Your Eyes Don't Lie Read Free Page B

like nothing else Makay had ever seen, and he weighed more than she did. He shoved his nose against the sack in Nate’s hand.
    “Stop snooping, Snoop!” Nate giggled. “Get out of the way, we want to come in.”
    Most people thought Snoop was short for Snoopy, though the animal bore no resemblance to the fictional cartoon dog. The real reason for his name was because not only did he sniff at everything, but he had an uncanny ability for finding anything edible that wasn’t in the fridge or too high for him to reach. Including food in cans or in boxes he couldn’t easily rip open.
    She put away the groceries while Nate wrestled with the dog. Exhaustion weighed so heavily that she had forgotten to be hungry. A pizza would have to do for dinner, with milk and carrot sticks as a concession to health. She eyed the couch longingly before forcing herself into the tiny kitchen space. It was supposed to be an upgraded apartment, but upgraded here meant cheap counters with deep knife gouges, no room for a table, and a tiny balcony that was so close to the ground Makay didn’t dare put anything out there for fear the item wouldn’t be around in the morning.
    When both Nate and the dog were eating, she slumped to the couch cushion, forgetting to avoid the side that no longer had any working springs. She was too tired to even care.
    “Makay, don’t you want some?” Nate called from his stool at the counter, lifting a slice of pizza in her direction.
    At that moment he looked so much like their father that she froze. Or rather, their father before she was five when her mother was alive and he didn’t drink. The betrayal she still felt almost paralyzed her when she let herself think about it. Over the years she’d told herself it didn’t matter that he had abandoned her emotionally when her mother died. He wasn’t her “real” father so it was understandable. Yet her parents had adopted her at two days old, so if that wasn’t “real” what was? She’d thought her father would straighten out after he’d married Fern, but her stepmother was as addicted to drugs as he was to alcohol, and Makay’s life had gone from bad to unlivable.
    She pulled her jacket closer around her. Why was she so cold? Her stomach growled.
    “Makay?” Nate asked again.
    “Uh, coming.” As she struggled out of the broken couch, the doorbell rang. Making a detour, she looked into the peephole, wondering if it would be Janice from the first floor or Ted from next door. She hoped they’d want to buy some of the chili because it was what she had most of in her cupboards. She charged less than what the stores did, but more than her cost. On the free items she made a killing, which was why she bothered at all with items like denture cleaner, laxatives, and wrinkle cream.
    Instead of the old people, she peered into the rat face of Lenny Pagolino. She yanked the door open far enough to put her face out. “Why are you here?” she growled in a low whisper. “I told you never to come to my apartment.”
    The short man lifted his thin shoulders, his watery brown eyes unconcerned and his stance determined. “I came for the payoff. I want it now.”

Chapter Two
    H arrison Matthews watched the blue Sebring leave the parking lot. It was a custom color, he was sure, because he’d never seen one quite so vibrant before. Nice, but not nearly as compelling as the woman driving it. She had the kind of dark eyes that were large enough to drown in and her brown hair fell in loose curls around her small shoulders in a decidedly feminine manner. Her smile, with the slightest gap between her two front teeth, had sent a spurt of emotion through him. Yet it was her bearing that attracted him most, the absolute confidence in the way she carried herself. Too bad she seemed to be taken—despite the lack of a wedding ring on her finger.
    He shook his head. Maybe his mother had been right about his wasted time in LA. He certainly didn’t have a relationship to show