Plain Jayne Read Online Free Page A

smothering her face in wet sloppy kisses.
    “Looks like we got us a houseguest, buddy.”
    Jayne’s mouth hung open and her eyes all but bulged out of their sockets. Nick had barely finished framing the house when Abby died, and given the situation at the funeral, Jayne had never been invited to see it. And rightly so.
    *  *  *
    The large sunken living room sat like a hub in the middle of the house. Complete with a huge rock fireplace and way-high ceilings, she could have fit her whole apartment in that one room! The furniture wasn’t anything fancy, but the flat screen was enormous and the brown leather recliners looked comfortable enough to sleep on.
    “Come on,” he said. “I’ll give you the twenty-five-cent tour.”
    The living room eased into a big open kitchen and eating nook that looked out over a wide deck and a huge fenced-in backyard. Jayne ran her finger idly over the granite island, mesmerized by how much light flowed in through the long windows. For a single guy, the room was surprisingly tidy. The counters were all but bare, save for the coffeemaker and toaster, and to look at the stove top, you’d never know someone cooked on it.
    “Are you sure you actually live here?” she asked, only half joking.
    “Cleaning lady’s worth her weight in gold.”
    Nick led her out the other side of the kitchen, past a bathroom and utility room, and down the short hallway to the master suite. The creamy yellow and soft brown duvet looked like it had been freshly laid out, and the matching pillows freshly fluffed. The Robert Bateman print she’d given them as a wedding gift hung above the six-drawer oak dresser and the matching side tables displayed an arrangement of magazines.
    “Mark Zuckerberg as
Time
magazine’s Person of the Year?” she chuckled as she followed him back through the kitchen to the other side of the house. “You might want to update your reading material.”
    The first room had half a dozen boxes labeled Christmas, a bike with no front wheel, Nick’s old drum set, and a Callaway bag loaded down with scuffed-up golf clubs. A white T-shirt had been tossed over the top of a black duffel bag and a thick red sleeping bag flowed over the edge of the open futon under the window.
    “This is Carter’s room when he stays over.”
    The next room was home to an empty brown leather tool belt, three cans of paint, a ring of paint samples, various bins of nails and screws, and four or five different carpet samples.
    “I like what you’ve done with the place.” Jayne snickered. “Has that real ‘homey’ feel to it.”
    They passed a full bathroom, void of any décor, and moved to the end of the hall where Nick pointed to a room on the right. “That’s the office, and this is my room.”
    “Your room? Don’t you use—”
    He shook his head, pushed the door open, and stepped aside so she could look in.
    Wow
. It was only slightly more inviting than the room with the tool belt. A box spring and mattress had been pushed up against the far wall. There was no bed frame, but at least therewas a thick pillow and what appeared to be a homemade quilt. Other than that, there was a white plastic hamper with a pair of plaid cotton boxers hanging over the side, a huge cushion for Duke, and a three-drawer dresser that matched the big one in the master suite.
    His office wasn’t much better, but at least he’d personalized it a little with a wood-framed picture of Abby smiling up from the corner of his paper-strewn desk. Jayne lifted the photo and stared down at it for a long time.
    “I’ll say this much for her, she sure was beautiful, wasn’t she?” Jayne might not have been head cheerleader for Team Abby, but there was no denying the woman was gorgeous. Eat-your-heart-out-Elle-Macpherson gorgeous.
    “Yeah.” Nick’s voice was quiet, distant. “She was something.”
    With hair the color of honey and eyes so green you’d swear she wore colored contacts, Abby was the girl every guy wanted and