The Groom Wanted Seconds: A Novella Read Online Free

practical if you tried.”
    “What’s wrong with practical?” Though even Jeremy had to admit that his proposal had been lame, one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time. If he ever got a second chance—
    Well, given the way things had gone between him and Rebecca today, he doubted he’d get another shot at proposing.
    “Women don’t want practical. They want hot. Memorable. Amazing.” Dan leaned in and lowered his voice. “Tell me you didn’t treat sex the same way as you did your proposal.”
    Just the mention of sex with Rebecca sent a fire racing through Jeremy’s veins. From the first moment he’d touched her, after a chance meeting when her bike got a flat and he stopped to help, he’d wanted her. He’d turned too fast to the right and she too fast to the left, and the sparks between them had been quick and hot. He’d wanted her then—and wanted her now. Kissing her, touching her, making love to her, had all been amazing. She always seemed to taste like candy, sweet and delicious, and just a little wicked. And in bed…she’d been an incredible lover, adventurous, giving, and sexy as hell.
    His face heated and he cleared his throat. “That, uh, was never a problem between us.”
    “Then go after her,” Dan said. “Guns blazing.”
    “I don’t think an AK-47 is the way to Rebecca’s heart.”
    “I meant pull out all the stops. Sweep her off her feet, a la Prince Charming. If you want the girl, you gotta go all in.” Dan studied him for a long second, then guffawed. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
    “No, I hear you. Send her flowers, write a love note. That kind of thing.”
    Dan laughed. “Dude, that is the lame way. When I say go all in, I mean you need to take it to the limit. Make it public, make it big. Think outside the box.”
    “That’s the trouble,” Jeremy said. “I’m an engineer. All I do is think inside the box.”
    “Gotta get out of your comfort zone, my man. And who knows? Maybe it’ll be good for you.” Dan grinned, then slipped off the stool. “Speaking about going out of your comfort zone, there’s a blonde over there who definitely looks like the kind that’ll ride me hard and put me back wet.”
    Jeremy rolled his eyes, then watched Dan head across the bar to a buxom blonde beside the pool table. Within seconds, he’d managed to get her to laugh, two seconds later, she had her hand on his arm and her face so close to his, they could have been conjoined twins.
    Jeremy signaled for the tab, paid his bill, then waved at Dan and headed out of O’Toole’s. The warm late summer night greeted him with the salty tang of an ocean breeze, kicked in off the Harbor.
    It was a perfect night, the kind he normally would have spent with Rebecca, the two of them cozied up on his sofa, him working on some college paper or a project for the firm, her sketching ideas for her business while some home show played on the TV in the background. They’d had a comfortable, easy relationship, as predictable as snow in the winter. He’d thought she’d been perfectly happy with that, and even now, it still surprised him that he’d been so wrong. Or maybe he just needed to find a way to get them back to that cozy comfortableness.
    Yeah, that was what they needed. To find the stable middle ground from before. Rebecca wasn’t a big, public, outside the box kind of girl.
    Was she?
    *~*~*
    The first bouquet of flowers arrived early the next afternoon. Gorgeous red roses, just beginning to bloom. A second bunch arrived the next morning, white roses this time, with white baby’s breath. The cards were short but sweet, Thinking of you, Jeremy. Miss you. Call me, Jeremy.
    Nothing wrong with any of them, Rebecca thought. It was just that when she looked at the flowers, she felt…
    Nothing.
    Maybe it was because she had closed off her heart long ago. She glanced at the cards, noting one very visibly absent word—love. Jeremy had proposed to her,