Read Online My Last - Riley & Chelle by Melanie Shawn - Free Book Online Page A

probably a good thing to keep in mind - the fact that if you play with fire, you get burned.
    She put a hand to her forehead. This was ridiculous. She was getting so far ahead of herself, cautioning herself for nothing! She was thinking of the situation as if Riley even wanted to play. She knew he probably still thought of her as Eddie’s little brat of a sister. An annoyance. An inconvenience.
    And why shouldn’t he, she thought. Just look at the facts. Case-in-point, this very situation. After not seeing each other for over a decade, their very first re-introduction consisted of a situation where he was being asked to look after her, to check on her, to make sure she was okay. She was an inconvenience.
    She squared her shoulders with renewed determination. She was going to take back some control in a situation that felt 100% out of control. She was going to solve both his problem and hers in one fell swoop.
    As soon as he returned, she would let him know that she was fine, thank him for his time, and send him on his merry way. Problems solved! There was no possible way she could get burned if the fire was gone. And if she asserted herself and let him know in no uncertain terms that, yes, she had been having a bit of a rough patch, but she was doing better now - then he could be on his way. She would be out of his hair. True, she may have been a slight inconvenience when she was passed out, unconscious. BUT now that she was up and about, he didn’t have to worry about her. No sirree!
    Quickly and efficiently, she towel dried her hair and pulled on the first clothes she saw, which were a pair of jeans and a blue thermal. She took in her reflection in the mirror.
    Wow! An entire week of nothing but junk food and alcohol seemed to have caught up with her.
    There were deep purple bags under her eyes, and her jeans were a little tighter than she remembered them being the last time she'd worn them…which had been last week.
    Oh well, damn it. It would have to do! She shouldn’t even care what she looked like. It’s not like Riley would notice anyway!
    Taking one last deep, fortifying breath she turned the knob and opened the bedroom door. She might as well get this over with, quick and painless - like pulling off a Band-Aid. The sooner she sent him on his way the sooner she could be certain that she wasn’t inconveniencing him, and - more importantly - the sooner she could stop worrying about getting burned.
    She stepped out to a bright clean apartment, she blinked several times at the light flooding the room. The drapes were pulled back, blinds were up and all the windows were wide open. Chelle looked around. It was like seeing the apartment for the first time.
    Since she had arrived she had kept everything shut up tight, closed and dark. She had not even noticed how beautiful the small space was.
    Katie had carved out quite a life for herself here in San Francisco. Even with most of the items that had filled the apartment now packed up and shipped back to Harper’s Crossing, the pieces that were left really made the space feel like a home.
    A home which, right now, smelled like bacon, eggs, and coffee. At first Chelle thought the smells would cause her to get nauseous again, but that didn’t happen. In fact, quite the opposite occurred, and she heard her stomach rumble loudly.
    “Sounds like someone’s hungry,” she heard the light, teasing tone in Riley's voice and felt herself fall right back into the bond of camaraderie they used to share. Effortlessly, like a tongue in groove joint, her soul fell back into lockstep with his. She closed her eyes, reveling in it and refusing to think about the consequences right at that moment.
    She turned to look toward the kitchen, which was where his voice had originated. Riley stood with his back to her, cooking at the stove. Chelle’s heart melted, just a little. Damn fire.
    No man had ever cooked for her before. She knew it wasn’t like he was cooking for her . He was just