The Wedding Must Go On by Robyn Grady Read Free Book Online Page A

When I can’t be sure of Greg’s intentions that night, I simply can’t take that risk.’
    Although he capitulated on the bill—they paid half each—he wasn’t prepared to accept her decision to bow out of the plan. He meant to convince her and convince her tonight. He simply needed a little more time.
    A few minutes later, strolling through Chinatown amid a high-energy Friday night crowd, Nate was focusing on his next move when she stopped at the kerb. Hitching her handbag higher on her shoulder, she raised a hand to flagdown an approaching cab. He moved to lower her hand but, remembering that earlier sizzle, thought better of it.
    Instead he stated, ‘I’ll drop you home.’
    That cab whizzed by, but she waved at another. ‘I can find my own way home.’
    ‘I insist.’
    ‘So do I.’
    ‘I surrendered on the bill,’ he pointed out. ‘It’s your turn to bend.’
    ‘It’s not my turn to do anything.’
    When a second cab ignored her hail and, stubborn, she only looked for another, he checked out the growing city crowd, then his wristwatch. ‘You do realize we could be here all night.’
    Roxy opened her mouth to disagree. But then the logic must have interceded because the fire in her eyes faded and eventually she sent a contrite smile in spite of herself. ‘Friday night’s not the easiest time to get a taxi.’
    ‘No, it’s not.’
    ‘Don’t suppose you’ll take five bucks for gas.’
    She was joking. He should laugh. And, truth was, he found her need to be self-sufficient extremely attractive. But the past shaped us all and he wondered if maybe the biggest reason Roxy was Miss Independence now was because she hadn’t been able to rely on the person who should have had her back when she was young. Her philandering father. The reason
he
was so driven stemmed back to his father too, but for vastly different reasons.
    With traffic whirring by and people rolling past, he stepped forward and smiled down into her beautiful expectant face. Thankfully, she didn’t baulk and move away.
    ‘I won’t take your money,’ he said, ‘but you can do something in return.’
    A frown pinched her brow. ‘Like go to the Outback?’
    ‘I was going to say tell me more about the time you were invited to base-jump in Switzerland.’
    Despite the fact she didn’t like him—or at least pretended most of the time that was the case—her expression changed now, opened up, and the sparkle he’d seen earlier in her eyes returned.
    ‘By that couple who wanted to spend their honeymoon jumping off cliffs with similar-minded friends,’ she clarified. ‘Needless to say, I declined.’
    ‘A bat suit not flattering enough?’
    ‘I have a problem with heights.’ As she explained more and they set off for the parking lot, he instinctively went to rest a palm on her back to help guide her through the crowd. At the last moment, he reconsidered. It might be the gentlemanly thing to do, the way he’d been brought up, but as Roxy had said: some risks simply weren’t worth taking.
    Twenty minutes later, Nate swerved his car in front of Roxy’s quaint cottage of a house. The hedges were still maintained, the picket fence still upright and strong. Everything was just as he remembered from six months earlier. Including the sense of physical awareness cracking like an electric whip between them now.
    Over the last few minutes, banter had ceased. He couldn’t say for sure what she was thinking, feeling. But the only thing rumbling through
his
mind was recalling how he’d felt the last time he’d driven her home. Hyped. Taut with anticipation. That night he’d known he was going to kiss her. He simply hadn’t known how darn good it would be.
    But he’d already decided he and Roxy would not kiss again. He wasn’t ready to take a chance on turning intoa hobbled married man overnight like Sparks men were wont to do. Although …
    If Roxy was against the idea of settling down as much as he was, didn’t that make a difference?