Rumor Has It (An Animal Magnetism Novel) Read Online Free Page A

least you made it home in time for tonight’s bachelor/bachelorette party,” Holly said. “Great timing, you getting that early leave.”
    Not exactly great timing. And the leave wasn’t in her honor at all. Nor was it a leave. He was out, medically discharged, which she didn’t need to know about. He’d told no one from home, and he didn’t intend to change that any time soon. He didn’t want anyone fawning over him, and he sure as hell didn’t want anyone to know how badly he’d screwed up or exactly how close he’d come to missing the wedding.
    Not to mention the rest of his life.
    Out of the military for the first time in his adult life, Grif was home for the wedding and maybe also to make peace with the place that had once been the bane of his existence.
    “Have you seen anyone yet?” Holly asked after they were seated and had ordered.
    “Kate.” The name rolled off Grif’s tongue before he could stop himself. She was still on his brain, her and that sweet smile that could slay him dead—which even an IED at ground zero hadn’t been able to accomplish.
    “Kate?” Holly asked, putting down her coffee. “My Kate?”
    “I didn’t realize you owned her,” Grif said mildly.
    Holly was silent for a full beat, staring him down as if she could extract his secrets by osmosis. “No,” she finally said in her bossiest sister voice. “No. She’s off-limits, Grif.”
    “Excuse me?” he asked in the tone that would have anyone else running for the hills. Not Holly. Holly had this thing about boundaries. As in she had none.
    “Okay,” she said. “I know you hate to be told what to do, but don’t do Kate. I mean it, Grif.”
    “He’s a big boy, babe,” Adam broke in lightly, touching her hand. A gentle warning that she didn’t heed.
    “She’s vulnerable right now,” Holly said to Grif.
    Yeah, well, he wasn’t exactly feeling so steady himself.
    “Her mom’s gone,” Holly said, “and her dad’s— Dammit, Grif. You know what her life’s like. She’s practically raising her siblings on her own, and they’re not easy. Tommy thinks he’s a superhero, and Ashley does a damn good impression of the Wicked Witch of the West.”
    “East,” Adam said.
    “Aw,” Holly said. “I love that you know that.”
    Personally, Grif thought Adam should have to turn in his Man Card for knowing that, but Holly was smiling at him dopily, and then Adam leaned in and she met him halfway for an annoyingly long, hot kiss.
    “Great.” Grif blew out a breath. “My best friend and my sister swallowing each other’s tongues. This is nice. Really. I should have come home sooner.”
    They kept kissing.
    Grif checked his watch.
    They kept kissing. “Hey, you’re making the kids uncomfortable.”
    Holly pulled back and grinned. “Jealous?”
    “Bored,” Grif said.
    “Too bad that this week’s all about me, then, isn’t it?” She sent him a narrow-eyed glance. “Just as soon as I finish warning you off of Kate. I’m serious about this, okay? I’ve been trying to slowly work her back into the dating pool, but we’re starting small. Trust me, she’s in no way ready for the likes of you.” She looped her arm through his. “Please don’t take that as a challenge.”
    “You think she’s too sweet for me,” Grif said. “Too good.”
    “She’s not some eighteenth-century virgin, Grif. She’s a full-grown woman who, yes, is a really wonderful, giving, warm, good person. She’d give a stranger the shirt off her back. I just don’t want that stranger to be you.”
    Adam snorted, and Grif slid him a look that Adam met evenly. And Grif had to admit, maybe they had a point. Grif liked women.
    A lot.
    And they tended to like him back.
    “All I’m saying,” Holly said, “is that sometimes people take advantage of Kate.”
    “And you think I’d be one of them?”
    “Not purposely,” she said, “but come on. You know she has a big crush on you. If you so much as look at her, she’s spouting