Strip Me Bare by Marissa Carmel Read Free Book Online Page A

window daydreaming about Ryan. His hands, his face, his eyes
his lips. Oh, this is so bad. He’s back in my life for one day and
I’m already hooked. I pull out my phone and text Emily asking if
she is free to meet for dinner. Not a minute later she replies with
a time and place. I know she is salivating for details.
    The train pulls into my stop at 6:23 PM.
Dinner time, perfect. I’m starving, even though my stomach is in
knots. I hop into my little white Audi and head over to the Italian
restaurant Emily suggested. It’s a little hole in the wall where
you can get the best Ruffino and penne vodka this side of Little
Italy. I pull into the parking lot and quickly turn off the engine.
When I get inside I find Emily sitting at a table in the back, the
lights are dim and there are candles dripping with wax in Chianti
bottles, giving the room a romantic glow. But she’s not alone.
    “Uncle John,” I say as I walk up to the
table, glancing at Emily. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
    He stands and gives me a bear hug. He’s the
most warm, affectionate man I know, next to Ryan, and sometimes I
consider him more of a father then my own. “I missed my girl,” he
looks down at Emily. “She said she was meeting you here and I
thought I would stop by and have a drink. See how everything went
last night,” he gives her a knowing smile.
    I nearly tear at the seams.
    “Dad, please. Like I would give you details,”
Emily smiles.
    “Probably for the best,” he grins. My uncle
John has all the traits of my father; he’s a tall, stocky man with
warm brown eyes and dark black hair. Except his is thinning and not
gray yet.
    And he’s always smiling.
    “Are you eating with us?” I ask.
    “No, Emily made it very clear this dinner is
strictly girl business. So she promised me breakfast tomorrow
morning. You can join us if you’d like.”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
    “Nonsense, you’re both my girls. And I miss
spending time with you, too.”
    I glance down at Emily to make sure it’s
okay. She’s nodding excessively.
    “It’s all settled then,” my uncle John says
pleased. “I’ll see you two at the beach club at ten.” He kisses our
foreheads and then heads for the door, both of us watching him like
hawks. As soon as he is out of sight Emily immediately says, “So
spill. What happened? Did you hook up?”
    “Emily, how easy do you think I am?”
    “Alana, you’re absolutely glowing. And this
is Ryan. Ry -an,” she exaggerates his name.
    I touch my face, “So what does that
mean?”
    “I don’t know, you only spent the last five
years pining over him.”
    “You make me sound like some lovesick puppy,
Emily.”
    “Weren’t you?”
    “I was more confused than anything. I thought
it was my fault he left. That I did something. It was all
insecurity,” I try to play it off.
    “So you didn’t miss him at all?” she asks
skeptically.
    I glare at her, “Yes, I missed him
terribly.”
    “So what happened? Where the hell did he
go?”
    I tell Emily everything, about Ryan’s
brother, about the drug charge, about the stolen identity, my
father convicting him. She’s quiet throughout the whole story,
listening intently, her eyes wide.
    “Holy shit. I still can’t believe he did time
for his brother. Doesn’t he deserve the most selfless man alive
award?”
    I scoff, really not believing it myself.
    “So, what? Are you guys like back
together?”
    “I don’t know,” I shrug. It sure feels
like we are . “Honestly, I don’t know anything. There’s a whole
bunch of stuff we need to work out.”
    “So when are you going to see him again?”
Emily asks as the waitress refills my wine glass.
    “Wednesday. I have to go look at apartments.
My father so fittingly set up an appointment with a realtor in the
city for me.”
    “How convenient.”
    I shrug blamelessly.
    “You know he’s going to shit a canary if he
finds out about you two. Ryan’s a stripper for Christ's sake.”
    Yeah,