Page 51 of Stunner (Whiskey Dolls 3)

“No,” she said on a pout. “It’s all your fault. I mean, youarethe one who dropped me.”

My head fell back on a bark of laughter. “Well, I wouldn’t have dropped you if you hadn’t squirmed like that. So, it’s really your fault if you think about it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said with a shake of her head. “You know why? Because in a matter of hours I’ll be on a plane to Algeria, never to be seen again.”

I chuckled against her lips. “Well, before you take off for North Africa, think you could spare time to have breakfast with me and my family?”

Her eyes went wide as saucers. She stepped back, forcing me to let her go as she threw her hands out to her sides. “Inthis?” she yelped.

I wouldn’t have minded one damn bit, but something told me she wouldn’t be comfortable in my old college track tee and boxers. “Hmm. I see your point. I’ll make you a deal.” My arm snaked out and latched onto her once more. “I’ll send them away and take you home so you can shower and change if you agree to brunch. Then I’ll drive you to the airport myself.” I squatted down so we were eye-to-eye. “We have a deal?”

Her bottom lip was poking out a bit as she dragged her fingers along the tattoos that spanned my chest. “Fine. I’ll do brunch. Just so long as you know that mimosas are on the menu, and Iwillbe getting drunk in an effort to erase this from my memory.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

23

ASHER

My knees were shaky and there was sweat in places where there shouldn’t have been any sweat.

“Baby, relax,” Owen soothed with a smile as he led me by the hand toward the café where we were meeting his entire family for brunch. “This is going to be great. You’ll see.”

I gave him a flat, unimpressed look. “Are you kidding? Owen, the first time I met your parents, I was practically naked and hanging off you like a chimpanzee as you talked about fucking me on every available surface. Not exactly the first impression I wanted to make. Especially given...” I waved one of my hands in a circle, “you know.”

He looked at me curiously and shook his head. “I don’t know. What are you talking about?”

I leaned closer and lowered my voice like I was divulging scandalous secrets. “You know,” I hissed. “How Jackson’s mom and your mom are close friends? It can’t be a secret that Jackson’s mom wasn’t a huge fan of mine.” I curled my top lip at just the thought of Angela Newman-hyphen-whatever-her-last-name-was-at-the-moment. The woman had gone out of her way to let me know she didn’t think I was good enough for her precious baby boy. She’d even gone as far as to call me low-classand insinuate I was nothing more than a glorified stripper. Sure, she hadn’t said that last part to my face, but I’d overheard her raving to Jackson during one of the many arguments they’d had about him marrying me.

I couldn’t stand her and she liked me only slightly less. I had to admit that one of the many advantages of the wedding-that-didn’t-happen was that I got the hell away from her.

All I knew of Owen’s mother was from the brief encounter earlier that morning, but after only that, and knowing him as well as I did, it was hard to believe the two women were as close as stories indicated.

They just seemed so different. One came off warm and while the other was as frigid as a block of ice.

Owen lifted my hand to his lips and placed a kiss against my knuckles. “Trust me, you have nothing to worry about. My mom and Angela areverydifferent.”

“I got that impression. Which is why I don’t understand how they’re friends.” I stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk, forcing Owen to come up short since he was holding my hand. “Or you and Jackson, for that matter. Now that I think about it, that friendship never made much sense to me.”

His smile fell and something moved across his expression that I couldn’t quite get a read on.

“It’s complicated,” he said, sending up a red flag.

“You’ve said that before. How exactly is your friendship complicated?”

He kissed my knuckles again, and I got the impression he was trying to distract me. “That’s a conversation for another time, babe. Right now, my family’s waiting.”

I knew he was trying to brush the conversation off, but I couldn’t shake the feeling he was hiding something. He was right about one thing: there wasn’t time to get into it now. I had other things to freak-out about.

He pulled me toward the doors to the café while my heart lodged in my throat.

“I wish I’d been able to find those earrings and necklace that go with this dress,” I complained under my breath.

“Asher, sweetheart, I told you that you look beautiful as is. You don’t need jewelry.”

“I know, but they complete this outfit.”

He rolled his eyes good naturedly. “I know,” he said in a deadpan. “You said that about a thousand times during the half hour you tore your place apart looking for them. And I’ll say it again, you don’t need them.”

---