Famously Engaged by Robyn Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

wrapped in their mother’s heirloom quilt, a quilt he hadn’t seen in years because he’d alienated his family.
    He’d caught his father in bed with a television news reporter in town to do a story on Jake’s sudden rise to fame. After the woman had left the motel room their father-son argument had gotten pretty heated, and someone had recorded it. It went viral and caused irreparable damage to his family. His mother was mortified but she’d stood by her husband, and she had been furious at Jake for inflaming a sensitive situation. Intervening the way he had was a decision he’d regretted every day for eight long years, but presented with the same circumstance he’d make the same choice again in an instant. Heck, if he was as wrong about
    Brad Hall as Beth seemed to think, and if his interference messed up Skyla’s chance at happiness, he was already well on his way to repeating his worst mistake.
    Beth’s voice cut into his thoughts. “Soft, huh?”
    “Not as soft as chicken feathers.” He set the quilt aside and gave his right thigh a welcoming tap. “Find a perch.” He bit back a grin at her splutter of protest. “Don’t get uptight. I’m only suggesting that you make yourself comfortable.”
    She made a strangled sound. “Yeah, perched on your lap.”
    Perched on his lap? Whoa, the image that conjured almost blew him away. “Couch-surfing is one of the few advantages of our situation, but you don’t have to indulge in it.” He waved one hand. “Your living room, your fiancé, your choice.”
    “It’s not what I had in mind.” She stared at him, then said the oddest thing. “But if Skyla trusts you, I can too.”
    His breath hitched when she stepped forward. One of her knees bumped his thigh when she knelt on the edge of the couch, her hands resting like feathers on his shoulders.
    “I guess this is your rock-god version of a shoulder to lean on?” Nervous laughter escaped her and then she nodded. “We’ve already established that I need that tonight, so here goes.”
    She didn’t move, but he sensed that she would when she was ready. The delay was sweet torture. It had been forever since he’d shared any real intimacy with anyone, and being here with Beth felt momentous. He smiled and saw the corners of her lips twitch in response. “Who knew you’d lean so lightly on my shoulders?”
    Her smile widened into one of pure relief and she shifted to straddle him. He reached for her hips, curling around her made-to-hold curves on the pretext of steadying her. A groan emerged from deep in his throat when she slid forward and pressed against his arousal, her legs squeezing his hips as she struggled to reduce the level of intimacy. She slid, she slipped and bumped and bounced.
    Joy and agony assailed him in equal measure until he pressed her hips down and held them in place. “Be still.”
    “Sorry. This is new for me. Couch-surfing, I mean.”
    It was new for him, too. Being in a cozy home with a woman unlike any he’d ever met had his head spinning. Women weren’t incredibly generous and loving toward men like him. They offered sex, not trust. They didn’t throw their homes open, lay their hearts bare, or beg for comfort. Beth was the exception to every rule, but the margin for error was enormous. Pleasure and consolation he could provide, a deep emotional connection he couldn’t. He’d channeled his raw emotions into his music for years. That wouldn’t change overnight.
    Beth’s lips grazed his jaw in a fleeting caress. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re here tonight. I made it through the last few days on my own but I think my reserves are getting pretty low. Too much cooking and crying. Not enough sleep.”
    The slight shrug of her shoulders hinted at an apology. The emotion she saw as weakness took a great deal of strength to share. He should know. He’d spent eight years playing it super— cool, cultivating rumors of a one-night-only