Before We Kiss. Susan Mallery

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СКАЧАТЬ been staying at Ronan’s Lodge for a few weeks, until escrow closed on his new place. He’d gone down to the bar for a drink only to realize it was Valentine’s Day and the place was crawling with couples. As he’d recently sworn off women—again—he’d started to turn around to go back to his room.

      But before he could safely escape, he’d spotted Dellina. She’d been with friends. They were laughing and talking. No one had noticed him. She’d been pretty enough, but then she’d smiled and it was like getting kicked in the gut—and he was a man who knew the power of a good kick. He’d sent over a tray of drinks for the table, they’d invited him to join them and an hour later he and Dellina had been having dinner together.

      Later, when he’d kissed her, he’d discovered her mouth had been as exciting and intriguing as he’d hoped. She’d invited him home, he’d said yes and the rest had been incredible. Until he’d gotten up in the night and found himself in a nightmare.

      He’d spent the past five months avoiding her. Tough to do in a town the size of Fool’s Gold. The situation had been complicated by the fact that he’d enjoyed her company and had really wanted to see her again.

      Now that his company needed her services, he’d been forced to suck it up. So here he was. Being tortured for sport. Kenny and Jack would point out there was no other reason to torment anyone.

      Dellina rose. She was about five-five, with all the expected curves. When he saw her around—because wanting to avoid her and being able to do it were two different things—she was usually in dresses or suits. Today she had on jeans and a frilly sleeveless thing that shouldn’t have been sexy and yet was. Looking at her bare arms made him remember the rest of her bare, which was what had led to the problem between them in the first place.

      Damn, he should never have gotten out of bed today. Or moved to Fool’s Gold. Or joined Score for that matter. Or been born.

      “Stand up,” she said.

      He did.

      She walked up to him and held out her hand. “We’re starting over. I’m Dellina Hopkins. I own a party planning business.”

      He didn’t know which tack she was taking now, but figured he didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter. Time was ticking and he was desperate.

      “Sam Ridge. My company is a PR firm.”

      They shook hands. The second her fingers closed around his he felt heat. His gaze immediately settled on her full lips and he remembered he hadn’t had nearly enough time with them. Or any of her. It was just once she’d gotten naked, he hadn’t been sure which part of her to enjoy first. Then the nightmare had started.

      She withdrew her hand and dropped it to her side.

      “Well, Sam, like many small businesses, mine is based in my home. This house I rent has three bedrooms. I sleep in one and I work out of one and that leaves a spare bedroom. Follow me, please.”

      She led the way down the hall. He hesitated. He had a good idea where they were going and it was not a place any man would want to revisit. What it came down to was how much he needed her. And he needed her a lot.

      She paused outside a closed bedroom door. The closed bedroom door.

      “So my friend Isabel owns a store in town called Paper Moon,” Dellina told him. “She sells wedding gowns. Last fall she decided to expand the business to include other kinds of clothing. She leased the space next door and started remodeling. As you can imagine, it was a big project. Because of the construction, she lost some of her storage space. Now, the average wedding gown is a pretty special item. So when one stores them, one can’t simply leave them anywhere. They need to be safe and temperature controlled.”

      The pieces were starting to fall into place. Sam remembered getting up after making love with Dellina. He’d still been shell-shocked by the heat they’d generated and very much looking forward to a second act. Only on the way back from the bathroom, he’d made a wrong turn. Instead of walking back into her bedroom, he’d found himself staring at what looked like rows and rows of wedding gowns.

      Worse, on the wall had been a dry-erase board with a header that read Ten Ways to Get Him to Propose.

      He had, understandably, freaked. He’d found his way back to her room, pulled on his clothes and fled. From then until now, he hadn’t spoken a word to Dellina. He’d avoided her, he’d avoided anything to do with her and he’d never allowed himself to think about that night. Because if he did, he would find himself wanting her again. And with his luck with women, it was important to stay with those who were completely sane.

      Which it appeared Dellina just might be.

      She opened the door. He instinctively stiffened and saw they were still there. Racks holding covered white gowns. Like plastic aliens, hanging and shrouded, waiting to be returned to the mother ship.

      “Isabel pays me to store her dresses,” Dellina said. “I would do it for free, but she insists on a small monthly payment. These are not my dresses.”

      “Okay.” He tried to adjust his collar only to realize that his shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way and any pressure he felt was the result of being an idiot.

      He cleared his throat. “So, ah, that clears up the problem with the wedding dresses. What about that?”

      He pointed to the dry-erase board. It still stated Ten Ways to Get Him to Propose, but there weren’t any suggestions by the numbers.

      Dellina sighed and sagged back against the wall. “It’s Fayrene.”

      He raised his eyebrows.

      “My younger sister,” she clarified. “Fayrene met Ryan last spring. They fell in love, but she didn’t want to get married because she wanted to focus on her career. Ryan was fine with that and they agreed to wait four years.”

      “So what’s the problem?”

      “She’s changed her mind and wants him to propose now.”

      He waited, knowing there had to be more.

      “Ryan isn’t getting the message.” Dellina rubbed her temples. “Probably because she hasn’t told him. Fayrene doesn’t want to tell Ryan she’s changed her mind. That wouldn’t be romantic. She wants him to guess on his own.”

      “That’s not going to happen,” Sam told her. “If Ryan loves Fayrene, he’s going to respect her wishes no matter how much he wants to get married sooner. This isn’t a winning strategy.”

      “Thanks for your insight. I happen to agree with everything you’ve said, but unless you want to take that up with Fayrene, you’re telling the wrong person. My point is, the list isn’t about me.”

      Dellina faced him. “Look, Sam, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I don’t bring home guys I just met. Ever. Last Valentine’s Day was the first time I’d done anything like that.”

      She kept talking but he stopped listening long enough to revel in the fact that she’d picked him for her first one-night stand. Okay, it wasn’t up there with curing a disease, but still, nice to know. He returned his attention to her.

      “...and when you took off, I couldn’t СКАЧАТЬ