Free Seducing Liselle by Marie E. Blossom Page B

pickup, had all the
amenities, but he missed his grandfather’s truck. He’d never got it working
again after Liselle had left. It’d felt like a sign,
as if the universe was telling him: give it up, already. She’s not coming
back.
    He pinched the bridge of his nose, willing
himself to stop the self-pity. Stop thinking about her, you idiot. Enough. The sun was shining, there was a lovely breeze
blowing through the trees, and he had plenty of work to keep him occupied. So
what if he couldn’t focus? He remembered the way she’d looked that night:
vulnerable, sweet, and passionate. Her blue eyes seemed to hold the answer to
everything he’d ever wanted to know, and then she was gone like it had been
nothing more than a good dream. One night with her and he was ruined for life.
    He grimaced, trying to get his mind back
on work. He opened the door and put a foot up, about to climb in, when his cell
phone rang. When he eased it out of his pocket, he didn’t recognize the number.
Should he answer? It rang again, buzzing against his palm. Shit. What the hell,
he was already totally distracted. He ran a thumb over the display and put it
to his ear.
    “Hello?”
    “Is this John Steele?” a male voice asked.
    “Yeah. Who is this?” John leaned against his truck, ignoring his sister
waving at him from the doorway.
    “Look, you’ve got to come and get her.
She’s sick. And she didn’t pay her bill for the last two days.” The man sounded
irritated and hoarse, as though he’d been smoking a lot. Or
yelling.
    John frowned. “Who the hell are you and
what are you talking about?”
    “I’ve got a woman in my motel, name of
Lisa Parkins .”
    John sighed. “I don’t know anyone—”
    The man cut him off. “She’s wearing a dog
tag and your name is on it.”
    John froze, the
muscles in his neck and shoulder suddenly knotted. “Long dark hair? Blue eyes?”
he barked out as his heart gave a thump. The man said she was sick. Shit.
    “I don’t know about long, but it’s dark.
She has blue eyes and what looks like an infected cut on her leg. Bruised up,
too, hurt her ankle. If you don’t come get her, I’m going to call 911. And
since she paid for two days with cash and kept looking behind her the whole
time, I get the feeling she wouldn’t want that.”
    “No! Don’t call them, I’m on my way.” John
said, already in his truck. He tucked the phone between his ear and shoulder so
he could buckle up. He paused as he shoved the key in the ignition. “Where are
you?” Shit, his shoulder was knotting up. He ignored the pain. No time to deal
with it now.
    “Rainer Motel, out on
78.” The man hung up.
    “John! Where are you going? You didn’t
finish your lunch,” Janet called, walking barefoot down the porch steps.
    “No time, gotta go, sis,” he said, turning the key and shutting the door. He was frantically
typing the location into his GPS. He had no idea how long it would take to get
there, dammit .
    “It’s Sunday. Why are you working today?”
Janet came up to his truck. She’d wrapped his sandwich in plastic.
    He looked out the open window. “I’m sorry
Janet, something came up.”
    She shook her head, shoving the food at
him. “Here, at least take this with you.” She stepped back and folded her arms
over her chest. “I told them not to bother you about Beth’s aunt.”
    He stuck the GPS back on the dash and
looked at her. “You knew about the postcards?” Everything in him was urging him
to hurry, hurry now , but his oldest sister was looking at him as though
she knew exactly what he was doing and he couldn’t ignore her. She was the one
who’d done the most to put him back together after Afghanistan. And then again after Matt.
    “Yes, of course.” She cocked her head.
“You really liked her.”
    He shrugged, ignoring the way the movement
pulled on his bad shoulder, still tight and painful from the muscle spasm he’d
gotten during the phone call. He shouldn’t have stuck the damn