Destiny by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online

better place to hook up?”
    Caught again, Kelly thought, embarrassed. And this time they weren’t even really making out, they were just…
    “We were just talking,” Nash said to his brother.
    “Yeah, I saw the dialogue. Mama Garcia put a call in to the station,” Dare said of his foster mother.
    Nash groaned. “Tell her I’m sorry we scared her. I was just giving Kelly the Barron tour of Serendipity.”
    Dare nodded, his expression one of understanding.
    Nobody had to tell the youngest brother that Nash had been reliving their family history.
    “I’ll let her know. Can I give you a suggestion?” A definite mischievous twinkle lit Dare’s dark brown eyes.
    “Could I stop you?” Nash asked.
    “Next time you two feel the urge to lock lips? Go somewhere more private. You have a habit of making a spectacle of yourselves,” he said with a laugh.
    Dare straightened to his full height, tapped the top of the car twice, and strode off, leaving Kelly mortified.
    Baring his soul had left Nash more exposed than if he’d stripped naked and run through the street. Not even being caught kissing Kelly—yet again—bothered him as much as the fact that she now knew his deepest secrets. Okay, not secrets, since anyone in the town could repeat the Barron family history, but she instinctively knew exactly how circumstances had affected him.
    And wasn’t that why he’d told her? Because she made him feel less alone? Not even his ex-wife who’d been his best friend had understood him quite so well. Nor had he understood her. If he had, he wouldn’t have been shocked when she’d asked for a divorce.
    Kelly met his gaze. To his surprise, she remained silent and he wondered what she was thinking.
    “Not as fun as the last one, huh?” Kelly asked.
    “What?”
    “That kiss—it wasn’t as fun as the last. More serious.”
    He groaned. Leave it to her to not only speak first but get to the heart of the matter. “No, it wasn’t fun,” he agreed.
    “Hey!” Clearly not expecting him to agree, she treated him to a mock punch in the shoulder.
    “It was much more intense,” he said, his voice gruff, even taking him off guard.
    “Yeah. About that…”
    Okay, so there’d be no ignoring this kiss as he’d tried to do with the last. She obviously wanted to talk about them. He hated discussing his feelings. Hadn’t he done enough of that for one night?
    “We can’t keep doing this,” she said, shocking him.
    He thought she’d want more between them not less. “I agree,” he told her, even though a part of him would rather ignore what was best, what was right, and go for what he wanted for a change.
    “You do?” This time she sounded surprised… and maybe a little hurt?
    They each had mixed feelings about their attraction and he took some comfort in the fact that he wasn’t alone.
    He cleared his throat and forced himself to continue this awkward conversation. “I do agree. We can’t pursue this thing between us. Because of Tess.” He latched onto the most obvious explanation.
    Not the truth that she captivated him. More, she understood him. All of which had him putting up walls. His ex-wife might not have been as intuitive as Kelly, but he’d loved her and had been blindsided by her request for a divorce, her sudden need for independence and the chance to find something more .
    He’d moved on but lesson learned. He had to protect his heart.
    “Exactly. We can’t do this because of Tess.” Kelly exhaled hard, her expression one of disappointment. Because she’d hoped he’d try to talk her into a relationship, not out of one?
    “I guess we’d better go before Dare gets another call about us being parked out here.”
    “Yeah.”
    He restarted the ignition. “So about Tess and school…”
    “I was thinking I should talk to her about Ms. Bernard. See if there are more problems than she’s admitting before we do or say anything else,” Kelly said.
    “Good idea, but I doubt she’d listen. But about