Read Online His Darling Bride (Echoes of the Heart #3) by Anna DeStefano - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Anna DeStefano
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eased down until she was sitting, too. “As long as you promise never to call me that again.”
He placed his unused fork in front of her and then spooned up a mouthful of surprisingly tasty cold soup. “Eat your dessert. We’ll keep things light and friendly. It’ll stop everyone from thinking that each time you’ve headed into Atlanta, I’ve been your big-city boy toy. People will look their fill, get tired of eavesdropping, and move on to juicer gossip.”
“And then?” she asked uneasily. As if she wanted to believe he was genuinely trying to help, but she just couldn’t get there.
“Then we go our separate ways.” After he’d snagged a few more minutes with her. Just a few. “It’s a big town. I won’t be here all that long. No harm, no foul.”
Because who did walking away clean from places and people better than him?
Chapter Four
Bethany let the mini backpack she carried instead of a purse slide off her shoulder. It thudded to the ground, mocking her plan to zip in and out G&Bs with Shandra, ordering their cheesecake for the road.
That would have meant Bethany not needing to shut down the rumors about her and Mike. Or not starting any rumors in the first place Thursday night, by running from her brothers and a guy who’d been really, really good at making her want to stay. She could remember the panicked shock of looking down at McC’s and finding her fingers tangled up with Mike’s, even though she’d been just as furious with him at that point as she’d been with herself and her brothers.
That funny, gorgeous, infuriating guy was now sitting across the table from her, haloed in the daylight streaming through Nicole’s sparkling windows. While Bethany was so hungry she could dive headfirst into the slab of cheesecake Nic had sliced up for her.
Begrudgingly, she picked up his fork while Mike took a long swallow of his iced tea. He wiped his lips with one of the cloth napkins Nicole insisted on using instead of paper ones, even though it dipped into her anemic profit margin. Bethany suddenly found herself fantasizing about being that napkin. Feeling Mike’s soft mouth on hers. The strength of his hands on her body. His hard muscles bunching and rolling and steadying her as he eased her into his lap, too—
Oh, good grief!
“Eat.” He finished his soup and wrapped a helping of pork in a crisp leaf of iceberg lettuce. “At least stop looking like you’re going to stake me with my own utensil.”
“What?” She was holding the fork the way she would a butcher knife. “Oh . . .”
She shoveled in a heaping portion of cheesecake. Groaning, she closed her eyes, her taste buds oozing with sugary goodness.
“So good,” she murmured through her next bite.
She blinked, realizing that Mike’s focus on her had intensified. And not in a let’s silence all those crazy rumors way. He was staring as if she were a decadent treat he wanted to gobble up.
She brandished the fork again. “No dessert for you, remember?”
He cleared his throat with a teasing wink. “Doesn’t mean I don’t crave something sweet every once in a while.”
He bit into his lettuce wrap. The man even chewed sexy. A metal bracelet glimmered at the cuff of another long-sleeved shirt.
“MedicAlert?” She recognized the symbol. Oliver’s daughter, Camille, wore something similar. The little girl never left the house without it. Not since she’d had an allergic reaction in the spring that had landed her in the ER and scared everyone to death. “Is that what the sugar’s about?”
“I can have a little.” He didn’t seem to mind her nosiness. It had been his idea to sit and chat like buddies. “As long as it’s in careful combination with other foods. It’s easier to lay off the stuff entirely when I eat out, though. I don’t feel deprived, not these days. When I get sick of cooking and cleaning for myself, farm-to-table places like your friend’s are great.”
“Farm-to-table? Cooking and
He placed his unused fork in front of her and then spooned up a mouthful of surprisingly tasty cold soup. “Eat your dessert. We’ll keep things light and friendly. It’ll stop everyone from thinking that each time you’ve headed into Atlanta, I’ve been your big-city boy toy. People will look their fill, get tired of eavesdropping, and move on to juicer gossip.”
“And then?” she asked uneasily. As if she wanted to believe he was genuinely trying to help, but she just couldn’t get there.
“Then we go our separate ways.” After he’d snagged a few more minutes with her. Just a few. “It’s a big town. I won’t be here all that long. No harm, no foul.”
Because who did walking away clean from places and people better than him?
Chapter Four
Bethany let the mini backpack she carried instead of a purse slide off her shoulder. It thudded to the ground, mocking her plan to zip in and out G&Bs with Shandra, ordering their cheesecake for the road.
That would have meant Bethany not needing to shut down the rumors about her and Mike. Or not starting any rumors in the first place Thursday night, by running from her brothers and a guy who’d been really, really good at making her want to stay. She could remember the panicked shock of looking down at McC’s and finding her fingers tangled up with Mike’s, even though she’d been just as furious with him at that point as she’d been with herself and her brothers.
That funny, gorgeous, infuriating guy was now sitting across the table from her, haloed in the daylight streaming through Nicole’s sparkling windows. While Bethany was so hungry she could dive headfirst into the slab of cheesecake Nic had sliced up for her.
Begrudgingly, she picked up his fork while Mike took a long swallow of his iced tea. He wiped his lips with one of the cloth napkins Nicole insisted on using instead of paper ones, even though it dipped into her anemic profit margin. Bethany suddenly found herself fantasizing about being that napkin. Feeling Mike’s soft mouth on hers. The strength of his hands on her body. His hard muscles bunching and rolling and steadying her as he eased her into his lap, too—
Oh, good grief!
“Eat.” He finished his soup and wrapped a helping of pork in a crisp leaf of iceberg lettuce. “At least stop looking like you’re going to stake me with my own utensil.”
“What?” She was holding the fork the way she would a butcher knife. “Oh . . .”
She shoveled in a heaping portion of cheesecake. Groaning, she closed her eyes, her taste buds oozing with sugary goodness.
“So good,” she murmured through her next bite.
She blinked, realizing that Mike’s focus on her had intensified. And not in a let’s silence all those crazy rumors way. He was staring as if she were a decadent treat he wanted to gobble up.
She brandished the fork again. “No dessert for you, remember?”
He cleared his throat with a teasing wink. “Doesn’t mean I don’t crave something sweet every once in a while.”
He bit into his lettuce wrap. The man even chewed sexy. A metal bracelet glimmered at the cuff of another long-sleeved shirt.
“MedicAlert?” She recognized the symbol. Oliver’s daughter, Camille, wore something similar. The little girl never left the house without it. Not since she’d had an allergic reaction in the spring that had landed her in the ER and scared everyone to death. “Is that what the sugar’s about?”
“I can have a little.” He didn’t seem to mind her nosiness. It had been his idea to sit and chat like buddies. “As long as it’s in careful combination with other foods. It’s easier to lay off the stuff entirely when I eat out, though. I don’t feel deprived, not these days. When I get sick of cooking and cleaning for myself, farm-to-table places like your friend’s are great.”
“Farm-to-table? Cooking and
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