No Place Like Home: The Coming Home Series, Book 1 Read Online Free Page A

walk away.
    Her smile as she disappeared around the corner? Damn. And the giggle he heard a couple seconds later had to be her.
    Double damn.
    As he stepped back into his office, he adjusted his cock. Stifling his groan took complete focus. Reacting to a woman this strongly hadn’t happened to him in a long time.
    “Who in the hell was that?” Grant didn’t waste any time.
    Thankfully he had just enough time to sit and hide the evidence of what she did to him. “Charlie.”
    “Yeah, I got that much from the meet and greet. But who is she?”
    “A friend.” Yeah, it was a bit of a stretch, but it sounded good.
    “With benefits, I hope?”
    Nice and awful to know he wasn’t the only one drooling over her. “Don’t know yet, but hopefully.”

Chapter Three
    “Fuck. That dress.”
    Charlie barely stopped from crossing her arms over her chest as she approached the table at Mario’s where Trane—Cole was already seated. He stood as she stepped up to the table and kissed her cheek. His fingers were warm on her arm and she shivered before she could stop herself.
    Kia had insisted they go shopping so Charlie could buy a new dress for her date. She wouldn’t allow her to buy anything loose. The clinging black fabric hugged her curves like a lover and she’d adored it in the store. Especially with the fair amount of cleavage it revealed. But now, with Cole staring at her as he helped her get seated…
    She felt naked. Vulnerable.
    His palm rested on her shoulder for a second before the pads of his fingers brushed her skin as he moved to sit back down in the chair next to her.
    His white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, and tailored slacks fit him to perfection. He’d been in the same outfit when she’d stopped in to see him earlier, but he’d had a tie on then. She was a sucker for a man in a suit. His dark hair and pretty blue eyes drew her in like a fat kid on the last Twinkie.
    “You look beautiful. I’m glad you didn’t take my advice on casual. It’s…beautiful.” He shook his head after he stared at her for a few more seconds and then took a drink of what looked like water. They each had a glass in front of them.
    “Kia made me buy it.” She blurted it out and then reached for her wrapped silverware to have something to do with her hands. She unwrapped it, setting the silverware on the table and the napkin across her lap.
    “I’ll have to remember to thank her. I’ve never been that big a fan of the little black dress hoopla, but on you? Big fan.”
    His smile. It melted her. “Thanks,” she managed with a hesitant smile. Attention from a man with his sex appeal threw her off. What she really wanted to do was put her chin on her hand so she could stare at him for the rest of the evening.
    But she wouldn’t.
    Not at all.
    “So, how did the rest of the packet delivering go?”
    She took a drink of water since her mouth had gone dry with him this close. “Good actually. It’s been a while since I was here to help with any of this. Since high school really. It surprised me how many people are still around. How many people never left. Or left and came back. Can’t believe it’s almost been ten years. Seems a lifetime ago.”
    “And you’re sure we met in high school? You’re sure of it?”
    Wanting to giggle and groan at the same time was a new one for her. “Only a few hundred times.”
    “It just doesn’t seem possible. Surely I’d remember you.” He gave her a once over from head to waist. Everything he could see above the table probably.
    Shaking her head seemed like the thing to do. “I was very different in high school. Popularity was the name of a very distant planet when I was a teenager.”
    “Can’t imagine you being that different. Truly. Care to give me your name and I can look you up? High school yearbooks and all should be good for something other than killing spiders.”
    “Nope.”
    He chuckled and picked up his menu. “You do know what I do for a living, right? I