Free and along came SPIDER ( A Martina Spalding Thriller ) (Spider Series Book 1) by J.R. WRIGHT Page B

with Gloria, he then
turned back to Hannity’s and entered.  What a gazelle, he mused.  What a nymph!
     
    Gloria cried most of
the way home.  Not for herself and her pitiful state, but because the evening
had gone so terribly wrong for her dear friend.  “It’s all my fault!” she
insisted numerous times before reaching her building and sitting down on the
front steps to rest her aching body.
    “No, Gloria!” Marti sat
down beside her.  “Don’t blame yourself!  It just wasn’t meant to be, that’s
all.  Besides, I saw something in Parker tonight I don’t think I like.”
    “The suit?”  Gloria
focused on her and began to laugh.
    “No.”  Marti locked
onto her eyes behind the sunglasses to check the seriousness behind her words. 
“What’s wrong with the suit?”
    “Well,” Gloria turned
away to see cars traveling past on the street, “he obviously bought it at
Sears.  If it weren’t for the red tie, I would have thought he was dressed for
a funeral.  Come on…a charcoal three piece… on a Saturday night date?”
    Marti shrugged, not
wanting to go there.  Actually, she had thought Parker very handsome in the
suit.  “No, it was how he immediately pounced on the idea of going after your
ex for what he did to you.  I don’t know why men think they have to be that
way?  He doesn’t even know you, and as much as I’d like to think it’s just that
he’s caring, I think it’s something else.  Something that I don’t like.”
    “I can tell you what it
is in a word: testosterone .”  Gloria
giggled.  “Gotta love it!  That’s what puts the bull in the beast, Martina.” 
She laughed some more.
    “Well, I still don’t
like it!”  Marti was firm in her observation.
    “If you ever hope to
get properly laid, you better hope the fellow has a bit of that in him or you
may as well bang your little brother,” Gloria opined.
    Martina naively
pondered that for a moment then said, “I don’t have a little brother.”  That
brought spontaneous laughter from the both of them.
    At that moment, a shiny
new, blue, 1955 Chevy half ton pickup truck, with white sidewall tires pulled
up to the curb and from it stepped Parker McLean, shy of the suit jacket, vest,
and tie.
    “Parker!”  Gloria elbowed
Martina and shouted gleefully, as if he were a long absent boyfriend.
    Parker came around the
truck and rather meekly approached them.  “Lenny at Hannity’s told me where you
two live.”
    “Yay, Lenny!”  Gloria
tossed a fist into the air.  There was no doubt she was in a different frame of
mind now.
    “I just came by to see
if you both like barbeque.  I know this little joint outside of town that
serves up the best you’ll ever sink your teeth into.”
    “I’m game,” Gloria
said, knowing Martina would never go without her.  Hopefully this would serve
to save the day for her and Parker.  She did so want her friend to have a man
in her life.  And, as far as Parker went, he was on the high side of the curve when
it came to those she’d known of the opposite sex.  Hell, he may even turn out
to be good in bed, to boot.  Wouldn’t that be an added bonus… for her friend?
    “Can you wait until we
change?” Marti asked, getting to her feet.

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER
TWELVE
     
    Parker stopped by his
house on the way to change into jeans and western boots, as well.  Martina and
Gloria waited in the truck as he did so, and from what they could see through
the windows, it was only him that roamed around inside.
    “Does he live alone?”
Gloria asked.
    “So he said.”
    “Never married?”
    “Nope!”  Marti turned
to her.  “Why all the questions?”
    “Just making sure he’s
right for you.”
    “Don’t you think I
should be the judge of that?”
    “You know, Martina, no
woman ever forgets her first.”
    Marti’s mouth fell
open, trying to make sense of that.  “What are you trying to say, Gloria?  That
I can’t decide for myself?  That I’ll be blind to