Read Online Burned by Amity Hope - Free Book Online Page B

her.
    She made a shooing motion. “Go get us some punch, pleeeeeease ?” She batted her eyelashes innocently at him.
    He warily eyed the mass of people that stood between us and the punch table.
    Maggie sighed loudly. “Stop acting like a ninny. You’re my big brother. I’m supposed to look up to you. Go,” she said, “brave the pretentious nitwits in the crowd and bring us some drinks. I bet Lanna is parched.”
    She gave me a look that begged me to go along with her.
    I gave Jake an apologetic look. “I could use a drink.”
    With a sigh of resignation, he took off.
    Maggie’s playful look instantly drifted into a look of sadness as she watched him go. When she lost sight of him she turned to me. “I really hate that he’s so self-conscious around these people now. They have no right to look down on him. On the other hand, my dad made such a show of convincing everyone that Jake turned into a miscreant, I almost can’t blame them. But they should know better. They should know my brother better than to believe that.”
    “I agree. I don’t know him well, but I don’t think I’ve ever met a nicer guy.”
    She leaned forward, bracing her elbows on the table. “He said you were a friend, but what are your intentions with my brother?” I was about to laugh until I realized she looked pretty damn serious.
    “My intention,” I said honestly, “is to be sure that he has a good time tonight. And if that should happen to include making his money-hungry ex a little bit jealous, so be it. She deserves to see that Jake’s a great guy, all on his own. It would serve her right to realize she was an idiot for tossing him aside.”
    She nodded slowly, apparently needing to process what I’d said. “Thank you. I’m glad he finally got himself a girlfriend who sees that.”
    “We’re not—” I cut myself of as I realized there was an echo from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and Jake finished “—dating.”
    “Right,” I agreed. “We’re not dating.”
    “So you implied with the friend bit,” Maggie admitted. “But you should be dating. I like her,” she said as she vaguely motioned my way. “Do you like her Jake?”
    I laughed. “Yeah, do you like me, Jake?” I teased.
    His cheeks turned pink but he smiled. “I suppose you’re not so bad.”
    “Oh,” Maggie said with a sigh, “here come the ruiners of all things fun.”
    “The, um, what?” I asked in confusion.
    “The old people,” she clarified unhappily. “We’re sitting with at least a dozen old people. Prepare to be bored beyond your wildest dreams. Aunt Millie and Uncle George will talk for hours about the state of their bunions. The wedding planner put them back here, at this table, because their voices carry. Actually, they holler because they are all half deaf. She didn’t want to ruin the fun for everyone else.”
    “Nope, just us black sheep,” Jake said as he carefully placed the cups of punch in front of Maggie and me.
    “I’d rather be a black sheep than a lemming,” Maggie said. “And when it comes right down to it, I think you would too.”
     
    ~*~*~
     
    “Time for me to mingle,” Maggie announced. “And I think it’s time for you two to dance.”
    I thought that was a fabulous idea. I’d learned more about pacemakers, liver spots, and incontinence than I’d ever wanted to know.
    I looked hopefully to Jake.
    “Do you dance?” I asked.
    “Do I dance?” he repeated. “Does it count if I just put my arms around you and sway to the music?”
    “Yes,” I said with a laugh, “that definitely counts.”
    “Then I’m an excellent dancer.”
    Maggie hurried off to find a few of her cousins that she was close with. Jake and I made our way to the dance floor. We stayed on the outer edge.
    “You never congratulated the bride and groom,” I said quietly.
    “Trust me, it’s my wedding gift to them to keep my distance.”
    I gave him a stern look. “I doubt that. They invited you.”
    “It was good