Jordan’s Deliverance Read Online Free Page A

by,” she offered. “Have a seat and I’ll just pretend my overprotective boyfriend didn’t send an enforcer to check on me. You’d think I had the secrets of the universe in my purse.”
    Audra almost jumped to the ceiling when she heard Michael’s voice, low and sexy in her ear.
    “Didn’t you know, sweetheart? The secrets of my universe are actually located between your lovely thighs.”
    Audra’s surprise and excitement clearly overpowered any embarrassment she may have felt over Michael’s overtly sexual compliment. She slid back her chair and was immediately enfolded in his embrace.
    Riordan smiled at the happy image they made as they were instantly lost in the bubble that was just those two. He glanced at Jordan, and her face looked pained, even slightly tortured. He raised a hand to the waitress.
    “Excuse me, I’d like a Scotch and wat—” he began.
“Oh, no. We’re sorry, miss. We were just leaving,” Jordan interrupted.
    She smiled sweetly at the waitress, turned to Riordan, and tipped her head twice toward the exit as a sign that it was time to hand off the package to Michael and get out of Dodge.
    Riordan’s face lit up with realization as he first pushed back his chair and then pulled out Jordan’s. He leaned in to give Michael a brotherly hug and deftly dropped the ring box in his jacket pocket.
    “Good luck, my man. I wish you the best,” he whispered.
    Michael’s breath hitched, and he cleared this throat before he responded, “Brothers always. Thanks for picking this up for me.”
    Riordan gave him a quick series of manly pats on the back and did some throat clearing of his own. “I guess we should leave these two to a lovely reunion. Ms. Anderson, what say you and I ditch this place and find a disgustingly dive-y bar to patronize?”
    Jordan smiled tightly and rose from the table, ignoring Riordan’s invitation. “It’s nice to see you, Michael. Audra, we can continue the ladies’ weekend another time. I have a feeling you may be occupied for the next day or so.”
    She leaned over and kissed her best friend on her cheek. Scooting swiftly past Riordan, she fled toward the exit and the nearest cab, leaving the handsome blond in her wake. Jordan knew stranger danger when she felt it, and Riordan Deliverance was as dangerously charming as they come.

Chapter Five
     
     
    David leaned in close and stole Jordan’s chamomile tea. Sipping distractedly, he looked entirely engrossed in the drama, encouraging her with “hmmm hmmm” and the occasional, “No, he didn’t?”
    “So then what happened?” he asked finally.
    “Well,” she said, “the next four months were a series of Riordan and Jordan debacles. After that initial meeting was the engagement party, remember that? I stormed out the front door into an aggressive gang of timed sprinklers and my pantsuit was ruined? You were there. Guess who I was running from? One guess—ding, ding, ding—Riordan. He’d apparently told my date that if he spoke to me rudely again he was going to punch his teeth in, put his business under surveillance, and then have him audited and deported. I was so mortified I couldn’t even be in the same house as him.
    “Then that madness happened at the dinner, when Audra and Michael announced her pregnancy. Riordan’s date cornered me in the bathroom and told me to ‘back off her man with my big ole tits and fat ass.’ I would like to think she wasn’t surprised when I slapped those blonde clip-on extensions out of her head. Can you believe she thought I was trying to steal her useless, playboy boyfriend? He was the one who stuck his fork in my dessert and offered to share his crème brûlée with me. I didn’t tell him to take her bitter ass home early. She should learn to act civilized in my best friend’s home.
    “Then Michael insisted a group of us all go to his campsite for a weekend. I’m still amazed by that tomfoolery. I love nature and things, but burying my own waste is not a fun