Read Online His Healing Touch by Loree Lough - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Loree Lough
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he’d held her so very close, and—
Buddy’s dark-eyed, smiling face flashed in her mind, blotting out the beautiful memory. She couldn’t say how it had happened, exactly, but somehow Buddy had gotten the mistaken impression that he and Kasey were a couple. “Meet my soon-to-be fiancée,” he’d say when introducing her to visiting dignitaries. “One day soon, you’ll dance at our wedding!” he’d tell politicians and lobbyists. “What do you think of my beautiful wife-to-be?” he’d ask businessmen who came from all over the world to seal one of Buddy’s many “deals.”
Kasey would have to guess that in the two years since he’d started announcing to the world that she was his “intended,” Buddy had kissed her dozens, maybe even hundreds, of times. Kisses had concluded quiet dinners, had been stolen in dimly lit movie theaters and while dancing at one of the many galas he was so frequently invited to.
But not once had Buddy’s kisses stirred anything in Kasey’s heart. The fact that Adam’s had made her feel like a cheating wife. And how ridiculous was that!
On her back now, she pressed the fingertips of her right hand to her mouth, remembering the way her pulse had accelerated in response to Adam’s kiss. In all honesty, the knee-wobbling, heart-hammering reaction started long before his lips connected with hers; a mere glance from thosechocolate-brown eyes was all it had taken to make her realize this was what the songwriters meant when they referred to “love.”
She had no business feeling this way about Adam, not after all Buddy had done for her family. And Adam had no business waking these feelings in her, because a man as handsome and wonderful as that simply had to be involved with a woman, and—
Kasey rolled over again and faced the sofa’s back cushions. Tomorrow, she’d figure out a way to get out of this place, away from the man who owned it. Like it or not, she’d get back to living the life that had been laid out for her.
Like it or not?
Too many people depended on her. Her mother, Aleesha, her customers—even Buddy, in his strangely distant way. She buried her face in her hands and shook her head, wishing she hadn’t worked quite so hard to earn her Do-the-Right-Thing-Kasey nickname.
“Didn’t realize scrambled eggs could be so…so…”
“Fluffy?” Kasey finished for him the next morning, as they sat down to breakfast.
“Yeah. Fluffy.” The sissy word would never have occurred to him, yet for some reason it described her egg dish perfectly. Adam couldn’t help but be impressed. He’d scrambled eggs, possibly hundreds of times. His mother had made them when he was a boy, as had several ladyfriends, hoping to impress him enough to give up his bachelor status. So why did these taste so special?
“Glad the power is on again,” she was saying as she filled two small glasses with orange juice. “What time will your friend be back?”
Adam looked at the clock above the stove. Fifteenminutes to eight. “Shouldn’t be long. He said eight, and Wade’s a fairly punctual guy.”
Kasey held the milk carton above his coffee mug. “Say when….”
“Thanks, but I drink mine straight.”
She tilted her head. “No kidding? So do I.”
As she put the milk back into the refrigerator, Adam wondered how many other things they had in common. So far, he counted grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, hot chocolate. Neither of them enjoyed board or card games. And she sure liked kissing as much as he did! Seemed a sorry shame to let a woman like this get away—
Wade burst through the door, then stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Kasey at the stove. Adam could almost read his partner’s mind: The woman looked familiar, but he didn’t know why. He’d seen the photo Adam carried with him, plenty of times, but so far Wade hadn’t put two and two together.
“There’s plenty to eat, pal,” Adam invited, gesturing to an empty chair.
A wary half smile
Buddy’s dark-eyed, smiling face flashed in her mind, blotting out the beautiful memory. She couldn’t say how it had happened, exactly, but somehow Buddy had gotten the mistaken impression that he and Kasey were a couple. “Meet my soon-to-be fiancée,” he’d say when introducing her to visiting dignitaries. “One day soon, you’ll dance at our wedding!” he’d tell politicians and lobbyists. “What do you think of my beautiful wife-to-be?” he’d ask businessmen who came from all over the world to seal one of Buddy’s many “deals.”
Kasey would have to guess that in the two years since he’d started announcing to the world that she was his “intended,” Buddy had kissed her dozens, maybe even hundreds, of times. Kisses had concluded quiet dinners, had been stolen in dimly lit movie theaters and while dancing at one of the many galas he was so frequently invited to.
But not once had Buddy’s kisses stirred anything in Kasey’s heart. The fact that Adam’s had made her feel like a cheating wife. And how ridiculous was that!
On her back now, she pressed the fingertips of her right hand to her mouth, remembering the way her pulse had accelerated in response to Adam’s kiss. In all honesty, the knee-wobbling, heart-hammering reaction started long before his lips connected with hers; a mere glance from thosechocolate-brown eyes was all it had taken to make her realize this was what the songwriters meant when they referred to “love.”
She had no business feeling this way about Adam, not after all Buddy had done for her family. And Adam had no business waking these feelings in her, because a man as handsome and wonderful as that simply had to be involved with a woman, and—
Kasey rolled over again and faced the sofa’s back cushions. Tomorrow, she’d figure out a way to get out of this place, away from the man who owned it. Like it or not, she’d get back to living the life that had been laid out for her.
Like it or not?
Too many people depended on her. Her mother, Aleesha, her customers—even Buddy, in his strangely distant way. She buried her face in her hands and shook her head, wishing she hadn’t worked quite so hard to earn her Do-the-Right-Thing-Kasey nickname.
“Didn’t realize scrambled eggs could be so…so…”
“Fluffy?” Kasey finished for him the next morning, as they sat down to breakfast.
“Yeah. Fluffy.” The sissy word would never have occurred to him, yet for some reason it described her egg dish perfectly. Adam couldn’t help but be impressed. He’d scrambled eggs, possibly hundreds of times. His mother had made them when he was a boy, as had several ladyfriends, hoping to impress him enough to give up his bachelor status. So why did these taste so special?
“Glad the power is on again,” she was saying as she filled two small glasses with orange juice. “What time will your friend be back?”
Adam looked at the clock above the stove. Fifteenminutes to eight. “Shouldn’t be long. He said eight, and Wade’s a fairly punctual guy.”
Kasey held the milk carton above his coffee mug. “Say when….”
“Thanks, but I drink mine straight.”
She tilted her head. “No kidding? So do I.”
As she put the milk back into the refrigerator, Adam wondered how many other things they had in common. So far, he counted grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, hot chocolate. Neither of them enjoyed board or card games. And she sure liked kissing as much as he did! Seemed a sorry shame to let a woman like this get away—
Wade burst through the door, then stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Kasey at the stove. Adam could almost read his partner’s mind: The woman looked familiar, but he didn’t know why. He’d seen the photo Adam carried with him, plenty of times, but so far Wade hadn’t put two and two together.
“There’s plenty to eat, pal,” Adam invited, gesturing to an empty chair.
A wary half smile
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