Read Online Knowing You by Maureen Child - Free Book Online

local gossips could overhear her,she snapped, “What you
need
is to work out whatever’s turning you into the town drunk. It ain’t pretty.”
    â€œThanks for kicking me while I’m down.”
    â€œHey, you want flattery, call a cheerleader.”
    â€œPlease,” Nick said, groaning, “I beg you to shut up. If I ever meant anything to you, please stuff a sock in it.”
    He had meant something to her once. In fact, he’d meant everything. At least, she’d thought he had. So she did back up and leave him alone. For old times’ sake. And because after last night … she couldn’t be Nick’s life preserver anymore.

CHAPTER FIVE
    T WO DAYS CRAWLED BY and Stevie was getting crankier by the minute.
    Which didn’t make the least amount of sense. For God’s sake, it’s not like she was sitting around waiting for Paul to call. She didn’t
want
him to call. She only wanted him to come over and—
    Okay, back up
.
    She didn’t want that, either—in her more rational moments. But when her brain went to sleep and her body started screaming, Stevie wanted him bad. Any way she could get him.
    Which was
so
not a good thing.
    Carrying another box of muffins, cookies, and scones out to where her car was parked behind the shop, she went over all of the reasons why she should never see Paul Candellano naked again.
    â€œOne,” she muttered, hefting the box into the trunk and shoving two others out of her way, “he’s a Candellano, God help me.” The cellophane wrap covering thetop of the box fluttered at a corner and Stevie straightened it. “The Candellanos are your only
family
, Stevie,” she went on, and made her voice stern so she would listen to herself. “You think they’ll be happy about you going from Nick to Paul? You can’t bounce from brother to brother, for the love of God. Hell, Beth’ll lock Tony in a closet for safekeeping.”
    She groaned and straightened up. Scooping her hair back from her face, she took an extra second to slap her forehead with the heel of her hand. This was all just so …
tacky
.
    True, she hadn’t been involved with Nick in more than two years. But once upon a time, they’d been an item. She’d been so sure that Nick was the one man in the world for her. She’d imagined them married, with kids, living in Chandler, having dinner every Sunday at Nick’s mom’s—only then Stevie would have been an
official
member of the family.
    And it had all been so real. So clear to her that she’d never noticed that the Nick she was dreaming about and the
actual
Nick were two completely different guys.
    How many times over the years had she cried on Paul’s shoulder about something Nick had done or said? And now she’d gone from crying on that shoulder to
biting
that shoulder and—she closed her eyes. “Okay, hyperventilating probably won’t help.”
    She slapped one hand to her chest and took several long, deep breaths. Her heart rate slowed down and her breathing evened out, but nothing else had changed. Stevie was still sitting in the middle of a potential catastrophe.
    What if Mama and the others found out about herand Paul? Stevie swallowed back the knot of anxiety lodged in her throat and held on to the raised trunk lid to keep from swaying unsteadily.
    Mama Candellano had always welcomed her, and the woman had been delighted when Nick and Stevie had become a couple. Eventually, Mama, too, had dreamed about Stevie and Nick getting married and making some beautiful grandchildren for her. And when it had ended between her and Nick, Mama had still made sure that Stevie remained a part of the family. Stevie thumped her forehead against the raised trunk and closed her eyes.
    Just last year, Mama had hinted that she thought Stevie was Nick’s one chance at stability. At making a U-turn on his fast-living road. Mama’d counted