Eternally Yours Read Free Page B

Madaris? Specifically, what will your family think?”
    Clayton inwardly smiled. She always resorted to calling him by his last name whenever she was getting all fired up to stand her ground against him about something.
    “If I remember correctly, my family has extended itself to become your family. They won’t think anything of it. For Pete’s sake, Syneda, they know we don’t think of each other as sexual beings, and they know we aren’t romantically involved.” He chuckled. “If anything, they’ll wonder how we’ll spend a week together without doing each other in. We’re usually completely at odds over just about everything.”
    Syneda laughed. “That’s an understatement.”
    He grinned. “We aren’t compatible. You know that as well as I do. There’s nothing sexual between us. We’re good friends, nothing more.”
    Syneda nodded in agreement. “But I wouldn’t be any fun. What if you meet someone while we’re there and want to get it on with them? I’ll just be in the way.”
    “Women will be off-limits to me that week. I’ll be on vacation for rest and relaxation, nothing more.”
    “Maybe you should get away by yourself.”
    Last night he would have agreed with her, but now he didn’t think so. He liked Syneda. She was intelligent, witty, highly spirited and fun to be around, even when she was giving him hell about something. Besides, he could tell by the tone of her voice when she had talked about the case she’d lost that she needed a vacation as much as he did.
    “The beach isn’t any fun when you’re by yourself,” he said. “I plan to unwind and relax and have a good time. I want to just chill and do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it.”
    “And you think you can do that with me?”
    “Yep, just as long as we agree not to talk shop. For one week I don’t want to be an attorney, a player or anyone’s lover. I don’t want any worries or problems. We both need that. I think the two of us going away together is a wonderful idea.”
    Syneda still wasn’t easily convinced. She gazed at the man sitting across from her, who was impeccably dressed in an expensive printed tie, Brooks Brothers’ shirt, and a costly dark blue suit.
    Like his two older brothers, Clayton Madaris was a good-looking man who possessed sharply defined features. She had noticed those things the first time they had met. She’d immediately taken in his dimpled smile and dark brown eyes. A short beard—something he’d grown since she had last seen him—covered his nut-brown complexion, and his neatly trimmed mustache enhanced his full lips. His broad shoulders and towering height—almost six feet two inches—made him totally masculine. And his charismatic nature was like a magnet that attracted women to him in droves. But what he had said earlier was true. He wasn’t her type, and neither was she his.
    In Texas, Clayton had a reputation for being a ladies’ man. And according to his sisters, Traci and Kattie, he kept a huge case of condoms in his closet and used them with as much zeal and vigor as a shoemaker used leather. However, in spite of his more than active love life, she had to admit he did have a few redeeming qualities. He generously spent his free time helping others. He was an active member of Big Brothers of America, and he spent a lot of time doing such noble community services as aiding senior citizens, the homeless and underprivileged kids. He was also a wonderful and adoring uncle to his nieces and nephews.
    Clayton’s sigh echoed loudly in the room. “I really don’t understand the problem. You and I both know that all the two of us can and ever will be is friends. I think by getting away, we’ll be doing us both a favor.”
    Syneda launched one objection after another, and Clayton had a reason to shoot down every one of them. “Are you sure about this, Clayton? I’d hate to be a bother.”
    “You won’t be. The condo has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’ll be