Read Online In the Line of Fire by Jennifer LaBrecque - Free Book Online Page A

sheets. “Andi told me once he irons his boxers.”
    â€œYou’re making that up, Martha Anne, just to prove he’s a stodge.”
    â€œMay God strike me dead with a lightning bolt as I sit here. Your daughter told me he irons his underwear…and uses spray-on starch.”
    â€œSweet mercy.”
    Martha Anne nodded. “Seriously.”
    â€œShe still didn’t have to climb out of a window.”
    Andi had joie de vivre about her but she wasn’t capricious. She had a responsible streak a mile wide so she must’ve truly felt cornered to walk out on her wedding. Actually, Martha Anne thought she knew where Andi was coming from, as the young set liked to say. “What was she going to do? Come in front of all of those people and have a rational discussion? I don’t think she was left with a whole lot of choice, Daisy.”
    Daisy stubbornly tightened her lips into a thin line of disapproval. “She should’ve just married him. They would’ve worked it out.”
    That was why she climbed out the window. She’d tried to talk to Daisy, and Daisy simply wasn’t hearing her. And she certainly wouldn’t have heard her at the wedding. “Did you love Gerald when you married him?”
    â€œYes, I did. You’re right. He was weird and I’m not, and we didn’t go together but he was unlike anyone I’d ever met before.” An indulgent yet sad smile bloomed on her face and the pain of losing Allen stirred once again deep inside Martha Anne. She’d loved like that once…and lost…but at least she’d loved.
    â€œThen how can you possibly expect your daughter to marry a man she doesn’t love? That’s asking too much.”
    Â 
    A NDI ADDED ANOTHER measure of syrup to her pecan waffle but put her fork down. She was full and far too excited to eat any more. She’d denied how she felt about Colton the past several years but there was no denying how alive and on fire she felt now because she was going to have him, and she fully intended to have him, all to herself for the next several days…and nights.
    â€œThis is going to be fun,” she said to him. That blinding moment of actualization at the window when she realized she loved him, that she’d never really gotten over him, had clarified so much about her life and her decisions. “I’m more excited at the prospect of going on a Grand Adventure with you than I ever was at the notion of honeymooning at Sea Island with Blanton.” She felt almost guilty for saying it, but she would’ve felt guiltier still had she gone through with marrying Blanton. He deserved better than a woman who was hung up on another man. And Andi was most definitely hung up on the handsome soldier sitting across the booth from her.
    â€œThen I’d say not marrying him was definitely a good choice,” he said with a smile.
    â€œSo,” she said, pushing her plate to the side. “Where should we go?”
    Colton shook his head. “This is your great adventure. You decide.”
    â€œIf you signed on it’s your great adventure, as well.”
    â€œLook, honey…I mean, Andi.” Her heart skipped a beat when that initial term of endearment rolled off his tongue. “I’m just damn glad to be somewhere other than Afghanistan, and after today, it’ll be nice to be somewhere other than Mom’s for a couple of days. You mentioned Jekyll Island. If that’s where you want to go, we’ll head that way.” He didn’t sound particularly sold on the idea. “The last time we were there was the summer before your dad died. Do you remember that trip?”
    She did. Colton and Rion had been fifteen and she’d been nine. Mattie, Colton’s sister, had taken along a friend. Andi had been the odd man out and she’d been something of a pain in the butt. She definitely didn’t want to go anywhere that had those kind