Heartless Read Online Free Page B

why?”
    “If you want me to. So… Josh Hansen, why do you work in construction?” I giggled, expecting him to say he liked the feel of wood, or watching a building grow from the ground up, or he enjoyed whistling at cute girls who walked by.
    “So I can pay for college in the fall.”
    “Oh.” We had something in common after all.
    “Why do you work at Color My Life?”
    “Same reason, actually. I’m going to UCSC in September.”
    “Cool. What do you want to study?”
    “I don’t know. I applied for Psychology but I might change. You?”
    “Criminology.”
    “Really?”
    “After that, law school.”
    I stopped walking for a second. This impulsive, persistent, slightly romantic biker dude was more serious than I thought.
    He stopped and turned back to face me. “What?”
    “Nothing.” I glanced down at the helmet resting against his thigh. I tried to keep my eye on the helmet, rather than the muscle beneath the denim.
    “Are you wondering now why I ride a motorcycle?”
    I nodded.
    “Because it’s cheaper than driving a car.”
    He winked at me and grabbed my hand to get me walking again. His touch felt electric and my palm immediately got sweaty. I tried to pull away.
    “Come on, slowpoke. The place is just around the corner.”
    He didn’t let go of my hand. He didn’t seem to mind a bit of sweat.

    I got raspberry soft serve with chocolate bits. Josh got banana with peanut butter and marshmallows.
    “That’s the weirdest combination I’ve ever heard of,” I said.
    “Try it.” He shoved his cone in my face and watched my tongue carefully as I licked. It was surprisingly good but the marshmallows made it too sweet for me.
    Once I had swallowed, I said, “Want some of mine?”
    He eyed me like he wanted to say something inappropriate. Then he leaned forward and opened his mouth so I could put a spoon from my cup in his mouth. His lips wrapped softly and firmly around my spoon.
    “Yum,” he said. He’d left some yogurt on the spoon. I looked at it, wanting to put my lips where his had been. He watched me, his eyes narrowed mischievously. He swirled his tongue around the base of his cone and then he sucked lightly at the pointed tip. I felt my nipples go hard. I closed my eyes and put the spoon in my mouth. I sucked it clean and slowly pulled it out between my lips. When I opened my eyes he was watching me, his lips partially open. I smiled and dug my spoon into my cup for another bite. He took a big bite from his cone and pulled his gaze from mine to stare across the street.
    “So,” he said, clearing his throat. “You drive your Aunt’s car and you sometimes walk to work. Does that mean your Aunt lives somewhere nearby? Do you live with her?”
    “I live with my Aunt and Uncle, yes.”
    “Where are your parents?”
    I followed his gaze across the street. I had to practice this sometime. What to say to strangers. What to say to friends, once I found some. “Gone. They died.”
    “Oh, shit. I’m sorry, Heather.”
    “It’s fine. It’s been a few years. I’m better now. I just don’t like talking about it.” Now I was serious-girl with a tragedy in her past. A guy like Josh could waste a fro-yo date on me, but I was pretty sure we wouldn’t get much farther than this. Oh well.
    He leaned back on his metal chair. The sun cast a warm glow along his chiseled jaw. “Turns out we have something in common. My dad died a while back.”
    I swallowed hard. So we’d both lost people close to us.
    “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
    “It’s not that big of a deal, actually. I hardly knew him. My mom left him when I was four.” He shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t feel anything when I heard he’d died. Isn’t that awful?” He looked at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. They looked sad and confused, as if he needed reassurance.
    “Grief is complicated,” I said. I’d learned that in my sessions with Miranda. Grief could shelter unbelievable rage and self-hatred, and so much more