Kiss the Bride by Lori Wilde Read Free Book Online Page A

mouth that seemed out of sync with the rest of her? That mouth was the most interesting part of her beauty, precisely because it didn’t fit.
    Or perhaps it was her eyes—sharp, smart, and green as an oasis. Looking into the depths of her made him feel like a traveler lost in an enchanted forest. Of course, it could have just been the sizzling underwear peeping from behind the raincoat and her unexpected willingness for adventuresome sex play.
    A shudder passed through Nick. Whatever the cause, the woman was F-I-N-E, fine.
    He’d been damn tempted to ask for her phone number, but it was clear from the huge rock on her ring finger she was deeply involved with someone else. And to Nick’s way of thinking, there was nothing more off-limits than a woman who was spoken for. Too bad. A little sexual healing would have been a very nice way to pass his recovery time until Dr. Van Zandt got back from Guatemala.
    Yeah, right, like you would ever have a chance with her even if she wasn’t engaged. She’s filet mignon, and you’re a hot dog.
    Determined to burn her off his brain, Nick decided a workout was in order.
    He ambled out to his pickup truck, favoring his achy knee, and drove over to Gold’s Gym. Strenuous cardio was out of the question, but he could do upper-body strength training, and Doc Van Zandt had endorsed swimming.
    After twenty minutes in the lap pool, Nick emerged winded, with water trickling down his bare chest and abdomen. He dried off with a thin white cotton towel, his heart punching hard against his rib cage, his lungs burning. Fatigue weighted him, but his thoughts were still locked on his mystery woman. He kept picturing her on his bed, in that girly pink raincoat, knowing full well that she was wearing next to nothing underneath.
    What was the inexplicable pull? Where had it come from, this continual, aching need that had dogged him for two long, agonizing days?
    He hit the weight machines. Working out his triceps, his biceps, his pecs. He pushed himself until his arms quivered, desperate to sublimate his sexual desires with exhaustion. But this time, instead of easing his mental torture, exercise seemed to have fueled it. He was doubly aware of his body, of his physical needs.
    Face facts, Vinetti, you can’t have her. The woman is already spoken for.
Maybe that was why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Because she was strictly off-limits. Dammit. What the hell was so special about this one?
    His cell phone rang.
    Relieved to finally have something else to focus on, Nick snatched up the cell phone from his gym bag and punched the talk button. “ ’Lo?”
    “Nicky, it’s your nana.”
    Immediately the muscles at his shoulder blades tensed and his grip tightened around the phone. “Is everything all right?”
    “Yes, yes. I just needed to talk to you about something.”
    “What’s up?” Sweat ran down his forehead and he swiped it away with his gym towel.
    “I’m ready to go through your grandfather’s personaleffects. Could you drop by tomorrow afternoon, say three-thirtyish, and help me start packing things up?”
    Nick hesitated.
    It wasn’t that he had anything else to do tomorrow. Nor was it that he minded in the least helping his grandmother. He’d move heaven and earth for her. What he hated was the thought of saying good-bye to his grandfather once and for all.
    Nick had been just seven years old when his father, his two younger brothers, Richie and Johnny, and his sister, Gina, had moved in with Nana and Grampa in their three-story Victorian on Galveston Island. Over the course of the last year, everything in Nick’s life had changed. His bride had left him on their honeymoon. His knee had gotten mangled, forcing him off the job he loved for weeks, and his grandfather had passed away. He simply wasn’t prepared to handle any more changes.
    “Are you sure now is the right time?” he said. “It’s only been two months.”
    “It’s time,” she said. “It’s got to be