Labor of Love by Rachel Hawthorne Read Free Book Online

involved, part of the madness.
    Brady turned toward me, holding up all the strands of beads, smiling like some returning explorer who was delivering gold to his queen or something. He dropped them down over my head.
    Then, grinning broadly, he wrapped his fingers around them, pulled me toward him, and kissed me.
    Right there in the middle of Bourbon Street, with people pushing past us and music filling the night.

Chapter 5
    B rady tasted like strawberry daiquiri, and I thought his mouth should be cold from the frozen drink, but it wasn’t. It was hot. Very hot.
    He brought the beads and his knuckles up beneath my chin. He tilted my head back slightly and started kissing me more thoroughly.
    And the thing was—I was kissing him back.
    I told myself that the sip of daiquiri had gone to my head. I told myself that it was simply the craziness of Bourbon Street.
    But I think part of it was that I wanted to hurt Drew. Like me kissing a guy as though my life depended on it would somehow make us even.
    Which was crazy. Because Drew would never know. And it wasn’t fair to Brady. And I knew, I knew, I knew that I should stop kissing him. That my reasons for kissing him had nothing at all to do with him, but was some convoluted sense of revenge.
    Brady was such a nice guy, with a terrific smile. And he kissed me like Drew never had. Part of me wanted to stay there forever.
    But it was wrong.
    I drew back.
    Brady gave me a broad smile. “Oh yeah.”
    He leaned back in. I put my hand on his bare chest. His skin was warm and my fingers tingled. I almost moved back toward him. Instead, I said, “I’ve gotta go.”
    He looked like I’d just told him that he’d stepped in something gross. “What?”
    â€œI have a curfew.”
    â€œA curfew?”
    â€œYeah, our chaperone is picking us up at the gate to Jackson Square.” I looked at my watch, preparing to lie about the pickup time, but it really was almost eleven. How had that happened? Time had completely gotten away from me. “She’s picking us up at eleven. I really have to go. Thanks for the beads, for dinner, for . . . everything.”
    The kiss, I thought, really, really thank you for the amazing kiss.
    Turning, I hurried back the way we’d come. Or I tried to hurry. It was a little hard when I had to wedge myself between people. “Coming through. Excuse me.”
    â€œWait, you can’t just . . . go off by yourself!” I heard Brady call out.
    Only I wasn’t planning to go off by myself. I was planning to go with Jenna and Amber. I just had to find them.
    Brady caught up with me. “Hey, come on. Slow down.”
    I had my phone out, trying to call Jenna. I didn’t know if she’d be able to hear her cell ringing over the saxophones and horns playing their upbeat music and the din of all the people.
    â€œHey, Dawn, wait up.” Brady grabbed my arm.
    I spun around. “You’re a nice guy, but—”
    â€œIt’s okay. I didn’t realize . . . a curfew. Wow. Do your friends have one?”
    I nodded, wishing I’d used some other excuse. I suddenly felt like such a kid. “It’s not really a curfew; it’s just that she’s picking us up at eleven, so we need to go. Otherwise, she might give us a real curfew.”
    That sounded worse. Why didn’t I just shut up already?
    â€œOkay, I just wish you’d said something sooner.”
    If I had, he probably wouldn’t have brought me to Bourbon Street at all. He probably wouldn’t have kissed me.
    It took us nearly twenty minutes to find everyone else. Brady didn’t say anything the entire time. Didn’t hold my hand, although he did keep brushing up against me when the crowds thickened. He’d put his shirt back on— thank goodness. He placed his arm around my shoulders only once and that was when some drunken guy almost stumbled into me—Brady pulled me out of the way, trying