Ex, Why, and Me by Susanna Carr Read Free Book Online

go in for a more sedate peck, even though the newspaper reporter was still snapping away at Brandy and Clayton, Ryan knew there was no graceful way Michelle could avoid his kiss. To be honest, he didn’t want to help her find a way out.
    She slowly turned toward him, as if she knew what was required of her and was resigned to the fact.
    “We don’t have to,” Ryan said quietly. The last thing he wanted to do was kiss an unwilling partner. Despite his playboy reputation, his mouth was going to slide off of her if she didn’t respond. He kind of wanted her to express a degree of enthusiasm.
    “It’s no big deal.”
    Kissing him was no big deal? Ouch. No time like the present to convince her otherwise. But he wasn’t going to swoop in and grab this opportunity.
    He reached up and cradled her face. His hands seemed dark and huge against her exquisite beauty. Ryan gently swept the side of his thumb against her soft cheek, watching her eyelashes flutter down as she looked away.
    The noise from the crowd spiraled into a faint buzz as Ryan stroked her mouth with his thumb. He drew slow, lazy circles against her lips. His thumb prickled with heat as anticipation coiled tight against his ribs.
    His patience was rewarded when Michelle parted her lips. Triumph roared through Ryan, but he ruthlessly reined in his impulses and gently brushed his mouth over hers. He heard her gasp at the first touch. He knew how she felt.
    The magic was still there.
    His first instinct was to capture the magic before it vanished. His fingers flexed against her jaw, just as he was about to deepen the kiss. He stopped himself in the nick of time.
    Instead, he outlined the edge of her lip with his mouth. Tasting, savoring. The hunger inside him grew fierce and powerful, but his shaky restraint wouldn’t allow him to indulge. No matter how much he wanted to.
    Especially when Michelle kissed him back. Hot need leapt through him, unleashed, as her tongue swept his bottom lip. His muscles clenched, his fingers shook against her skin as he pulled back. He was not going to devour her. Not yet.
    And he wasn’t going to cave as she darted her tongue between his lips. His breath hitched in his lungs as she explored. He was trying not to capture the tip of her tongue and suck hard when he heard the insistent whir of a digital camera next to his ear.
    Michelle jumped back, clearly startled. She looked as if she was ready to bolt. Ryan wrapped his arm around her waist, feeling clumsy and disoriented, and held her against his side.
    “And now,” Vanessa said to the rowdy audience, “to start our scavenger hunt, the couples will be given their first clue.”
    An assistant, who looked as if she had to be related to the Mueller family on C Street, gave a sealed envelope to each female contestant.
    “Are you guys ready?” Vanessa asked.
    Everyone said yes, but Michelle seemed to give more of a shrug. Ryan looked away, his heart still pounding from the kiss, when he noticed Brandy discreetly running her fingernail along the envelope flap. Some people were taking this challenge way too seriously.
    “What about you guys?” Vanessa asked the crowd, who cheered loudly. “All right, then. On your mark…get set…go!”
    While Margaret and Brandy tore open the envelope, Michelle neatly sliced open the flap and removed the card. Ryan read over her shoulder. “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”
    O…kay…
    Michelle looked up at him, her eyes wide and anxious. “I have no idea what this means.”
    “That makes two of us.” Ryan glanced at the other contestants. “How much you want to bet no one else gets this riddle?”
    Michelle looked at the paper again and frowned. “I think it’s a quote.”
    “What does it say?” someone with a deep, masculine voice yelled from the crowd.
    “Yeah, tell us what it says!”
    Vanessa plucked the card from Michelle’s hand. “I’ll read it out loud, but no one yell out the answer,