Read Online The Next Move by Lauren Gallagher - Free Book Online

thought this far ahead." She shifted her weight.
              "Maybe we should just keep it to platonic friends when we’re out like this, then?"
              She nodded. "Probably a good idea."
              "I can live with that."
              "Good, now give me a hug so I can get to Dylan’s before his cats starve."
              "Those fat things?" Chris laughed. "They could go months without eating and survive." He hugged her, jumping when her hand squeezed his ass. He pulled back, laughing when she gave him an innocent look.
              "What?" She batted her eyes.
              He said nothing. Instead, he put his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her into a kiss.
              "That’s," she paused, licking her lips but barely pulling away from him. "Isn’t that against the rules?"
              He shrugged and put his other hand on her neck. "You started it." And he kissed her again, gently parting her lips with his tongue.
              "You know," she said, touching his face. "It won’t take me long to feed Dylan’s animals…"
              He kissed her again. "Your place or mine?"
     

 
     
     
     
     
    Ten
     
              Chris’s date, Wendy, drained the last of her drink and put her napkin on the table. "I’m going to run to the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back."
              Across the table, Chris smiled. "I’ll be here." Please, take your time . He wasn’t sure he could get through another story about some of the more gruesome highlights of her career as an emergency room nurse. Another few minutes and he was going to make a quick escape to the men’s room just to have a moment without hearing about what kinds of foreign objects people had lodged into various parts of their bodies.
              As soon as she was out of sight, he exhaled. She was cute, she was friendly, but this was definitely not going to be a repeat date. She was just attractive enough that he would have, not long ago, let it venture into one night stand territory—assuming her idea of pillow talk wasn’t as macabre as her dinner table conversation—but he had a backup plan now.
              Plan B, thy name is Katrina . He fished his phone out of his pocket, keeping it under the table as he pulled up Kat’s number. Glancing in the direction of the ladies’ room to be sure Wendy was still out of sight, he sent Kat a text message. If you want to get together tonight, call me in ten minutes and play along .
              Seconds after he sent the message, Wendy returned to the table. Sipping her water, she said, "Oh, I didn’t tell you about the guy that came in after he crashed his motorcycle and landed on—and I do mean on —a fencepost…"
              Just when she got to what Chris assumed would be
     
    the gory climax of the story, his phone rang. He rolled his eyes, masking his relief and excitement. "Damn it, I’m sorry. That’s probably my office." He pulled the phone out of his pocket, his heart racing when Kat’s name showed up on the screen. "Yeah, I have to take this. It’ll only be a minute."
              "Take your time," Wendy said, sipping her water.
              He smiled and flipped his phone open. "Chris Bailey."
              "What if I don’t want to play along?" Kat’s voice made his head spin. It’s on. It is so on .
              "Jim, I’m not on call tonight, you—"
              "Oh, you’d better believe you’re on call tonight, Mr. Bailey." Kat laughed.
              Chris cleared his throat. "Kyle is just as capable of fixing the system as I am. Why—"
              "What’s wrong with this system, only you can fix, Christian."
              He rubbed his forehead, hoping Wendy took it for an aggravated gesture, rather than an attempt to hide the fact that his cheeks were, he was sure, turning red. "Why the