Kiss Is a Four-Letter Word by Erin M. Leaf Read Free Book Online Page B

only to be stopped as Eli grabbed his arm. Josh glared.
    "We've got this," Eli said quietly. Sherry suppressed an involuntary shiver of arousal. Eli laughing was sexy. Eli angry, and quietly throwing his weight around? Incendiary.
    "Let go of my arm!" Josh tried to shake Eli's hand away. Eli didn't budge. "What's your problem?"
    "My problem is that everything is fine here. Sherry doesn't need your help," Simon interjected, smoothly disengaging Eli's hand from Josh's arm. He looked at Sherry. "Do you want us to go?"
    Sherry bit her lip and glanced at Barbara. Her friend lifted an eyebrow and Sherry had to smile. Barbara could be kind of hyper but she was a nice person. And she knew her well. Sherry turned back to Eli and Simon, ignoring Josh's increasingly red face. "No, your car is already in place. Please stay."
    Josh made a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a curse. Sherry frowned. She no longer had any desire to go to Niagara Falls, especially now that she knew he was coming along. "Actually, Barbara, I'm not feeling so great. I'm going to have to take a rain check for this trip. When Eli and Simon get my car started, I’m heading home."
    Barbara nodded, reading between the lines. "Of course. I wouldn't want you to come and then get sick. You'd spend all your time in the hotel. That would totally suck."
    Sherry felt as though a weight had been lifted from her. "Yeah, that would not be fun at all. You might as well head out." She squinted as a new car pulled into the lot. Seemed like everyone was stopping for a bathroom break now. No way to kiss Eli and Simon some more, damn it to hell. She sighed as yet another vehicle parked and a family of four got out. She could hear the kids whining. Sherry had to shake her head. She felt like joining them.
    "OK. Come on, Josh," Barbara said, grabbing him by the arm and towing him to her car. Josh aimed a poisonous glare her way but let Barbara hustle him out of there. Sherry didn't relax until they'd left.
    "How did they know you'd be at this rest stop?" Simon asked, leaning against her car, his hands in his pockets.
    Sherry shook her head. "They probably drove down to the state border, turned around, then had to go to the bathroom. I bet it was sheer bad luck." She squinted as another car pulled in, the headlights blinding her momentarily.
    "Well, it's probably a good thing they stopped. One more minute and I'd have dragged you off into the woods," Eli said, his voice low and quiet. He shook his head and walked to the Mercedes. He opened the driver's side door and leaned in, pulling the lever to open the hood.
    Simon laughed. "And I'd have helped." He grinned at Sherry. She blushed. His expression sobered. "You're really not going to go with your friends this weekend? You could've left your car here, gone with them..."
    Sherry grimaced. "Barbara neglected to mention she was bringing Josh. He's an ass. I definitely do not want to spend the weekend with him."
    Eli frowned, turning away from where he'd been fiddling with the cables on his car. "Why would your friend bring him? Doesn't she know you don't like him?"
    Sherry sighed. "She probably had no choice. He's her cousin. Their moms are twins. Barbara's been cursed with his company her whole life. If she hadn't brought him, her mom and aunt would've made her miserable for weeks." Sherry shuddered.
    "Ah," Eli said, then bent over the engine again. "Well, I think I've got it set up. Just remember, if we start your car, you'll have to drive home without stopping. No telling whether it'll start up again if you turn off the engine."
    Sherry nodded. "I know." None of them made any move to start the cars. Sherry wondered if this would be the last time she'd see them and felt a pang of dismay. Maybe she should ask them out to dinner. She gathered her courage. "Hey, would you like to—"
    Simon started talking at the same time. "We're sponsoring a dinner next week—"
    They both broke off and laughed. "You first," Sherry said,