Till the Break of Dawn by Tracey H. Kitts Read Free Book Online

couldn’t tell to look at her.
    As if reading my mind she put a hand over her stomach and grinned from ear to ear. “I’m not showing yet.”
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. How far along are you?”
    “Two months.”
    “Congratulations.”
    I was afraid that lunch was going to be awkward, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Mandy told us that she and her boyfriend planned to get married. She hadn’t told anyone besides us about her pregnancy. Mandy was so excited she felt like she had to tell somebody. It was really sweet that she chose us. It was also sad that she wasn’t closer to anyone besides me and Jamie. We used to have lunch together when she worked at the salon in town. Mandy was a bikini waxer before she moved. Not sure what she did now. Her brother Bill used to tease her about looking at “other girl’s hoo-has” all day long. When she informed him that she also did balls, he stopped making jokes. Ah, the memories.
    Mandy and her fiancé wanted to hurry up and get married before she started to show. Then they’d share the happy news with everyone else. She couldn’t stop talking about him. However, all I knew was his name was David and he traveled a lot with his job. She talked more about his personality than his life or what he did for a living. After an hour of hearing about him I still had no idea who this guy was.
    “I know this may sound strange, since I haven’t seen you in so long, but I’d like for you both to help me with the wedding plans.”
    Jamie nearly choked on her margarita and I did choke on my salad.
    “I’m sorry to spring this all on you. It’s just that mom is dead, my brother wouldn’t be much help and … well, I never had that many friends around here. Of course I’ll understand if you can’t. I know you guys have your own business and—”
    “We’d love to,” Jamie and I said together.
    “Really?” She sighed. “That’s great. We want to have it here since this is where I grew up.” When Mandy spoke she gave me a funny look. Her reasoning made sense to me, but what was with the look? I felt like there was something more she wanted to add, but didn’t.
    *****
    The next day Jamie and I were both at work early. We’d come to the decision that hiring more help was a must. As it was now, we mostly worked on the weekends or fight nights. However, we were both in agreement that a few more days off would be nice. Not to mention, neither of us had taken a vacation before in our lives.
    She was in the back sorting through job applications and I was out front looking at a book of wedding invitations. The way we all saw it, we had about two months to put Mandy’s wedding together before she started to show. I’d told her I would look at the book and give her my opinion this afternoon. My only thoughts were cream or white when someone knocked on the door.
    “We’re closed,” I called without looking behind me.
    They knocked again and I slid down from my barstool and walked to the door. The upper part of the front door of Our Place is made of glass. It gave a limited view of whoever was on the other side, but that was more than enough to see that he was drop dead gorgeous. He ran a hand through his dusty blond hair and turned his brown eyes toward me.
    I opened the door.
    The man standing just outside was definitely not from around here. His jeans fit like a second skin and the white t-shirt he was wearing revealed every muscular curve beneath it. Damn. What was he doing here?
    “Sorry, but we don’t open until five o’clock.”
    His smile reached his eyes and I couldn’t help but smile back. “I’m sure it’s five o’clock somewhere.” When I opened my mouth to say we were still closed he stopped me and said, “I just need directions.”
    I knew he wasn’t from around here. “Where to?”
    He handed me the business card of a local real estate office. “Can you tell me where to find them?”
    “Sure.” I stepped outside with him and as I spoke