Barefoot in Pearls (Barefoot Bay Brides Book 3) Read Online Free

With hair glitter.
    He accepted her silent gauntlet and tossed it right back with the most minuscule lift of one corner of his mouth. He could have sworn some color deepened the tone of pale skin that contrasted sharply with midnight hair and eyes. Once again, he won the face-off, and she shifted her gaze to the festivities, a young woman kissing her parents in a symbolic good-bye while her man beamed at them all.
    Luke didn’t bother observing the hand-off from father to groom. The exotic bridesmaid on his radar was much more interesting.
    Yes, exotic . That was the very first word that had popped into his head when he practically mowed her down, and it knocked around his brain again now. She was nothing like what he usually liked. His whole life—well, since he’d left the country fifteen years ago when he was barely eighteen—his taste ran to the California Girl, like the one getting married, all blue eyes and blond hair, suntanned, freckled. Luke liked the all-American girl next door.
    And yet he couldn’t take his eyes off those slightly tilted, heavy-lidded, India-ink eyes that locked on his.
    Luke shifted in his seat as the official ceremony began, taking a moment to enjoy how his sister glowed in her role as the other bridesmaid. Gussie wore a lime-green version of the same dress, her caramel-colored hair pulled up in a way that cleverly hid the burn scar on the back of her head.
    He waited for the pinch of guilt that always accompanied the thought of how his little sister had gotten that scar, but she’d so effectively swept all the blame away in the past few weeks since they’d reconnected. She’d assured him that the accident that had been the catalyst to make him leave the States was well and truly in the past .
    If only he could put the rest of the things that haunted him in the past. He was trying; that’s why he’d moved here, gotten a job, and had a plan. Everything could be buried, right? Memories, mistakes, aspirations, and…people. Buried like land mines that only needed to be avoided to survive.
    He shook off the thought and forced his attention back to the compelling woman he’d met earlier in the day. No hardship there. A woman hadn’t been in his plan for his new life, but the way she looked at him and the response he felt from head to toe—and plenty in between—made Luke think he could certainly make room for a minor distraction.
    He tried to listen to the vows, but he kept drifting back to what else Gussie had said about her close friend and business partner Arielle Chandler. He remembered that all three of the women had traveled together for some wedding consultant organization, then they decided to start their own joint business in Barefoot Bay. They lived in a Victorian house on the south end of the island, each in their own apartment. Arielle was on the third floor, if he recalled correctly, so she’d be one story above the guest bedroom in Gussie’s apartment where he’d be sleeping for a while.
    So, right on top of him, more or less. He felt the corner of his mouth kick up at another happy coincidence.
    The newlyweds kissed, and a cheer went up as everyone stood to celebrate, including Luke, who inched to the side to be sure he didn’t lose eye contact with his current target. She was hugging his sister, and then she slid her hand onto the brawny arm of the best man, a Navy SEAL friend of the groom, whom Luke had met before the ceremony started.
    The best man seemed to be waiting for Gussie to take his other arm so the three of them could come down the aisle together, since there were no other groomsmen or bridesmaids. But Gussie gave her head a shake and gestured for them to go alone. So he’d have to time this just right to relieve that SEAL of the woman Luke had silently claimed as his, at least for the evening.
    Around him, all the guests emptied their seats, heading toward the bride and groom or the bar to start the festivities.
    Luke hung back, watching Arielle make her