By Invitation Only by Lori Wilde, Wendy Etherington, Jillian Burns Read Free Book Online Page B

in Texas.
    Yeah, but how long are you going to be young? You can’t be Peter Pan forever.
    Peter Pan? He wasn’t Peter Pan. He just liked having a good time. Nothing wrong with that.
    Maybe not, but wouldn’t you like something more substantial?
    And just as the thought popped into his head, the crowd parted to let them pass and there she was.
    Olivia.
    Responsible, uptight, contentious Olivia…doing the limbo?
    “How low can you go?” called out the DJ as the friendly limbo beat drummed into the thick, warm night graced with a full yellow moon.
    Who would have thought it possible? The sight of Olivia, wild-haired and giggling as she shimmied underneath the limbo pole held aloft by two muscular island natives while “The Limbo” spilled from the outdoor sound system, gripped Nick. She moved as limber as an eel. How did such a rigid woman get so flexible? He liked this look on her—fun, uninhibited, slightly out of control.
    One of the burly, pole-holding dudes was staring at Olivia as if she was an ice-cream cone he wanted to lick. Unexpectedly, a fissure of jealousy cracked open inside Nick. He had a startling urge to plant a fist in the guy’s grinning mug. What was this? He’d never been the jealous type. He was the guy who felt a kick of pride whenever someone ogled the woman he was with.
    Dude, you’re not with her.
    No, but he wanted to be and that foreign urge was far scarier than the jealousy.
    Olivia stood up on the other side of the pole, cheeks flushed, hair tousled, eyes dancing. Her friends clapped enthusiastically, egging her on.
    She was beautiful. Truly beautiful.
    “Nick!” Her smiled widened when she spotted him and she waved.
    Her friendly tone alarmed him. “You’ve been drinking.”
    She held up two fingers. “Just two. But they were—” She paused to hiccup, slapped a hand across her mouth, giggled, then hiccuped again. Olivia Carmichael could giggle? Who would have believed it? “Strong and I’m not accustomed to imbibing hard liquor and…” She swayed gracefully.
    Instinctively he put out a hand to brace her.
    She didn’t move away from him. “Chivalry, Nick? That’s unexpected.”
    “Tipsy, Carmichael? Equally unexpected.”
    She laughed, her bright eyes dancing.
    “How low can you go?” dared the DJ.
    “How low can you go?” Olivia purred.
    Flustered and surprised by his lack of a quick comeback, Nick lowered his head, rubbed a palm across the back of his neck.
    “Couples limbo,” the DJ enticed.
    Olivia held out her hand. “C’mon. Let’s limbo.”
    “I can’t believe you can do the limbo.”
    “Why not?”
    “You don’t seem the flexible type.”
    “Fifteen years of yoga, my friend. I’ll kick your ass.”
    “Game on,” he said, stripped off his jacket and handed it to one of J.D.’s buddies to hold. “Bring it.”
    The limbo song started over as couples lined up to slink underneath the pole two by two. The first couple didn’t make it. A tall, ungainly guy knocked into the pole. The crowd laughed.
    “How low can you go?” the DJ purred in a deep bass.
    Another couple made it through, laughing as they went.
    Next, it was their turn.
    “Lower,” Olivia instructed the pole holders.
    The men flashed shining white teeth and lowered the pole an inch.
    “Lower.” Olivia motioned exactly where she wanted the height of the pole.
    The men simultaneously raised their eyebrows. She was pointing at the level of their kneecaps.
    “Yes,” she confirmed.
    Grinning and shrugging, they lowered the pole.
    “Now,” she told Nick, “let’s win this damn thing.”
    Ah, there was the Olivia he knew and loved.
    Loved?
    Had he actually thought that ridiculous thought? Nick gulped.
    Olivia grabbed his hand. “This is it, Romeo, show me what you’ve got.”
    In unison, they both leaned back and let their legs carry them low to the ground as they inched forward trying not to hit the limbo bar or lose their balance and fall backward.
    It was too low.
    Nick