Can I Read 'One Puzzling Afternoon' Online For Free?

After Pierce Emery and I got back together, I started "renting him out." Every time his old flame, Daphne Roach, called him away, I stopped crying and causing scenes like before. I charged by the hour instead. Ten grand an hour during the day. Twenty at night. Triple on holidays. Three months later, my account was up almost two million dollars. Pierce had promised to help me pick a dress for a banquet, but Daphne called him crying, saying she'd sliced her hand while cooking. I didn't even look up. I just held out my phone with the payment screen open. One night, I came down with a brutal fever. While Pierce was driving me to the hospital, his phone rang again. Daphne. He stared at the screen for a long second before answering. Her voice came through shaky and tearful. "Pierce, the thunder's so loud. I can't sleep. Can you come stay with me?" I quietly pulled out an umbrella and told him to let me out at the next intersection. He looked at me like he wanted to explain something, but I just smiled. "Don't forget to transfer the money." The same thing happened again on the day our daughter went in for her routine checkup. Except this time, she was the one asking him for money.

'If I did anything right in my life, it was when I gave my heart to you, my love. I swear I couldn't love you more than I do right now, yet I know I will tomorrow.' For Audrey, ‘Seymour House’ is not only a house. It’s her most precious legacy. All her memories are there, still living inside those four walls. So, she needs to do everything in her power to save it. Even if it means going against a ruthless businessman like James Mayer. James came to England with one thing in his mind: avenge his father. He has a score to settle with the Seymour family. James is determined to see this matter all the way through, starting with getting his hands on ‘Seymour House’. After one meeting with Audrey Seymour, James decides he will have the house and everything in it… including the gorgeous lady of the house. Against her better judgment, Audrey is attracted to James’s powerful sensuality. He is so tempting… Still, she is saving herself for her wedding night, and the American tycoon is definitely not the marrying kind! But there’s one thing she doesn’t know about him… whatever James Mayer wants, he usually gets.

A parent in my son's preschool group chat tagged me out of nowhere. "Theo's dad, your son's lunches always look pretty nice. Starting tomorrow, pack one for my daughter too." "I'm not asking for free food. I'll give you ten dollars a day. That adds up. You can make a little extra on the side." I stared at the message, almost laughing from how absurd it was. My son has severe food sensitivities and a fragile stomach. Every ingredient in his meals is specially sourced, and a single lunch costs far more than five hundred dollars to prepare. And this man thought ten dollars could buy it? I replied with two words: "Not happening." The next day, my son came home crying. His lunch had been taken by another child, and the teacher had scolded him for being selfish. Fine. Since they wanted to push this far, I would show them exactly how far I could go.

Meet Esmerelda Sleuth. Sleuth is her name and investigating is her game. (Paranormal Investigating, that is.) Esmerelda makes a good living as an investigator in a rather progressive firm. She lives a stable and sensible life until she meets Lance; an old money "hottie" who works for a real estate firm next to her building. After accepting an invitation for a weekend getaway party, she quickly discovers that Lance has a secret. He is wealthy. That part is true. And, yes, he's procured a job as a realtor in the building next door. His secret is that he belongs to an underground society of humans who didn't abandon their connection to magic centuries ago when religion declared it evil and he has traveled through time specifically to find her and bring her back to his time to marry him. If that isn't enough of a far fetched tale to absorb, he informs her that she was born in his time to a family belonging to that same secret society and was promised in marriage to him as an infant. When enemies who didn't want to see the union of families take place made attempts on her life, her parents sent her into the future and erased her memories of them as a precaution. Possessing virtually no belief in magic, ghosts, psychics, time travel, etc., it takes some doing on Lance's part to convince her to believe his story and go back with him. When she does, the lies, deceit and attempts on her life start all over again. Will she escape emotionally and physically unscathed? "The Other Side Of the Mirror" is a steamy-paranormal-romance- mystery-thriller and book one of the Esmerelda Sleuth series.

In an attempt to help her get over the pain of being cheated on by her boyfriend on her 22nd birthday, Sophia Clark’s friends take her to a club and force her to consume alcohol. In her intoxicated state, Sophia’s blurry vision mistakes a stranger sitting beside her at the bar for her cheating boyfriend. She kisses him intensely and goes to a hotel with him where they both engage in a one night stand. The next morning, realizing her mistakes, Sophia hurriedly leaves the hotel room before the strange man wakes up. Regrettably, she didn't see his face. Six years later, Sophia begins to work as the secretary of a cold CEO and one of the wealthiest billionaires in Glasgow, Damon Graham. To avoid his mom's threats of choosing a bride for him and confiscating his properties if he doesn't get married, Damon Graham proposes a marriage contract to Sophia, offering her £10 million. A helpless Sophia who is in a challenging situation has no choice but to consider her boss's offer. What prompts her to accept it? Sophia has a strong feeling that her one night stand from six years ago is connected to a mysterious artwork in Damon's Mansion. Will she be able to unravel it? What happens when Damon finds out about his fake wife's one night stand, and that she is a single mom of two kids?

“Peter, is my form alright?” I was teaching my goddaughter, Irene Anderson, the right form for swimming in the pool. When she bent over, her behind accidentally bumped into my groin. It felt as if an electric current had run through me. What made me more excited was how unfamiliar she was with swimming. She floundered around until her bikini bottom fell off. I rushed over to help her. However, she struggled terribly as she tried to hug me, and our hips were tightly pressed together. Meanwhile, her biological father was looking at us from the side.