Read Online Strangers in Paradise by Heather Graham - Free Book Online

did you ask that?”
    He chuckled softly. “Because your eyes are rimmed with red, and it makes you look tired and hungry.
    â€œWant me to call for a pizza?”
    â€œYou must be kidding. You can get a pizza all the way out here?”
    â€œI have connections,” he promised her gravely. “What do you want on it?”
    â€œAnything.”
    Alexi leaned her head against the sofa again. She heard him stand and walk around to the phone and order a large pizza with peppers, onions, mushrooms and pepperoni from a man named Joe, with whom he chatted casually, saying that he was over at the Brandywine house and, yes, Gene’s great-granddaughter was in and, yes, she was fine—just hungry.
    He hung up at last.
    â€œSo Joe will send a pizza?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œThat’s wonderful.”
    â€œHmm.”
    She sat up, curling her toes beneath her again and smoothing her skirt.
    â€œHold still,” he commanded her suddenly.
    Startled, she looked at him, amazed at the tension in his features. He moved toward her, and she almost jumped, but he spoke again, quietly but with an authority that made her catch her breath.
    â€œHold still!”
    A second later he swept something off her shoulder, dashed it to the ground and stomped upon it.
    Alexi felt a bit ill. She jumped to her feet, shaking out her hair. “What was it?”
    â€œA brown widow.”
    â€œA what?”
    â€œA brown widow. A spider. It wouldn’t have killed you, but they hurt like hell and can make you sick.”
    â€œOh, God!”
    â€œHey—there are spiderwebs all over this place. You know that.”
    Alexi stood still and swallowed. She lifted her hands calmly. “I can—I can handle spiders.”
    â€œYou can.”
    â€œCertainly. Spiders and bugs and—even mice. And rats! I can handle it, really I can. Just so long as—”
    â€œSo long as what?”
    She lowered her head and shook it, concealing her eyes from him. “Nothing.” Snakes. She hated snakes. She simply wasn’t about to tell him. “I’ll be okay.”
    â€œThen why don’t you sit again?”
    â€œBecause the pizza is coming. And because we really should eat in the kitchen. Don’t you think?”
    He grinned, his head slightly cocked, as he studied her. “Sure.”
    They moved back to the kitchen. The light there seemed very bright and cheerful, and Alexi had the wonderful feeling that no spider or other creature would dare show its face in this scrubbed and scoured spot.
    â€œWhy didn’t you have the rest of the place kept up?” Alexi complained, sliding into a chair at the butcher-block table.
    He sat across from her, arching a brow. “Excuse me. I kept just the kitchen up because Gene asked me to keep an eye on the place—and I’m not fond of sitting around with crawling creatures. If I’d known that the delicate face that launched ships would be appearing, I would have given more thought to the niceties.”
    â€œVery funny. I am tough, you know,” she said indignantly.
    â€œSure.”
    â€œOh, lock yourself in a closet.”
    â€œSuch vile language!”
    He was laughing at her, she knew. Tired as she was, Alexi was back on her feet, totally aggravated. “Trust me, Mr. Morrow—I can get to it! And I will do it. I’ll make it here. You can warn me and threaten me, but I’m not leaving.”
    He lowered his head and idly rubbed his temple with his fingertips. She realized that he was laughing at her again. “I will, and you’ll see.”
    â€œListen, the closest you’ve probably been to a spider before is watching Spiderman on the Saturday-morning cartoons. You grew up with maids and gardeners and—”
    â€œI see. You toiled and starved all those years to make your own money, so you know all about being rough and tough and surviving. You couldn’t have starved too damn long.