Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [0]
“I’d really like to hear the reason you look so . . . flustered.”
“I don’t think,” Annie said, “that you could handle it.”
“I’m a big boy. Try me.”
“I was wondering what it would be like to go to bed with you.” She turned and sashayed past him and out the door. “Coming?” she called over her shoulder. This is somebody else in my body. This isn’t me saying these wild things. I never said anything remotely like that to a man before . . .
She turned to look. He had followed her.
“Sit!” he commanded. “I’ll be right back.”
Annie sat. She waited and waited. I scared him off. She stood up.
“I thought,” he said, returning, “I told you to sit.”
“I was sitting. Now I’m standing. What difference does it make? You tell dogs to sit, not people.” Annie sat.
“Now close your eyes.”
Annie closed her eyes.
It was the sweetest, the most demanding, the most wonderful kiss she’d ever received in her life . . .
Also by Fern Michaels
The Jury
Vendetta
Payback
Picture Perfect
Weekend Warriors
About Face
The Future Scrolls
Kentucky Rich
Kentucky Heat
Kentucky Sunrise
Plain Jane
Charming Lily
What You Wish For
The Guest List
Listen to Your Heart
Celebration
Yesterday
Finders Keepers
Annie’s Rainbow
Sara’s Song
Vegas Sunrise
Vegas Heat
Vegas Rich
Whitefire
Wish List
Dear Emily
ANNIE’S RAINBOW
FERN MICHAELS
Zebra Books
Kensington Publishing Corp.
http://www.zebrabooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
TIT FOR TAT
Also by Fern Michaels
Title Page
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
Teaser chapter
Copyright Page
For my friend Helen Kraushaar.
CHAPTER ONE
Annie Clark opened the door to the old-fashioned drugstore. She loved the sound of the tinkling bell hanging from an ancient nail at the corner of the door. For one brief second she wondered if she could steal the little cluster of bells. No, better to tuck the sound into her memory bank.
How she loved this little store. She sniffed as she always did when she entered. The smell was always the same—Max Factor powder, Chantilly perfume, and the mouthwatering aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the counter tucked in between the displays of Dr. Scholl’s foot products and the Nature’s brand vitamins.
She’d worked here five days a week for the past six years. She knew every item on every shelf as well as the price. Thanks to Elmo Richardson’s mother’s recipe, she knew how to make and serve the best tuna salad in the world to the students of Boston University. On the days she served cinnamon coffee and the tuna on a croissant, the lines outside the store went around the block. Yes, she was going to miss this place.
As Annie made her way down the aisle, she cast a critical eye over the shelves. Who was going to take her place? Would they love Elmo and the store the way she had? She reached out to straighten a row of Colgate toothpaste boxes.
“Annie! What brings you here today?” the wizened pharmacist asked.
Annie smiled. “I guess I need my drugstore fix for the week. Did you find someone to take my place?”
“I found someone, but he can never take your place, Annie.” The pharmacist twinkled. He looked down at the bottle of aspirin in her hand and clucked his tongue. “You won’t be taking those tablets after tomorrow, will you?”
“I’ll probably be taking more. Just because I’m getting my master’s doesn’t mean my troubles will be over. I have to find a job and get on with the business of earning a living. One of these days, though, I’m going to start up my own business. You just wait and see. I’m going to miss you, Elmo. You’ve been more than kind to me all these years.”
“I don’t understand why you have to leave immediately. Don’t you think you’ve earned the right to sleep in for