Courted by Karma (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod) Read Online Free Page B

around this place, or am I the only one who knows it is winter out there?”
    Mike only laughed while rubbing his sleepy eyes with both hands. He lowered them slightly to peek over at me. Eyes the color of melted caramels lit up with teasing warmth when he dangled the thong in the air. “Hiya, Bel. Is this yours? Did I see your bra tonight?”
    “Hi ya, Mike.” I laughed, but answered Crookie. “We couldn’t find it. I don’t know what he did with it. We’ll get him into his jacket and he’ll be fine with no shirt until he gets home.”
    “I need a drink of water ,” Mike stated, and leaned heavily against the closet door. He started moving his cheek against the satiny wood grain. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I can drive home.”
    Crookie shook his head. “Neither of you are driving.”
    I threw up my hands. “Geez Louise, I know I am not driving. How many times do I have to tell you?”
    I went back into the closet and found my bottle of water that was still half full sitting forgotten on a shelf. Bringing it back to Mike, I was in time to hear him saying to Crookie, “I saw Bel’s bra tonight.” He snorted with laughter, did a “hubba hubba” elbow and wink, and confided in a booming whisper, “Bob, it’s been a helluva long time since…”
    I broke in, shoving the water in front of Mike’s mouth . “Here, drink this.”
    Mike straightened up and pounded back the rest of the water. He handed me the empty bottle with a polite bow and a satisfied belch, and then went off lurching down the hall.
    Waving goodbye, he mumbled loudly, “Okay, man, I’ll walk home then. It’s not a problem.”
    I went after him in my clodhopping, winter boots. I stopped his stumbling progress with a hand on his arm near the bathroom. His pale skin may look like cool marble, but Mike’s muscular forearm was warm and solidly alive under my touch.
    Mike reached out and gave a little pat to the table I’d stubbed my toe on earlier. “Looks better here, doesn’t it, Bel?”
    Laughing, I shook him by the arm lightly in remonstrance. “I knew that table wasn’t there earlier, you damn furniture-mover! I stubbed my toe on that sucker in the dark.”
    Mike snickered and waved a finger back and forth in a no-no gesture under my nose. I pushed it away as he slurred, “I watch HGTV, you know.” He shot a fist in the air and yelled, “I say YES to the DRESS!”
    A fter that startling pronouncement, Mike was off heading for the stairs again. Over Crookie’s chuckles, I clomped after Mike while shaking my head and giggling, too.
    “ You just wait one minute, Metrosexual Mike.” I looked back at the laughing Crookie. “Hey, was that killer in the news for the last few years ever caught? The one that’s been drowning gay men that walk home from bars in river towns in Minnesota and in Wisconsin?”
    Mike whirled me around to face him so quickly; I got caught up in my big boots and would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed my shoulders to steady me.
    “ Whoa, there.” He leaned down to peer into my face with a puzzled expression on his. I could see the dark whiskers coming in around his mouth and chin, since he hadn’t shaved since earlier today. Or make that yesterday. With sticking out rooster hair, stubble, and no shirt on, Mike wasn’t looking so golden-boy preppy. He was much cuter rumpled this way. “I’m not gay, am I, Bel?”
    I giggled and patted his rough cheek. “I know that, Mike, and you know that, but how will a killer know that? He’ll just see a preppy, drunken man staggerin’ alone down the street in a college town by a river. You’ll be ripe for the killing; ’specially without your shirt on.” I shrugged and spread my hands. “What if you get hot and unzip your coat? There you’ll be--all exposed hairy chest and muscles. Doesn’t that seem kind of Village People-ish to you? Huh, Crookie, am I right about the Village People part?”
    I started to look over at Crookie for confirmation, but I whipped