Read Between the Lines (Business of Love #6) - Ali Parker Page 0,1

knocked. After being gone so long, it didn’t seem right to just let myself in.

On the other side of the door, I heard a delighted and enthusiastic cry of excitement. A grin stretched my cheeks as I heard my cousin racing to the front door.

Grace threw the door open and met me with a radiant white smile. “Nora!” She flung herself out onto the front step and threw her arms around me in an awkward but tight embrace. My giant backpack made it hard for her to get her arms all the way around me. “Oh my gosh! I’ve missed you! How was your flight? Are you hungry? I thought you might be hungry, so I made perogies.” She stepped back and cupped my face in her hands. Her eyes, bluer than the sky, roamed over my face and down the length of my body. “You look so different.”

I struck a model pose and put one hand on my hip and the other behind my head. “Better or worse?”

“Neither, just different.” Grace reached out and grabbed my upper arm. She squeezed. “Where did these muscles come from?”

I adjusted my pack on my shoulder. “Probably from hauling this thing with me all over the world, among other things.” My travels hadn’t been light and luxurious. They’d been quite the opposite actually. In order to make my finances stretch, I’d stayed in mediocre lodgings that almost always had more stairs than any building had a right to. I’d also done a lot of hiking and walking tours, as well as hands-on physical things like learning how to weave carpets in Turkey or blow glass in Italy.

Grace stepped back to let me in and helped me out of my pack. We left it by the shoe rack at the front door to be dealt with later. After two back-to-back eight-hour flights, a six-hour layover, and being away from home for so long, I was keen on digging into those perogies Grace had mentioned.

I also just wanted to sit down and relax.

I stepped out of my boots, grungy old hiking things that were in need of replacing, and shrugged out of my cargo jacket. I draped it over my pack to be cleaned and put away tomorrow.

“Did you want to shower first?” Grace offered. “We still have fifteen or so minutes before food is ready. There’s a freshly cleaned towel waiting for you up there and some new soaps and shampoos. I thought you might want to scrub the travel away.”

“Has anyone told you how amazing you are lately?” I asked as I made for the bottom of the stairs and put my hand on the railing.

Grace flashed me a charming smile that pressed tiny dimples into her cheeks. “No, probably because you’ve been gone for so long.”

“Well get used to it. Because you are. I’ll be down in ten.”

“Take your time.”

My shower was heavenly. I massaged tea tree scented shampoo into my scalp and conditioned with thick, silky conditioner that smelled like cucumber. My body wash, lime scented, chased away the remnants of travel, and I emerged from the steamy bathroom feeling like I was on cloud nine.

My bedroom was exactly as I’d left it. Grace had obviously vacuumed my plush white carpets this afternoon to prepare for my homecoming. She’d washed my bedding, too. My closet doors were open and on one of them she’d hung a new lounge set. It was a deep forest green color and it was soft against my skin when I put it on. I stepped into the pair of matching slippers on the floor and wiggled my toes in the fleece lining.

My cousin was an angel. Plain and simple.

I left my thick brown hair down to air-dry, slapped on a buttload of face moisturizer, and hurried back downstairs to stuff my belly with fried perogies.

When I hit the first level, the whole bottom floor smelled like frying onions and bacon. Grace met me with an already poured glass of Malbec and we toasted to being united after so many days apart.

“Thank you for the goodies,” I said, tugging at the hem of my shirt. “These are so comfy. And cute.”

“I thought you might enjoy some simple luxuries after I saw that last hostel you were staying at.”

I chuckled. “It was a bad one, wasn’t it?”

The last place I’d visited was Prague, which had been very high on my list, and I’d squeezed it in when my money was more than a little tight. I’d stayed in