Read Online The Last First Kiss (Harlequin Special Edition) by Marie Ferrarella - Free Book Online

hoped it wasn’t obvious that the words had stuck in her throat and had to be forced out. Dave, to his credit, didn’t look surprised. He remembered the plan. When she slanted a glance toward his cousin, Melissa was beaming, as if she was genuinely thrilled for them.
    Obviously everyone in his family had, until now, just assumed Dave was going to remain a grumpy, unattached bachelor for the rest of his life, Kara thought. Apparently she was regarded as the answer to their prayers.
    “Your mom’s already here,” Melissa told Dave, then glanced back at Kara. “Yours, too.”
    Kara stretched her lips back in a smile that Dave found unreadable—but he could make an educated guess as to the feeling behind it.
    “Wonderful,” Kara commented. Looking at Dave, she said, “Let’s put the gifts on the table, Dave.” At the last minute, she stopped herself from adding the y, managing to stretch out his name instead.
    “Sure, Kara.”
    “Try not to sound so stilted,” she whispered as they walked away, taking care that Melissa didn’t overhear them.
    “That’s my everyday voice,” he told her, irritated. Was there anything she didn’t feel compelled to edit?
    “I know.”
    Dave let out a long breath but said nothing.
    Leading the way to the growing pile of birthday gifts, Kara took the games she’d wrapped less than an hour ago and deposited them on top. Dave waited until she was finished, then added his to the stack.
    “Laying it on a little thick back there, weren’t you?” he asked her.
    “Melissa obviously didn’t think so,” Kara pointed out. “She looked happy.”
    If that made her feel guilty, she was determined not to dwell on it. The old saying about breaking eggs and making omelets echoed in her brain.
    “Besides,” she continued, also keeping her voice low, “the more in love everyone thinks we are, the more impact the breakup will have. My mother—and yours—will feel just awful that their misguided matchmaking efforts brought us nothing but pain. In the end, that should keep them from ever attempting anything like this again. I figure that’s a good thing—unless you actually like being set up on blind dates.”
    Dave shivered at the mere suggestion of it. “God, no.”
    “Okay, then we’re agreed.” She looked around but didn’t see her mother or his. Maybe their “audience” was out back with the children, she thought. “Could you get me something to drink?” she said to Dave.
    Instead of doing as she asked, Dave physically turned her toward the kitchen and pointed. “Kitchen’s right through there. You can get it yourself.”
    That wasn’t the point. No wonder he was still unattached, she thought. “You’re supposed to be willing to slay dragons for me,” she told him. “You can’t get a simple can of soda?”
    “I’m saving my strength for the dragons,” he answered. “Besides, I figured you’d be insulted if I usurped your right to choose your own beverage. Trampling on your independence and all that sort of thing,” he elaborated when she looked at him quizzically.
    Did he think she was that neurotic and insecure? “My independence is alive and well, thank you.” Well, they were supposed to be inseparable at this stage in their relationship, she thought. At least, so she’d heard. “Tell you what,” she proposed, taking his hand and lacing her fingers through his, “we’ll both go. I mean, since we’re in the beginning stages of euphoric infatuation. It only stands to reason that we’d want to spend every minute we can together, right?”
    He looked at her, a little stunned. “You really plotted all this out, didn’t you?”
    Kara raised her eyebrows until they disappeared beneath her feathery bangs. “And this surprises you?”
    He thought back to all the elaborate tricks she’d played on him those summers he was forced to endure her company. Now that he reexamined them, a lot of planning must have gone into those tricks. She’d been a