Free Only You by Kate Kelly Page A

announcement of her career choice. They hadn’t been enthusiastic, but owning a gallery was an acceptable choice for a wealthy, young lady. Not as acceptable as being a lawyer, say, or a doctor. They didn’t care that she loved running the gallery and made a good living from it.
    “Who’s we?” JD asked.
    “You mean who do I work with?”
    “Yes.”
    “There are three owners. Me, Lily Atkins, and a local artist, Ed Whitney.”
    JD frowned. “Why does his name sound familiar?”
    “He’s quite well known. He creates intricate papier-mâché sculptures of animals. They’re beautiful.”
    JD snapped his fingers. “Right. One of my clients was wild about his work. He commissioned Whitney to create a giraffe for the atrium of his house. It was fantastic. And you know him? Ed Whitney?”
    “We went to college together. Even shared a house for a while.”
    JD’s smile slipped off his face. “Of course.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Nothing. Forget it.”
    “Excuse me,” Clay said in a mild voice. “The movie’s about to start.”
    She’d forgotten about Clay and Ellie. To make up for her slip, she slid her hand into Clay’s and left it there. He was the one she should be concentrating on. JD could just . . . go ride a horse. Whatever. Did he think she slept with every man she knew?
    It was interesting, though, that someone he’d designed a house for had bought one of Ed’s sculptures. She’d love to see more examples of JD’s work. He must have a portfolio. Would he show it to her if she asked? She slid her gaze in his direction. He’d managed to extricate himself from Ellie and had crossed his arms across his chest.
    Without warning, he swiveled his head and stared at her. “Don’t,” he whispered.
    Impulsively, she stuck her tongue out at him and sank further into her seat, thinking of all sorts of lovely curse words. What exactly was his problem? Okay, so they’d slept together, and she supposed she’d taken advantage of him. At least she’d confessed and apologized. What more did he want? The moon?

JD shifted his legs and cursed to himself. He could never get comfortable in a theater or any place that had public seating. His legs were too long. Right now, his shoulder brushed against Maggie’s, and he wished like hell that he didn’t have to sit next to her.
    He wanted to blame his semi-arousal on her, but he could tell by her surprised expression that she hadn’t known he was going to be at the movies tonight. Which meant she hadn’t worn the perfume for him. He shifted his legs again. Maybe it wasn’t perfume. Maybe what he was smelling was Maggie. God knew she tasted good. Every. Beautiful. Creamy. Inch of her.
    Aw, Christ. Way to go, dickhead. Get yourself all worked up like some sleazy old man. He needed to concentrate on Ellie. Or, hey, how about the movie?
    Maggie elbowed him in the side. “Stop squirming,” she hissed in his ear.
    He glared at her. He wished he had whatever it took to stick out his tongue like she had a few minutes earlier. He’d almost laughed out loud at her antics, but had caught himself in time. The last thing he wanted to do was encourage her.
    If he were being truthful, it was the only thing he wanted. He caught himself thinking of her a million times a day, and always with a smile on his face. But she hadn’t been honest with him, had betrayed him, really. Which was a stupid word to use because they barely knew each other. He shouldn’t feel betrayed. Their relationship had no history, no weight to it. Not like his marriage to Lydia. But, as melodramatic as it sounded, that’s the word that kept appearing in his head. Betrayed .
    He wanted to forget about Maggie Kennedy, and he didn’t think that was going to happen for a long, long time.
    His phone vibrated in his jacket pocket, and both he and Clay reached for their cells at the same time. After listening for a minute to Sammie’s breathless voice, he nodded toward Clay and stood. Sodapop was