Slide by Michelle Congdon Read Free Book Online Page B

me.”
    I turned my attention back to him. He was looking at me with a casual grin on his face but I could still see evidence of pink in his cheeks. He was blushing! “Evangeline, I’m sorry, this is my loud mouthed and extremely nosey baby sister.” He directed the ‘nosey’ part at his sister.
    A strange feeling of relief washed over me. She wasn’t his girlfriend after all. But why did I even care?
    Annabelle raised her arms and placed them on her hips again, turning away to give her brother a playful glare from over her shoulder, but Ryan was too busy staring at me to even notice.
    “Now that... I have never seen you do before!”
    Ryan scowled and turned back to Annabelle. “Quit it!”
    She threw her head back and let out a light, girly laugh.
    “You must have used some incredible bait to catch this fish, Evangeline. He’s never bothered introducing me to any of his women before and I have never seen him blush this much in my life!”
    “Just get out of here, will you!” Ryan growled, pushing his giggling sister away. She slapped away his hands and continued walking towards the front entrance of the hotel.
    I turned crimson. I wasn’t sure why, it wasn’t me she was teasing after all.
    “Err… I’m sorry about that,” he said once he was facing me again. There was a slight awkwardness in his smile, which I could tell he was trying his best to hide. “Well, I need to get going. It’s an important day and it’s not something I want to be late for.”
    “Yeah me too. Except I will be if someone doesn’t turn up in the next two minutes.” In fact, where is he?
    “Do you mean your ‘boyfriend’ from that night?” he teased.
    I couldn’t help but frown. “Ha. Ha,” I replied dryly. “For the record, he’s my best friend, but if you must know then, yes, that’s who.”
    “I thought it was him,” he muttered. “He and some guy were saying goodbye to another man―”
    I quickly threw my hands up to cut him off. “I don’t even want to know.” There was no way I wanted images in my head of Derek’s sex life on the day of my father’s funeral or on any other day for that matter.
    Ryan let out a soft laugh. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around some time then? Perhaps at the Inferno night club again?”
    “Yeah, perhaps,” I lied. There was no way I was ever going back there again. Yes you will. You want to see him again, admit it.
    An awkward silence fell over us before Ryan opened his mouth to speak but then he quickly shut it. “I’ll see you around, Evangeline,” he managed to get out and with a quick nod he turned away. I blinked as my thoughts ran wild. That was it? That’s all he had to say? No inappropriate jokes? But isn’t that what you wanted? You don’t want a guy like him. But you do, don’t you…just admit it, Evangeline.
    Lost in my own thoughts, I hadn’t realized that Ryan had only taken a few steps before stopping, and he was staring back at me over his shoulder with a devilish grin on his face. Now this was the Ryan I was used to. “Oh, and by the way, you look smokin’ hot in that dress. If you were wearing that on the night we’d met, veil and all, I’d have had you bent over the bar in a matter of seconds.” Ohmygod!
    I think my face turned every shade of red before I could come up with a witty reply, but by then Ryan was already making his way through the revolving doors with his sister by his side.
    I watched until they were completely out of sight. Why couldn’t I have just asked him for his number? No , because I didn’t need a guy who slept around with everyone to worry about! I had enough problems of my own.
    “Sorry I’m late,” a loud voice behind me suddenly said.
    I gasped and swear I almost jumped twenty feet in the air.
    “You wouldn’t believe what I did this morning.”
    “Jesus Christ! You nearly gave me a heart attack,” I growled, throwing a hand over my chest. “If it involves more than one man and kinky sex positions, I