Perfect for the Beach by Lori Foster, Janelle Denison, Kayla Perrin Read Free Book Online

her way to Cary’s. He wasn’t far from her home, something she considered fortunate given her nervousness. Given any time to reconsider, she was likely to turn back around.
    Unlike her, Cary had chosen a condo over a house. She parked in his private drive, and before she could chicken out, she trotted up the walkway and rang his doorbell.
    No one answered.
    With a feeling of déjà vu, she cautiously, hopefully made her way around back. His was a corner condo, secluded by thick hedges on one side and a privacy fence on the other. There was no pool in his small patch of backyard, but maybe he was grilling. Or just sunning himself.
    Nora was several feet away when she recognized Cary’s voice barking, “I don’t want her, Axel, so shut the hell up.”
    Nora staggered to a halt while her heart sank into her feet. He didn’t want her?
    Another voice, not Axel’s or Cary’s, said calmly, “Keep your voice down. And Axel, leave him alone. Can’t you see he’s suffering?”
    “I am not suffering,” Cary growled.
    “You’re lovesick,” that other voice insisted, “but too stubborn to admit it.”
    “Exactly,” Axel said. “But Patti could cure you of that if you’d just give her a chance. If she’s anything like her friend, and I think she is, she’ll have you moaning with pleasure instead of sorrow. Guaranteed.”
    Cary said, “Booker, I’m going to break his teeth, I swear, if he mentions Patti again.”
    Patti? Who the heck was Patti?
    “Well, what the hell do you want me to do?” Axel suddenly demanded. “I told you not to screw with my office dynamics. I told you Nora wasn’t your type. But do you ever listen to me? No. You even go and propose to her, damn it.”
    “It was a bonehead move, I admit,” Cary said. And then he murmured, more to himself than anyone else, “And I’d promised myself I wasn’t going to make any more bonehead moves.”
    “So now you’re sitting here looking like a wolf who got caught in a trap and had to chew his own foot off.”
    There was a startled moment of silence after that awesomely descriptive analogy, then Booker laughed. “He’s not like a self-maimed wolf at all. He’s just in love.”
    In love? With her? Nora hoped so.
    “Jesus,” Cary complained, “you’re both like old women. Can’t a man have some peace?”
    Booker said, “Not when he’s in love.”
    “I’m going to call her,” Axel stated. “I’ll ask her just what the hell is wrong with you—no, Cary, I mean it. I can straighten this out—no, let go.”
    Nora heard a scuffle, a couple of dull thuds, and she hurried around the privacy fence. Axel, shirtless and in shorts, was on his back, gripping a cell phone for dear life while Cary, in shorts and a T-shirt, had him in a head-lock, choking him and struggling to pry the phone loose.
    Beside them, arms crossed and smiling as if he didn’t have a care in the world, was the man she assumed to be Booker. Nora had never met him, only knew his name because she’d just heard it, but he looked a lot like Axel.
    He noticed her and raised a brow. “Can I help you?”
    Both Cary and Axel paused in their physical debate to swivel their heads toward her.
    “Nora!”
    Axel took swift advantage of her presence. “What the hell is wrong—” Cary’s hand clamped over his mouth. It wasn’t an easy thing, holding Axel down. He was thicker, more muscular than Cary.
    She looked at all three men and felt like she’d fallen into the rabbit hole. “Um … what are you doing?”
    Axel thrashed about, mumbling urgently from behind Cary’s hand. Cary scowled and pressed a knee into his ribs. “Nothing.”
    Booker grinned. “Typical male bonding stuff. That’s all.” He stepped over the fallen men and held out his hand. “I’m Booker, Axel’s brother and Cary’s friend by association. You’re really Nora?”
    “Yes.” She shook his hand—then found out he wouldn’t let go.
    “You’re here to see Cary?”
    “Yes.” Nervously, she