The Wedding Wish (Summer Grooms Series) by Ginny Baird Read Free Book Online

Robert for the money.”
    “You’re right. There’s the body too.”
    Isabel felt herself blush. “Okay, I’ll admit to a bit of
physical attraction.”
    “Only a bit?”
    “More than a bit, and you know it.”
    “Boy, wouldn’t I like to. Hey, does he have a brother?”
    “Sorry. Only a sister. And she’s married.”
    “Too bad. I was hoping his genes run in the family.”
    “Want to get some wedding cake?” Isabel asked.
    “Sure,” Cindy said as they made their way across the room.
    As Cindy scarfed down her piece, Isabel neatly wrapped hers in
a napkin.
    “What on earth are you doing?”
    “Saving mine for later.”
    “You’re not hungry?”
    “No. I’m hopeful.”
    “Hopeful of what?”
    Isabel lowered her voice in a whisper. “Do you know that old
tradition? The one about sleeping with a piece of wedding cake under your
pillow?”
    “Sounds more like a superstition to me.”
    “You’re supposed to dream of the man you’re going to marry.”
    “Get out. Have you done it before?”
    “Only about a billion times. But that was before.”
    “What do you mean, before ?”
    “Back in the day. When I was a kid. I guess you could say I
was something of a wedding-cake junkie.”
    “No kidding.”
    Isabel shook her head.
    “But you never ate it?”
    “Couldn’t. That would have been bad luck.”
    “Now you tell me.” Cindy stared down at her empty plate and
frowned before looking back up. “So spill it. Who did you dream of? Movie
stars? Recording artists? The boy next door?”
    “Yeah, him .”
    “ Him who?”
    “Robert,” Isabel said in a whisper. “It was always Robert.”
She held up a hand in a pledge. “I swear. Only him. Even after he’d moved away.”
    “Wow. That’s impressive. What did you have? Some sort of obsessive
disorder?”
    Isabel swatted her. “Shut up. I was a kid. A kid with a
crush.”
    Cindy eyed her astutely. “Something tells me you haven’t outgrown
it.”
    “Maybe. Maybe not,” Isabel said with a toss of her head.
    Cindy studied her wrapped-up piece of wedding cake with
suspicion. “And what are your plans for that little slice of heaven?”
    “I guess I want to see if I still dream of the same angel.”
    “And if you don’t?”
    Isabel shrugged and took another swig of punch. “It’s just a
superstition.”

 
    Later that night, Isabel awoke with a gasp. Ramming her hand
under her pillow, she found the smashed piece of wedding cake sealed up in a
baggie still there. “Well, I’ll be…” she said with a happy grin, snuggling back
down in bed. The main difference between now and when she was twelve was that
this time she’d not just dreamt of a guy with gorgeous brown eyes meeting her
at the top of the aisle, she’d also envisioned the honeymoon. A very lovely
honeymoon, with lots of vivid detail. And
that Statue-of-David body? Hmm. Yes. I would know it anywhere. In—or out
of —a tuxedo.

 

 
 
 
    Chapter Six

 
    Kip adjusted his hard hat as he stood outside the Kenilworth
Building on central campus. He and his capital improvements team were in the
midst of erecting a brand-new building to house the growing engineering school,
and boy, was it a winner, with all the bells and whistles the administration
could hope for. The wealthy alumni benefactors who’d funded this project were
bound to be pleased too. They were being given a hard-hat tour of the space
tomorrow, and Kip and his senior foreman, Buddy, were putting the rest of the
crew through the drill. Which areas were open for touring, and which—due
to safety concerns—were still strictly off limits.
    Kip said a few words, then turned the floor over to Buddy to
address specific questions from the rest of the men. He glanced around,
thinking they were lucky to have found this premium location, smack dab between
the hospital complex and the high-rise parking garage. The old play house had
been torn down to make way. But that was okay. A bigger and more elegant one
had been