Best Man Read Online Free Page A

kid home without her getting soaking wet? I pulled up Travis’s number—maybe he’d still be nearby.
    “Aunt Maddie, there’s a man over there waving to you,” Chloe said, huddling into me for more cover. She burrowed into my side and pointed her hand toward a black Jeep near the entrance to the park.
    The jackass was waving at me. “Stupid prick,” I mumbled, holding my phone to my ear and listening to Travis’s voice mail robotically tell me it was too full for me to leave a message.
    “Who’s a stupid prick?” Chloe asked.
    “I’m sorry, love. I shouldn’t have cursed in front of you.”
    “It’s okay,” she smiled up at me and sneezed. Damn, the kid was going to get sick being out in the cold rain. Of course, he’d be the only one around to help us.
    “Okay, let’s run really quick to that black Jeep, okay?”
    “Is it a race?” she asked.
    “Yes, it is. Now go!”
    We ran through the downpour as Luke reached across his front seat to open the door for us. Chloe jumped into the back seat. “Hey, there’s no booster seat back here!”
    I pulled the door closed and watched the fat drops of rain pelt down against the windshield. “It’s okay, Chloe. Luke is a police officer. He’ll drive us home safely.”
    “Detective,” he grumbled.
    “What’s the difference,” I said.
    “The difference is—”
    “—I wasn’t really asking a question, Luke. I don’t want to know,” I lied. Lied. Lied. Lied. I wanted to know everything—every little thing that happened, starting from the night he’d spent with me.
    “Didn’t know you turned into such a bitch,” he growled under his breath.
    “And you’re a stupid prick,” Chloe chirped from the backseat.
    Luke’s eyebrows shot straight up. “Really? You taught her that?”
    “No, I didn’t teach her that,” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to shake off the cold tremors quaking through my body. “She might have overheard me, that’s all.”
    “Nice,” he said drily, but I could barely hear him over my teeth chattering. His eyes darted down to my lips and he immediately reached out to turn up the heat. “Better?” he asked.
    “A little,” I whispered, looking up into his blue eyes.
    For just a moment we stayed like that in the car, staring at each other, his eyes on my lips and me taking in every inch of his face. He was so handsome. I’d always thought so. He was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. Before I could even realize what was happening, his hand was lightly touching my face—his thumb brushing softly over my bottom lip. “Your lips are blue,” he whispered.
    “Lemme see,” Chloe said, pushing her little body between us and grabbing onto my head to turn it toward her. Thank God for nosy, pint-sized people. I would have let him kiss me slow and long, and ended up kicking my own ass right after.
    “Okay, okay, Chloe,” I said as she smashed my cheeks together and inspected my lips thoroughly.
    “They are blue!” she squealed.
    “Okay, thanks,” I said, pulling her hands off my face and touching my index finger to her cold nose. “Sit back down and buckle yourself in,” I said, smiling back at her. “You need any help?”
    “Nope. I got it,” she cheered happily. Her hair was wet and plastered all around her little face; she was adorable.
    I leaned back into the front seat and melted from the blast of heat, finally feeling the effects of it through my cold, wet clothes.
    Luke pulled the Jeep into the street and drove down toward Main Street. “Where am I taking her to dry up?” he asked.
    I took a deep breath and faced the windshield, pretending that his voice or his hands didn’t make me think of all sorts of deliciously nasty things. “Ava lives up on Forest Road in the same house she grew up in,” I said quietly as I pulled out my phone to text her I was bringing Chloe home. “I’ll text her to come out with an umbrella.”
    “Good idea,” he murmured and gripped tightly onto