An Unexpected Love Story (Love Story Book Two) Read Online Free

grown up in Presque Isle, twenty or so miles away, so I didn’t immediately know her. She seemed nice enough, but pretty much concerned herself only with Tom, sitting close to him throughout the night and whispering in his ear as she giggled.
    For the most part, I liked hanging out with Paul’s friends and had a good time when I was with them. They teased me a bit, but I actually found it comforting. It made me feel like I was one of the gang, instead of the slutty girl that all the other girls should be intimidated by.
    The evening progressed as they normally did. There was a hockey game on, and we all got a little trashed watching the Red Wings beat up on the Maple Leafs. By the third period, I’d had enough to drink to warrant my standing up to scream at the screen along with the boys.
    “That was the worst call I’ve ever seen!” I yelled, shaking my beer at the official on the screen.
    “Easy there, Murray,” Paul said, laughing a little as he pulled me back down to my seat. “We’re up 5-1, there’s no need to spill your beer.”
    “True,” I said, settling myself onto my chair. “I love the beer.”
    Paul was still laughing. “You know,” he said, suddenly leaning closer to me. “I really love you like this. All relaxed and having fun. You should let go more often.”
    I snorted. “Yeah, I so have time for that. I have a business to run, you know.”
    Paul shook his head. “No one ever really understood why you came back,” he said. “You always hated that place. Everyone figured you’d be working at some major corporation in New York or Chicago by now.”
    I took another sip of my beer. “That was the plan,” I sighed.
    “So why’d you do it then?” he asked. “Why’d you come back?”
    I was already feeling my buzz start to slip a little at the tone the conversation had taken. I was so not in the mood to go there tonight.
    “I couldn’t resist the idea of coming back to be near you,” I said instead, winking at him. Now it was Paul’s turn to snort.
    “Yeah, right. I know how the balance of this relationship goes, Murray. I’ve been chasing after you since we were what, fifteen? Pining after you. Desperate for whatever little crumb you’d be willing to give me.”
    “Like you’ve ever pined after anyone.”
    “I did, when you left,” he said, his eyes suddenly growing serious. “I knew I missed my chance with you. I was afraid you’d be a big-city girl in no time, never to return to me in our little town.”
    I found myself staring at his eyes and realized I was willing myself to feel something more about the intensity I saw there. It was no use. I liked Paul a lot, I always had. I liked hanging out with him and having fun and even flirting with him. But there was just nothing else there.
    “If I recall,” I said, keeping my voice light and playful, trying to rouse him back to his former low-key mood, “you were seeing three different girls at the time I left for school.”
    Paul gave me a little smirk. “Yeah, well, it’s hard to keep the ladies away from all of this.” He waved his hands down over himself as he raised an eyebrow at me. “It’d be cruel to deny them.” His face turned serious again as he looked down at his beer. “But I would’ve given it all up for the chance to say Brooke Murray was my girl.”
    “Oh, Paul,” I said, wrapping my arm around him. “Don’t get morose. You promised me a good time tonight, remember?”
    “Yeah,” he said, downing his beer and standing up. “Come on, Murray. The jukebox is free and you should be dancing.”
    Though Emily and I had long decried the limited options of the jukebox at Hardy’s, I joined Paul on the little dance floor all the same. After four bottles of Bud Light, I figured it was the kind of night where classic rock was appropriate. Tom and Carrie soon joined us, seeming to do their best to procreate right there on the dance floor. Paul caught my gaze and rolled his eyes, making me laugh and feel