Can't Get Over You (Fortune's Island, Book 2) by Shirley Jump Read Free Book Online Page A

was a very nice dinner.”
    “You’re welcome.” A moment later, he’d signed the receipt and gotten to his feet, reaching for her chair to pull it out. They walked out of the restaurant and onto the boardwalk outside, with Ethan holding the door for her on the way. At every turn, he’d given her the royal treatment. She was so used to just taking care of herself, of not waiting on Zach to open doors or pull out chairs. This…this, she could get used to.
    “All this chivalry is going to ruin me,” she said. Who was this flirty Jillian? She hadn’t even realized she had a side like this. But whatever had brought it out, Ethan was definitely responding.
    Ethan leaned in close, his breath warm against her ear, sending a little shiver down her spine. “You’re the kind of woman who should be treated like this every single day.”
    Every single day? Just the thought started a slow simmer in her belly. Yes, he was definitely the intoxicating one.
    She turned to Ethan, her mouth mere inches from his. She raised her chin until she was staring up into those deep blue eyes. “Why?”
    He trailed a finger along her chin, lingering in the divot below her lips. “Because you are beautiful and smart and…unique. Intoxicating.”
    Jillian giggled. Actually giggled. She wasn’t a woman who ever got googly-eyed or giggly about anything, but there was something about the sexy way he said intoxicating that left her feeling like a schoolgirl. “Intoxicating?”
    “Absolutely…” he drew in closer, and her breath caught, “positively…” she couldn’t think, couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything but watch Ethan close the distance between them, “intoxicating.” Then he leaned in and whispered a kiss across her lips.
    # # #
    That bastard was kissing his fiancé.
    Technically, that bastard was kissing Jillian, because she had stopped being Zach’s fiancé three months ago. But she still felt like his fiancé, at least in his head, and seeing another man kiss her made him want to go all Hulk on the guy.
    Instead Zach sat in his car, parked across the street from Monty’s, and told himself he needed help. What was he doing, skipping the rest of band practice to follow Jillian all over Fortune’s Island? They had laws against that kind of thing, and probably for good reason.
    He needed to move on. Date someone else.
    Like she was doing.
    Nausea churned in his stomach. Had he completely blown it? Lost her forever?
    Like a rubbernecker watching a train wreck, Zach couldn’t look away from the bastard—he still didn’t know his name—and Jillian. Zach tried to read any clues he could in the way she responded to his kiss. Did she lean in or lean away? Did she kiss him back or just tolerate the embrace?
    Before he could decide, the kiss ended and Jillian took a half step back. The smile that Zach knew as well as his own curved across her face, and Zach thought if it was possible to die inside, he’d done just that.
    The bastard took Jillian’s hand, then tipped the valet and opened the car door for her, one hand on Jillian’s back, possessive.
    Before Zach even realized what he was doing, he was out of his car, hurrying up the walkway to Monty’s and raising an arm. He swung at the bastard, connecting with his jaw in a right hook that would have made Muhammad Ali proud. The bastard stumbled backward, and would have fallen to the ground, if not for a lamppost that broke his fall with a loud thunk. Zach advanced on him, then the rational side of his brain began to peek through the angry red fog before his eyes, and he heard Jillian’s voice.
    “Zach! Stop it! What the hell are you doing?”
    Her hand was on his arm. He lowered his fist to his side and turned to her. Her eyes were wide, filled with anger and fear and a little disappointment.
    In that moment, Zach realized he had turned into his brother. Keith had always let his temper rule his decisions, and that had sent him to the one place Zach never wanted to go,