Read Online Never Give You Up by Shady Grace - Free Book Online Page B

have millions of dollars to throw around like you do.”
    He stepped back and chuckled. “Mary, honey. It doesn’t take millions to move. Anyway, if you plan to stay here then you have to learn not to care what anyone else thinks. Thicken that skin of yours. Live like you want to live. You’re the boss.”
    But it’s not as easy as he thinks.
    Mary wanted to smack him and throw herself in his arms at the same time. She wasn’t a complete fool. For the first time in a long time, she controlled her future, and she wouldn’t let him be the one to mix it up. Besides, she was afraid of what would happen if she did give him such power. He was a friend, nothing more. Even if he did make her insides melt like butter in a pan.
    And he hadn’t returned her calls. Maybe he enjoyed a handful of other women while she sat at home, alone, thinking about him like some lonely, hick woman.
    Maybe I should use him for pleasure then send him on his way. For once I’d be in charge of my own life and do something crazy.
    She glanced past him. “Is anyone with you?” She didn’t want another repeat of what happened before when Ben and his men tried to hurt her. It wasn’t Terry’s fault, she knew that, but she was well aware bad things happened in his line of work.
    “Nope. I’m alone. Only a select few know my location.”
    She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Why? Is something going on?” Her hackles went up and her gaze sought the skinning knife on the shelf a few feet away. Maybe he had men following him and they’d find her, too.
    He shrugged, but his eyes belied his nonchalance. “I just wanted to see you.”
    She was already an outcast in her town and lately Mima had been too busy with Gabe. But Gabe did say Terry wanted to spend some time with her. What harm would come from a simple dinner with a good-looking man like Terry McCoy? Nobody knew him. Maybe that was a good thing. Nothing else had to happen. Dinner with a man every woman in this town would faint over if he simply smiled at her. But it was Mary he wanted to see.
    She made up her mind then and there. “Okay. I can do dinner.”
    “Wonderful,” he said loudly. “Meet me at The Siesta tomorrow night, eight o’clock sharp. Wear something tight.”
    Byron glanced up from the phone, his eyes wide in complete shock as Terry left her there in the aisle, still holding the can of spaghetti sauce.
     

Chapter 5
     
    Terry did a double take when Mary walked into the hotel lobby with her face all dolled up, wearing tight black jeans and a snug pink shirt.
    He fully expected her to slap on a jogging suit and work boots, or something that screamed she regularly gutted a deer on her picnic table out back. What he stared at right now pleasantly surprised him.
    He couldn’t help his grin as he eyed her up. All her wavy, chestnut hair touched her shoulders, and framed a flawless, oval face. Full lips tinted pink, bright brown eyes that almost matched her hair, and a pert little nose. She was beautiful. A woman who could be wilderness resourceful yet downtown chic all at once. Terry imagined how she would look in a gown at a gala over a thousand-dollar dinner plate.
    Mary Billings would look good on his arm.
    He pushed up from his seat on the ratty old lounger by the front desk and made his way toward her, thinking of ice-cold water and Gabe’s eyelash curler to settle his erection rapidly going haywire. Since when could he not control himself in front of a broad?
    “Come on, honey. I’m starving.”
    Her awkward silence did nothing to curb his enthusiasm. He’d do just about anything to get into her clothes, and even though their strange relationship got off to a bad start, he was prepared to offer her whatever she wanted. As long as she would have him. He liked Mary Billings. Whether he’d made a bad decision in coming here was another story. He’d take his chances. Life was a chance in itself.
    Guilt weighed heavily on his shoulders for many things. He always