Read Online Loving the White Liar by Kate Stewart - Free Book Online Page B

as we continued to get more and more wrapped up in the story unfolding.
    “Netflix is crack,” I noted after our fifth episode. His arm still around me, he began to feather his fingers through my hair in a soothing motion. Reveling in the feel, I made slow circles on his chest with my fingertips.
    Jayden would look down at me from time to time and I could see the heat building in his eyes. I was almost disheartened when I realized the hour and told him I should go so he could get some sleep for work the next day.
    “I had fun,” I told him at the door.
    “Me, too,” he said softly as he leaned in and I braced myself for a kiss. His answer was only a whisper of his lips and I found myself entirely deflated as he pulled away.
    “Do I still fit the criteria, Jayden?” I asked curiously, revealing a hint of insecurity.
    “God, that was rude of me. I sometimes say shit I don’t mean. I have a problem with my filter. I mean, it’s the truth, but with you sometimes I overshare. It can make me seem kind of like an asshole.”
    “I happen to like it that you’re so honest.”
    “Give it time,” he said with a look of dread. I wanted to depart on a good note, so I changed the subject.
    “It’s cool. I was just wondering why the other night I was practically half naked in your truck and tonight you gave me a good bye kiss I would expect from my ninety-year-old grandmother.”
    He burst into laughter then pulled me into his arms. After a few minutes of simply holding me at his door, he whispered into my temple, “I like you, that’s why.”
    “I’ll take it,” I whispered back, pulling away to look up at him. “I like you, too.” And that’s when he captured my mouth, fulfilling my need for his touch. He kissed me long, hard, and thoroughly, letting me know that a kiss had been just as much on his mind as it had been on mine. My panties soaked and my mind on all things Jayden, I stood, hoping for an invitation he delivered.
    “How about Wednesday?” he whispered as he tapped his lips against mine one last time, easing us out of the fog. I nodded in response.
    “Goodnight, Jayden, and thank you for dinner. So good...all of it.” His dazzling smile muted me as I tore myself away, but not before memorizing his features, and tucking them away.
    “Night.”

 
     

     
    I spent the next day organizing my life. I paid all the bills I could afford to, cleaned my apartment to white glove inspection worthy, and even managed to spend a few hours organizing my closet. Something inside me knew things were about to change for the better, and in a way I was preparing myself for it. In less than a week, I would be starting a new job that I was excited about. With the toss of the shoebox full of old boyfriend memorabilia in the trash, I knew with that gesture I was ridding myself of my baggage. I would keep my scars—I’d earned them—but I didn’t need a ten year old ticket stub to remember them.
    Gerri came home from the lunch shift and plopped herself on my bed as I continued to throw piles on the floor outside my closet that I intended to discard.
    “What’s with the nesting? And why is the house so damned clean? Is your mother coming?”
    “I decided to get rid of a few things, and no, I just felt like it.” Stepping into my closet, I discreetly lidded my NSYNC memorabilia and tucked it away from Gerri’s view. No one needed to know I had my first orgasm thinking of Justin Timberlake in the Gone video, or that I had gone to see them twelve times in concert, some of them back to back, if I begged my mother enough to drive to the neighboring cities. My box was all I had left out of thousands of dollars’ worth of memorabilia I’d collected. And I wasn’t parting with it, ever.
    She gave me a sideways glance as I braved a look at her. I wasn’t the world’s tidiest roommate. Gerri actually had me beat in that department. She often bitched about the large amount of auburn hair that was embedded in the