The Tempting Mrs. Reilly Read Online Free Page A

was finishing dinner and listening to Connor laugh at the latest development. It was his own fault. Not that he’d been expecting sympathy, but outright hilarity was a little uncalled for.
    â€œSo, Tina’s back in town,” Connor said, grinning. “Man, I can almost feel that money sliding into my wallet as we speak.”
    â€œForget it,” Brian snapped, still feeling the effects of Tina’s smile hours later. “She’s not going to help you win this bet. I divorced her , remember?”
    â€œYeah,” Connor said and signaled to the waiter for another beer. “Never did understand why, though.”
    None of his family had understood, Brian thought, momentarily allowing himself to drift down memory lane. Hell, even he’d had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that divorcing Tina had been the only right thing to do.
    It hadn’t been easy. But it had been right.
    He still believed that.
    If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to live with the regrets.
    Tina Coretti still haunted him. At the oddest times, his brain would suddenly erupt into images of her. Cooking, laughing, singing off-key with the radio while on one of their notorious road trips. He remembered arguing with her, both of them shoutinguntil one of them started laughing and then how they’d tumble into bed and rediscover each other.
    The sex had always been amazing between them.
    Not just bodies coming together, but in his more poetic moments, Brian had convinced himself that even their souls had mated.
    And once she was gone from his life, he’d had to believe it, because he’d been left hollow. Empty. His heart broken and his soul crushed, despite knowing that what he’d done, he’d done for her.
    That hadn’t changed.
    He shoved what was left of his burger and fries to the edge of the table for the waiter to pick up, then leaned back in his seat.
    The Lighthouse Restaurant was packed, as it generally was. Families crowded around big tables and couples snuggled close together in darkened booths. Overhead, light fell from iron chandeliers bristling with hanging ferns and copper pots.
    Studying his brother across the table from him, Brian shifted the talk from himself by asking suddenly, “So how’re you doing on the bet front?”
    Connor choked on a swallow of beer and when he was finished coughing, he shook his head. “Man, it’s way uglier than I thought it was going to be.”
    Brian laughed.
    â€œSeriously,” Connor protested. “Getting to the point where I’m hiding from women completely.”
    â€œI know what you mean,” Brian said, though for him, hiding had just gotten a lot harder. Staying away from women at work was easy. There weren’t that many female pilots or female personnel assigned to the F-18 squadrons. And those that were there made a point of avoiding the guys. Couldn’t blame them. They had to work twice as hard as the men just to be accepted and they weren’t going to blow a career by flirting with their fellow officers.
    So work was safe and Brian had planned to hide out at home, staying away from the usual spots, bars, clubs and whatever, to avoid women in his off-duty hours. But now, home wasn’t a refuge. Instead, with Tina in town, home was the most dangerous territory of all.
    â€œIt’s only been two weeks,” Connor admitted, “and already, I’ve got way more respect for Liam.”
    â€œI’m with you there,” Brian said.
    â€œTalked to Aidan last night and he says he’s thinking about joining a monastery for three months.”
    The thought of that was worth a chuckle. “At least he’s suffering, too.”
    â€œYeah.” Connor narrowed his eyes, nodded at the waiter, who stopped by to deliver their check, then said, “At least I get to take out my frustrations by screaming at the ‘boots’ every day.”
    Brian smiled but couldn’t