Read Online Addicted to Love by Lori Wilde - Free Book Online Page B

call you Giada?”
    “I prefer Ms. Vito.” She straightened her back. It wouldn’t do to let him get too familiar.
    “Of course you do, Giada,” he continued, his eyes narrowing. “Just what in the hell is your beef with me?”
    “Other than the fact you’re a narcissistic drama king who thinks the entire town revolves around him?”
    “That wounds me deeply,” he said, and splayed a hand over his chest, but the expression on his face told her he had the hide of a rhino. “Everything I do is for the benefit of this town.”
    “Ah,” she said. “A self-delusional, narcissistic drama king.”
    Kelvin surprised her by throwing back his head and letting out a roar of laughter.
    “What’s so damned funny?” She glared.
    “You,” he said. “You look so feisty with your hands cocked and your knees bent like you’re gonna take a swing at me.”
    “That’s funny?”
    “I’m more than twice your size.”
    “And that’s something to brag about? You should look into Lean Cuisine. The baked chicken is quite tasty.”
    “I’m big all over.” He wriggled his eyebrows, his innuendo clear.
    Refusing to rise to the bait, Giada bit down on her tongue.
    “You know,” he said, “you and I could become friends.”
    “Not in this lifetime.”
    “Or we could skip the friendship and go straight to lovers.” His eyes drilled into hers. There was no missing the sexual interest.
    “I’d rather poke my eyes out with a rusty knife.”
    “You say that now,” he said, getting to his feet, “but that’s only because I haven’t kissed you yet.”
    He moved toward her.
    Giada reached for the pepper spray again but was dismayed to find it was not housed in the clip at her waist.
    “Looking for this?” He waggled the small spray can in front of her.
    “Bastard,” she said through gritted teeth.
    “You’re going to have to do a lot better than that if you’re hoping to rile me up,” he said.
    Giada glared and tried to stare him down, but he wasn’t going along with it. Instead, he was grinning at her like one of her unruly students. His gaze slid over her warm as hot fudge over homemade vanilla ice cream.
    An edgy warm sensation, thrilling and unexpected, rolled through her. She snatched the pepper spray from his hand, stuffed it into the clip, grabbed up her dumbbells, and walked away as fast as she could, while the sound of his wickedly sexual chuckle rang in her ears.
    F OLLOWING A DINNER filled with an undercurrent of sexual tension that Rachael hoped no one else could detect, she helped Deana wash dishes. Brody was a handsome man, no doubt. But she wasn’t in any position to be thinking romantic thoughts. In fact, ridiculous romantic thoughts were the very things that had landed her in this mess.
    Once she and Deana had finished cleaning the kitchen, Maisy begged the three adults to play Chutes and Ladders with her at the dining room table.
    When she had been Maisy’s age, Chutes and Ladders had been Rachael’s favorite board game. Her parents had dubbed Sunday family game night when she and her sister, Hannah, were growing up. It was a tradition she’d hoped to continue with her own children. The children she’d dreamed of having with Trace.
    Dreams died hard.
    Misery pushed into Rachael’s throat and she swallowed back the bitter taste of it as her game piece ended up on a chute and she slid all the way down, landing at the beginning square.
    “Ha!” Maisy gloated. “Start over!”
    “Maisy,” her mother chided. “Don’t be rude.”
    “What?” The child shrugged and tried to look innocent, but ultimately, she was unable to hide her mischievous grin.
    “It’s not nice to take joy in the misfortune of others, Missy. Next turn you might be right at the bottom of the chute alongside Rachael.”
    That’s me, bottom of the chute. Starting over yet again.
    Roll the dice. Take a chance. End up right back where you started. Story of her life. From now on she was finished with rolling the dice,