Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (good e books to read txt) 📗

had placed on her lips seemed to calm her some. Which was the response he’d been going for. It was a risky move. Not because he thought she would get mad. No. The risky part was him wanting more from her. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want a repeat of the night they had shared together.

“What’s something that no one knows about you?” Trace asked.

Her brow furrowed as she tapped her finger on her cheek. “Hmm, that’s a good question. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.”

“Come on. There has to be something. Did you run the New York City marathon in under two hours? Can you hop around on one leg while holding a plate and eating with a fork? Do you have a weird fetish? You gotta give me something, and I’m talking something good.”

Laughing, Connie shook her head. “You are too funny. Well, I don’t have any fetishes. At least none I’m aware of, and though my balance is pretty good, I’m not sure I can do the whole hopping-and-eating trick. The only thing I can think of that most people don’t know about me is that I sleep with a Cabbage Patch doll.”

Trace stared at her, trying to determine if she was serious, and then threw back his head and burst out laughing. He almost didn’t recognize the sound. His stomach tightened, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d hooted and hollered the way he was doing right now. Pounding on the sofa, he tried to stop and catch his breath, but when he glanced at her frowning at him, his laughter started all over again.

Connie punched him in the arm. “Would you knock it off? It is not that funny.”

“I—I’m sorry, but come on. You know that’s funny,” he said, holding his stomach and struggling to pull himself together. He wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.

“I’ll admit it’s a little funny, but dang, Trace.” She chuckled. “You’re acting like you just sat through a Dave Chappelle skit. I pour my heart out to you and this is how you respond?” she said dramatically, but now began laughing herself.

“Okay. Okay, baby. I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hand and leaned back against the sofa, still panting. “You just caught me off guard. So, does this thing—I mean, your doll—have a name?”

“His name is Vinnie Montell,” she said proudly.

Trace lost it. He laughed so hard, he fell onto his side and rolled right off the sofa. That made him laugh even harder. Still howling, he stumbled to his feet, barely able to catch his breath.

“Ugh! I can’t believe I told you.”

He dodged the sofa pillow Connie threw across the room at him and was glad it didn’t hit one of the candles.

“If you tell anyone what I just told you, so help me. I will...I will...I will never speak to you again, and I’m serious!”

When Trace finally pulled himself together, he dropped back onto the sofa, totally winded. “I promise. I won’t tell a soul. Besides, no one would believe me, anyway.”

“Oh, shut up.”

After several long minutes, when he could finally talk again without laughing, he asked, “What made you buy a doll to sleep with?”

“I didn’t. Trinity bought it as a joke one year for my birthday, and I thought he was cute. I kept him. A few years ago, I was going through a rough patch and wasn’t sleeping.” She shrugged. “I slept with Vinnie one night and had the best sleep I’d had in months. So I kept sleeping with him.”

“Well, if you ever want to replace Vinnie with a real man, I’m your guy.”

Connie rolled her eyes, trying to look annoyed, but Trace didn’t miss that she was fighting hard not to smile.

He wasn’t sure what else to say. If another woman had told him she slept with a doll, he’d probably find an excuse to leave, but this was Connie. She was one of the most put-together people he’d ever met. This info about her was a bit strange, but who was he to judge? His sister and brothers called him strange for one reason or another. He had to admit, though, sleeping with a doll as an adult was...different. Trace was just glad she hadn’t needed it the night he had stayed over. Now, that would’ve been weird. If she took a chance on him, she’d never need Vinnie Montell as a sleep mate again.

“Okay, enough about me. What about you? Same question. What’s something that no one knows about you?”

“Well, I can’t think of anything as...intriguing as your confession, but most people don’t know that I play three instruments.”

“What?” Connie leaned away and stared at him, her mouth hanging open. “How’d I not know that? What instruments?”

“Piano, guitar, and I dabble a little with the saxophone.”

“Get out! I love a man who can play the sax.”

“Good to know. I’ll start carrying it with me so that I can serenade you every chance I get.”

“I look forward to it. That explains why you usually have jazz playing on the radio whenever I ride with you... But wait. I told you something superembarrassing about myself, and that’s all you’ve got?”

Trace shrugged, trying not to fall out laughing again. “What can I say? I don’t have any unusual details to share. I guess I’m just perfect.”

Connie tsked and waved him off.

For the next few minutes, they lobbed questions back and forth. Her responses gave Trace more insight into who she was, but didn’t go as deep as he would have liked. There was so much he wanted to know, but he was careful in what he asked, not wanting her to shut down on him.

“If you could trade lives with someone, who would you choose?” Connie asked.

Trace played with a strand of her hair that had fallen out of the hair clip, twirling it around his fingers as he thought about the question. His mind took him back to a