Daisy's Back in Town by Rachel Gibson Read Free Book Online Page B

bring her with you?"
    "Why would I?"
    "Isn't she your girlfriend?"
    "Whatever gave you that idea?"
    They both knew what had given her that idea. "Oh, maybe because she was wearing your shirt last night, and nothing else."
    "You're wrong about that. She was wearin' a black lace thong." One corner of his mouth slid up, purposely provoking her - the jerk. "And a satisfied smile. You remember that smile, don't you, Daisy?"

    She would not lose her temper and give him what he wanted. "Don't flatter yourself, Jack Parrish. You weren't that memorable."
    "What? I was talking about Gina's smile last night." The other corner of his mouth slid up and laugh lines appeared in the corners of his eyes. "What were you talking about, buttercup?"
    They both knew he hadn't been talking about Gina's smile. "You haven't changed since high school." She gave him a withering glance and walked away before she lost her temper and said something she might regret. Like that he should grow up.
    Jack watched her go. His smile flat-lined, and his gaze slid from her blond hair, all slick and smooth, down the back of her red dress to her behind and the backs of her thighs. Who the hell was she to judge him? She'd screwed around with him, said she'd love him forever; then married his best friend the same week he buried both his parents. In his book, that made her a hardcore hitch.
    She disappeared into the banquet room, and Jack waited a few moments before he followed. At thirty-three, Daisy was even more beautiful than she'd been at eighteen. He'd seen it last night. In his kitchen, and he saw it now So much about her was different, yet the same. Her hair was still the same shiny blond, but it wasn't big and curly and sprayed stiff. Now it was smooth and sexy as hell. She'd grown an inch maybe two, to what he figured was about five-foot-five, but she carried herself like she was still queen of the Lovett Rose Festival. Her large eyes were still the color of rich mahogany, but they'd lost the innocence and passion that he'd once found so fascinating.
    He walked down the hall and entered the dark banquet room. Marvin stopped him to talk about the '67 Ford Fairlane he'd just bought.
    "It has its original 427," he said while Jed and the Rippers sang a Tim McGraw song about a girl in a miniskirt.
    Like a magnet, Jack's gaze found Daisy. She stood at the edge of the lighted floor across the room, chatting with J. P. Clark and his wife, Loretta. Daisy's red dress hugged the curves of her body without looking too tight. She clearly hadn't gone too fat. Didn't have thick ankles or a droopy butt. Which was too bad, as far as Jack was concerned.
    For years he'd forgotten about her and Steven. He'd buried them in the past and got on with his life. Now here she was, dredging it all back up again.
    Cal Turner approached her and she followed him to the middle of the dance floor. Everyone knew Cal was a horny bastard and would naturally take all those buttons on the side of that dress as an invitation to let his fingers do the walking. Maybe that's what she wanted. To get something going with Cal. Didn't matter, though.
    It was none of Jack's business.
    "Tile vinyl roof needs to be replaced," Marvin said, then rambled on about the interior.
    Cal wrapped an arm around Daisy's waist and she smiled up at him. Light from the crystal ball slid along her cheek and got caught in her hair. Her red lips parted and she laughed. Daisy Lee Brooks, the fantasy of every horny guy at Lovett High, was back in town, turning heads and leading guys on with a smile.
    Some things never changed.

    Only she wasn't Daisy Lee Brooks. She was Daisy Monroe and she had a kid. A son. A baby with Steven. He didn't know why that surprised him. It shouldn't. Of course they'd had a kid. When he thought about it, it was more surprising that they'd just had the one.
    Unexpected and unwanted, the memory of her flat stomach flashed across his brain. His mouth tasting her bare skin just above her navel as he