasize his displeasure.
    “Waiting for what ?”
    “Details.”
    “There’s nothing to tell, Matthew.”
    Her friend threw his potato chip back in the basket with a flick of his wrist while whispering as loudly as he could muster, “ Oh, my God! ”
    “What?”  Codie was in no mood for Matthew’s dramatics this morning.  Okay, it wasn’t morning anymore.  Today.   Not today.
    He began swirling his finger around, as if trying to describe the motion of a hurricane to someone.  “This…”  He leaned over the table, a conspiratorial tone in his voice.  “This is a heart thing, isn’t it?”
    “What the hell are you talking about?”  Feeling a little nervous now, Codie picked up her cup and began sipping furiously, drawing harder on the straw than she should have.  If Matthew was saying what she thought he was saying…
    “You care about the old flame, don’t you?”
    Codie tried to act casual.  “Eh.”  She shrugged her shoulders and sucked harder on the straw.  Damn.  The tea was almost empty.
    “You do .  Holy shit!  Does he know?”
    “I need to refill my tea.”
    “Oh, girlfriend, not at a—”
    “Be right back.”  She slid out of the booth and skedaddled over to the drink station, knowing she’d barely escaped a situation that would make her want to start biting her fingernails down to the quick.  How Matthew could read her so well and so easily, she’d never know.  Hell, he’d figured out her feelings for Pete before she’d had a chance.
    But she barely had her lid off and had set her cup underneath the spigot before Matthew stood next to her.  “Codie, seriously, you cannot walk away just when we get to the bottom of things.”
    “ We?   The bottom of things?  What the hell is that supposed to mean?”  She almost wanted to laugh at how his nostrils were flaring, as though this were a life-or-death matter.
    Fortunately, Matthew dropped his voice, probably sensing that half the restaurant was now staring at them.  They must have looked ridiculous, with Codie in a pair of skinny jeans topped with a Motionless in White t-shirt and Matthew in an expensive designer suit.  Codie could never remember which designer, because every time Matthew got a raise, the name on the label changed.  Her friend’s philosophy was that his wardrobe should get nicer as his paycheck did, that his clothing should reflect his pay.  His boss and her ex, Slade, was not that way.  He’d been wearing four-digit price tag suits from the start.  It was how his dad had operated, and he was following in the old man’s footsteps.
    Ah, but thinking about Slade at a time like this was dangerous.  And confusing.
    Matthew took one of Codie’s hands as if guiding her back to their booth, and he didn’t sit down until she’d slid her own butt back in place on her side of the table.  “How long have we known each other?”
    Codie furrowed her brow, trying to do the math.  They’d known each other since childhood, but she suspected he was wanting to know how long they’d been friends, and that had happened in high school.  So, doing the math—
    But Matthew was impatient.  He wasn’t about to wait for her answer.  “A long time, girlfriend.  And we’ve talked hot dates how many times ?”  She shrugged again.  That number would be even harder to calculate than the previous one— impossible .  “But the couple times where you haven’t wanted to talk have been when your heart was invested in the guy.”  Codie sucked air into her lungs through her nose.  She was afraid of opening her mouth, thereby confirming the truth she had yet to fully admit to herself.  “Am I right?”
    Before she tossed out an answer, she really gave it some thought.  Actually, gave him some thought.  Pete Olsen, old high school sweetheart, former quarterback of the almost-state-champion Dalton Tigers, now a law enforcement officer in their little burg, a nice guy