Barefoot Bay Brides Collection by Roxanne St. Claire

Author:Roxanne St. Claire [St. Claire, Roxanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: South Street Publishing
Published: 2019-03-26T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“You want to know the truth?” Gussie asked, sliding her fork tines through the delicate whipped cream and chocolate sauce of a profiterole.

Across from her, Tom sat with his elbows on the table, his chin resting on his knuckles, his gaze where it had been the whole meal—firmly on her. He’d chosen a secluded restaurant in Old Town on the second floor of a house, only four tables in the whole place, and theirs was on the open balcony, the sights and sounds of Vieux Nice surrounding them as they enjoyed an insanely delicious meal. And company that equaled it.

“Always and only the truth,” he said, the answer making her eyes glint like emeralds in the reflection of a full moon and flickering candlelight.

“This has been one of the best days of my life.”

He lifted his brows, surprised. “But I didn’t spend that much of it with you.”

She laughed. “What an ego. We’ve been together for hours.”

“Seems like minutes.”

She pointed her fork at him. “Dude, the flirting is heavy. But don’t stop. I like it.”

He crossed his arms and leaned even closer. The table was small enough that a few more inches and he could kiss her. “Tell me why this day was so wonderful.” Because, if he went ahead and even suggested what he’d been discussing in the meeting this afternoon, he had a feeling her wonderful day would head south in a hurry.

“It started at sunrise.” She gave him a slow, sexy smile that reached right down to his gut and twisted everything into a knot.

“That was a nice sunrise,” he agreed.

“The colors and all.”

“And all.”

She lifted a bite of profiterole to her lips, flicking whipped cream with her tongue while staring at him.

“Speaking of heavy flirting,” he teased.

She looked down, her lashes spreading against her cheekbones. “Hey,” he said, tapping her arm. “You cheated. You have mascara on.”

“That’s all. Look.” She crinkled her nose. “You can even see my freckles.”

“And they are so, so pretty.” In fact, freckles would be gorgeous in the shot he had in mind. Somehow, in between “this is the dumbest idea ever” and “I’ll talk to her tonight,” Tom had come around to Suzette’s way of thinking. But would Gussie? Even for a test shot?

For the first time since he’d met her, Gussie didn’t roll her eyes or tsk or wave off his compliment. Instead, she smiled her thanks. “You want to know why else it was a great day?”

“You went to the beach?”

“Yes, and I made a new friend, Annie.”

“Love that she has kids Alex’s age,” he said. “Alex didn’t even seem the least bit bothered that we were going out.”

“Because she likes that boy.”

“What?” He practically shot forward. “He’s a child. She’s a child.”

“Thirteen—or almost thirteen—is not a child. And you, my friend, are starting to sound like a…guardian.”

“Which I happen to be. Do I have to get LaVie to hire bodyguards?”

Gussie laughed. “They’ll be under the supervision of Annie or me, so keep the bullet catchers away. She’s having a little summer adventure, Tom.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.