A Smile as Sweet as Poison Read Free Page A

Nice.”
    It took Hazel a moment to realize that this was the first time Ward had seen the inside of her car.
    “Watch it,” she muttered under her breath. “This baby saw me through college.” Or the two and a half years Hazel had seen of it. When she made the decision to leave—impromptu, in the middle of the night—she’d simply packed everything she had into the Volvo and set a course for Dunby, Missouri.
    Returning to her hometown should’ve been a relief. It wasn’t.
    She cleared her throat to dispel the nerves that had surged up unexpectedly. “I thought Dylan actually knows how to play mahjong…”
    “He had some work to finish.”
    “You mean he didn’t want to see Sadie again,” Hazel surmised. Ward had a decent poker face, but once she’d figured out that he would say and do anything so his best friend could come out on top, the cracks instantly became obvious. “She has a boyfriend now.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Hazel saw Ward glance at her profile. “So you’ve mentioned…about sixteen times.”
    “That often?” Chagrin turned her voice soft and reedy.
    “He’s not interested,” said Ward. “Not since you came along.”
    “I know that.”
    It didn’t stop her wondering.
    Dylan and Sadie had met in a fetish club. They were perfect, complementary halves of the same whole—he a wealthy, no-nonsense Dominant and she a down-on-her-luck submissive looking for a partner. They were a racy Hollywood rom-com waiting to happen.
    The two of them even looked good together, fine-boned and lithe, imbued with the kind of innate grace that Hazel had sought to emulate since she’d developed breasts. Sadie’s extended family would have adored Dylan’s Chinese roots. Dylan’s friends sure would have welcomed Sadie into their midst. She was so effervescent and good-natured that Hazel had no doubt she could win over even brash, prickly Ward.
    “He’s slept with more women than just Sadie,” Ward pointed out with his usual tact. “Are you going to be jealous of all of them?”
    “Will you give it a rest?” Hazel snapped. “I’m not jealous.”
    “That why you’re throttling the steering wheel?”
    Hazel relaxed her grip at the first red light. “Is…is that what Dylan thinks?”
    “Oh no. I’m not playing go-between with you two—”
    “You just said he’s not coming because of Sadie!” Hazel protested. This wasn’t about seeking a direct line to Dylan’s heart that would somehow bypass Dylan’s brain. It wasn’t.
    Behind them, a red sedan honked. Hazel hadn’t noticed the light change to green. She eased into the first lane and waved the Ford on.
    The driver shouted something obscene as he overtook them.
    “See?” Hazel shot Ward an icy smile. “I’m perfectly calm.” Not jealous at all. Not at all as if she’d ever wasted a single minute wondering if Dylan had settled for her because Sadie was unavailable—or worse, that he had pursued her in an attempt to get close to Sadie.
    Ward shook his head, but said nothing more.
    They drove in silence to Sadie’s house, a white bungalow with green shutters that had belonged to her mother’s late second husband. The modest driveway barely fit the two cars thrust end to end between one trellis fence and the property next door.
    “Mind the thorns,” Hazel warned, killing the engine.
    For the first time since she’d set off from the Aulden Way loft, it occurred to Hazel that she should’ve called ahead to warn Sadie that she was coming—and that she was bringing company. She felt a pang of guilt settle deep in her belly for assuming she could just barge in, though the offer to come by whenever she wanted had never been retracted. Sadie—and Sadie’s mother—were the only family Hazel had on the west coast and they had adopted her as something of an honorary relative.
    Too late to back out now.
    The lights were on behind the gauzy ground floor curtains and voices rang from within as Hazel raised her hand to the