Lahat ng Kabanata ng Solid Gold (Unseen Enemy 8): Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

His astounding good looks were undeniable, but there was far more to this man than a sexy body and killer smile. He was strong, and he was kind, and he just radiated goodness. But most intriguing of all, he looked at her in a way that both made her shy and pleased her, because for some reason, she felt like he did see her. Those amazing green eyes stared on through her like they were searching for something. An answer to some riddle, or a clue to some mystery. Jack looked at her like he wanted to know her. Sometimes and for some odd reason, she felt like he did know her. And as a woman who hadn’t been truly known for a long time, Claire responded to that. It made her want to let down her guard, just a bit, and let him in. Just a bit.And anyway, what possible harm could it cause to spend some time with Jack? Claire wasn’t talking about love or long-term here. No, she was thinking about fun and short-term. A way to beat back the loneliness and the fear; a way to just be with a man wh

“Great!” Liv said, relieved. She knew that if anyone could get it done, it was Nigel. He’d gnaw off his own arm before he’d let a client down. “See, Beth? Leave it with Nigel.”Beth nodded, then looked at the dresses. “Um. Is that mosquito netting? The stuff you put over a bed to stop yourself from getting malaria in the jungle?”“I know, right?” Nigel was thrilled. “You don’t like it? Please tell me that you don’t like it.”“I don’t like the anti-malaria wedding dress design, no.”Liv burst into laughter. “It’s tulle.”“I don’t care what it is,” Beth said. “I don’t like it.”“Excellent!” Nigel beamed. “That’s my girl. I’ll get the malaria netting dresses taken away, and you get started on these, OK?”“Sure thing.” Beth watched Nigel walk out of the room with the offending dresses, his arms held as far away from his body as possible, as though he thought that the tulle was going to jump off the dresses and attack him. She perused the other dresses, took a simple, clean one that was m

“So, was I right about the spring rolls?” Claire nodded in response to Jack’s teasing question, her mouth full to overflowing with the best Chinese food that she could recall having in recent memory. Or, actually, not so recent, seeing as eating out was not something that she did anymore. Like – ever. Two restaurant meals in two days was something that she’d have done in her old life without a second thought, but here, in her new life, she’d never be able to justify the stupid expense. Kraft Dinner and bruised fruit and veggies were her friends now.She swallowed. “This is incredible food, Jack. Thank you for inviting me.”He shrugged, wielded the chopsticks like a pro as he plucked some noodles from the bowl on the lazy Susan. “My pleasure, Caitlin.”She watched him eat, and her eyes went to his strong forearms. He’d rolled up his sleeves and she saw that his arms were covered in scars, all lengths and widths and colors, and one ran all the way up his left arm and disappeared under

Chris took one long, last look around King’s Garage, feeling surprisingly emotional about leaving it. He knew that he’d miss it, of course, that he’d miss the guys, miss working on the motorcycles. But it was time to go and Chris was looking forward to the future. Still, he lingered a bit. He wasn’t sorry to go… he just wasn’t quite ready to go.“What the fuck, Brooker?” The low growl behind him made him smile. “Do I have to throw your ass out or what, man?”Chris turned to look at Matt ‘King’ Kingston, his soon-to-be-former boss. King was standing in the doorway, his massive arms crossed over his massive chest, his dark gray eyes as hard as ever, but a tiny smile on his rough face. Yeah, he’d miss King too. The man was shady and secretive and tough-as-hell, but he was a good man in his heart. He’d been good to Chris, he’d been a good boss… and he’d become a good friend. “Hey, King,” Chris said amiably. “Just thinking how glad I am to never have to set foot in this pit ever again.”

Looking back on it all later, Claire would never fully know or comprehend what the hell had possessed her to tell Jack the truth.Oh, not the whole truth, of course, since that was impossible. But a big part of the truth. The important parts, for sure.But when she thought about it later, as she lay nestled in his arms in her bed, she thought that telling lies and telling the truth had a few things in common.She'd learned that if you told one lie, then you were pretty much guaranteed to have to tell another one to explain or justify or cover up that first lie. Then a third lie, to protect the first two lies. Then a fourth, to shore things up and to keep the house of lies from falling down. And on and on, lie after lie, until it was like a snowball barreling on down a hill. You told one lie and then you couldn't stop telling more of them.But – oddly and incredibly – what Claire discovered was that telling the truth was exactly like that. Once you told one real, shining true thing, th