Read Online Thunder In Her Body by C. B. Stanton - Free Book Online Page B

ball.  It sent me airborne.  I crashed pretty hard onto the asphalt, coming straight down on my knee.  Knocked the kneecap sideways and laid the knee wide open.  My mother took me to the emergency room.  They sewed me up, I guess as best they could, but I continued to have a problem, and as you say, as I got older, and a bit heavier, the knee became a problem.  I had surgery a couple of years ago though, and its fine now.”
     
    Clare added that she had to be careful of what she ate because of her somewhat delicate stomach.
    “I can eat for weeks and have no problems.  Then all of a sudden something gets in there and I’m miserable for days,” she admitted.
    “Blaze can eat anything he wants, but he’s trying to keep that school boy figure for you ladies,” Aaron chided.
    “Lots of ladies?” Lynette asked, looking at him with a guileful smile.  It was the same kind of question he’d asked the evening before - if she was still with the other guy.  Surely, she thought, there were dozens of women all around the state who reacted to this virile man the way she had.  The response would save a lot of time and misunderstandings.
    “No.  He’s puttin’ you on.  There’s no ladies.  Like I told you last night, I’ve been divorced for several years.  For some basic, and obvious reasons, you might say, I date around from time to time but nothing ever comes of it, on purpose,” he was careful to admit.
    “What about you, Aaron?” Clare asked abruptly.
    “My wife died of cancer about the same time Blaze divorced his wife,” he answered.  “I’ve twirled a lady or two around the dance floor since, but…,” there was a pause, “him and me, we like it the way it is,” he responded a little uncomfortably.
    “So you live in this big house alone?” Lynette queried Aaron.
    “Oh heavens no.  Blaze and I live together…”
    And that’s all Lynette heard of the remaining sentences.  Oh good Jesus no!  Not gay.  Tell me Blaze is not gay.  He couldn’t be.  He’d been hard as a rock against me all evening.  I’m a woman; he’s a man and he’s been hot to trot with me.  Oh, Jesus tell me it’s not so!!  No, no, no.  Not this one, not gay…Maybe he’s bi-sexual.  No, shit  don’t want that either.  Can’t deal with that.   Oh God…”
    “Lynette, where’d you go?” Blaze’s voice broke into the screams in her mind.
    “I…I was about to get something caught in my throat, and I was trying not to cough.”  She tried to sound convincing.
    His hand went up to his mouth, with one finger resting on his nose.  He broke into a full-on gut laugh as Clare and Aaron looked amused.  Then Aaron caught on.
    “Oh shit!  Did you think we really lived together?” Aaron asked in shocked amusement.
    Now was her chance to lie or tell the truth.  Now was her time to reconfirm that she was basically an honest person.  Now was the time for Blaze to begin to trust her.
    “Ahhh…yes,” she sputtered as she grabbed for her tea.  “It kinda came out that way and I…,” she sputtered again, and then just looked down into her plate and shook her head.
    Still chuckling, Blaze was emboldened now.
    “Would it have really mattered?” he asked.
    Lynette cocked one eyebrow, sat up straight in her high back Mexican chair and looked at both men.
    “Well…, yes, it would,” she admitted, a bit embarrassed.
    “Why,” Blaze asked, knowing he had her in a really awkward position.  He was toying with her, and definitely enjoying it, but he didn’t expect the answer he got.  Clare, knowing her friend all too well, intervened to save Blaze.
    “Don’t let her answer.  I know her.  There’s a wicked, wicked woman in there,” she warned.  “Don’t let her answer that!”
    “Why?” Blaze asked again, clearly amused and smiling at her in a sly, cunning way.
    Lynette cocked her head to one side and stared him right in the eye.
    “’Cuz sweetie, you tried to let the barrel of your gun out