Best Man's Conquest Read Online Free
Author: Michelle Celmer
wrong. But her mom had been right, of course, and to this day sheâd never let Ivy live it down.
What would her mother think if she could see her now, stuck in the same house with Dillon for a week? She would probably be worried that Ivy would be foolish enough to fall for him again. The way she had repeatedly fallen for Ivyâs dad, trapped in what she liked to call an on-again, off-again trip through the house of horrors that had spanned nearly a decade.
Ivy was smarter than that. If there was one thing sheâd learned from her mother, it was how not to repeat her mistakes.
She would worry about her mom Saturday when she flew in for the wedding. Right now she had other, more pressing problems, like the man still staring at her.
It was clear Dillon didnât intend to leave her alone. Rather than spend an hour or so before dinner enjoying the sun, she would instead have to remain indoors, where he couldnât bug her.
Ivy rose to her feet and grabbed her book. âI guess Iâll see you at dinner.â
âI thought you wanted to read.â
âItâs been a long day. I think Iâll take a quick nap.â It was a lie, but there was no way she would admit that heâd irritated her to the point of driving her away.
She hoped this was just his misguided way of trying to make amends. She hoped she was wrong and he wasnât actually doing this to annoy her.
âSee yaâll later,â he called, and as she was shutting the door, she could swear she heard laughter.
Three
Bitterness can be handled in many ways. The worst is to pretend it isnât there. Recognize it, identify it, embrace it. Then get over it.
âexcerpt from The Modern Womanâs Guide to Divorce (And the Joy of Staying Single)
D illon was a big, fat liar.
Ivy sipped her champagne and glanced up at him through the pale pink, lingering light of sunset across the patio table. Eyes as blue and crisp as the ocean stared back, tangling her up in their gaze like a fish in a net.
A shivery zing of awareness started in her scalp and rippled with lightning speed down to her toes. And though she mentally squirmed and flopped, she couldnât seem to break loose.
Instead, she stared him down with a cool, disinterested look. Hoping he couldnât see the frantic flutter of her heartbeat at the base of her throat. The goose bumps dotting every conceivable inch of her flesh.
He was supposed to be avoiding her. He had agreed to leave her alone, hadnât he? Yet, as she feared earlier on the balcony, it was crystal clear that he had no intention of keeping his promise. In fact, he was doing everything he could to make her as uncomfortable as humanly possible.
And he did it damned well.
Throughout dinner, every time she looked up from her plate of mostly untouched food, his eyes were on her. He wasnât even attempting to be subtle, the big jerk.
At this rate she would be leaving the country a total basket case.
Blake kept shooting Ivy apologetic smiles, and Deidre had started stress eating. She had finished her own meal and was stealing bites from Blakeâs plate when she thought no one was watching. Blakeâs brothers, Calvin and Dale, observed with blatant curiosity.
Deidreâs bridesmaids were another story. The motor-mouth twinsâor as Deidre liked to call them, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumâwere too busy flapping their jaws to notice Ivy. Or anyone else for that matter.
They werenât actually twins, although they may as well have been. They had the same burnt-out blond hair and surgically enhanced, anorexic, size-one bodies. They even shared an identical flair for mindless, irrelevant conversation. Ivy was guessing that their collective IQâs ranked somewhere in the low double-digits.
âA toast to Deidre and Blake,â Dillon said, raising his glass, his eyes still locked on Ivy. She couldnât help but notice that heâd dropped the good ole boy twang.
What would her mother think if she could see her now, stuck in the same house with Dillon for a week? She would probably be worried that Ivy would be foolish enough to fall for him again. The way she had repeatedly fallen for Ivyâs dad, trapped in what she liked to call an on-again, off-again trip through the house of horrors that had spanned nearly a decade.
Ivy was smarter than that. If there was one thing sheâd learned from her mother, it was how not to repeat her mistakes.
She would worry about her mom Saturday when she flew in for the wedding. Right now she had other, more pressing problems, like the man still staring at her.
It was clear Dillon didnât intend to leave her alone. Rather than spend an hour or so before dinner enjoying the sun, she would instead have to remain indoors, where he couldnât bug her.
Ivy rose to her feet and grabbed her book. âI guess Iâll see you at dinner.â
âI thought you wanted to read.â
âItâs been a long day. I think Iâll take a quick nap.â It was a lie, but there was no way she would admit that heâd irritated her to the point of driving her away.
She hoped this was just his misguided way of trying to make amends. She hoped she was wrong and he wasnât actually doing this to annoy her.
âSee yaâll later,â he called, and as she was shutting the door, she could swear she heard laughter.
Three
Bitterness can be handled in many ways. The worst is to pretend it isnât there. Recognize it, identify it, embrace it. Then get over it.
âexcerpt from The Modern Womanâs Guide to Divorce (And the Joy of Staying Single)
D illon was a big, fat liar.
Ivy sipped her champagne and glanced up at him through the pale pink, lingering light of sunset across the patio table. Eyes as blue and crisp as the ocean stared back, tangling her up in their gaze like a fish in a net.
A shivery zing of awareness started in her scalp and rippled with lightning speed down to her toes. And though she mentally squirmed and flopped, she couldnât seem to break loose.
Instead, she stared him down with a cool, disinterested look. Hoping he couldnât see the frantic flutter of her heartbeat at the base of her throat. The goose bumps dotting every conceivable inch of her flesh.
He was supposed to be avoiding her. He had agreed to leave her alone, hadnât he? Yet, as she feared earlier on the balcony, it was crystal clear that he had no intention of keeping his promise. In fact, he was doing everything he could to make her as uncomfortable as humanly possible.
And he did it damned well.
Throughout dinner, every time she looked up from her plate of mostly untouched food, his eyes were on her. He wasnât even attempting to be subtle, the big jerk.
At this rate she would be leaving the country a total basket case.
Blake kept shooting Ivy apologetic smiles, and Deidre had started stress eating. She had finished her own meal and was stealing bites from Blakeâs plate when she thought no one was watching. Blakeâs brothers, Calvin and Dale, observed with blatant curiosity.
Deidreâs bridesmaids were another story. The motor-mouth twinsâor as Deidre liked to call them, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumâwere too busy flapping their jaws to notice Ivy. Or anyone else for that matter.
They werenât actually twins, although they may as well have been. They had the same burnt-out blond hair and surgically enhanced, anorexic, size-one bodies. They even shared an identical flair for mindless, irrelevant conversation. Ivy was guessing that their collective IQâs ranked somewhere in the low double-digits.
âA toast to Deidre and Blake,â Dillon said, raising his glass, his eyes still locked on Ivy. She couldnât help but notice that heâd dropped the good ole boy twang.
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