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Chapter One
Courtney DeLollis huddled in the corner of the grandly appointed reception tent, peering through the leaves of a giant ficus, hoping the foliage would shield her froh the evening in the background, present and accounted for, but not having to engage with anyone And by anyone, shefor her prey to stop sniffing the air, all the while scouring the group for the weakest link"
The low male voice in her ear made her tense until it was followed by a chuckle she kneell She resisted the urge to slump with relief and turned to face Galen Thoreat out there," she said
Wasn’t that the truth Galen and his wife of less than two hours, Lacey, both looked gorgeous The grooray tux, his bride in her white dress with a blue sash On a beautiful su by the lake under a pristine white canopy surrounded by faic So to find a man who looked at her the way they looked at each other
Yep A verrrry long tireat yourself," Galen said and h, he was scanning the canopied area for his bride "Too nice to be hiding behind the potted plants My wife has been trying to find you"
Shit She’d hoped to fly under the radar "Well, here I aers jazz-style At his deadpan stare, she dropped her arht out I had to escape your Uncle Milton" Not the truth, but believable enough Theh He seehed and nodded "Okay, but don’t go wandering off again Lacey’s worried because you don’t know that ets Plus the bridal party needs to be on call for pictures and then the throwing of the bouquet"
"Sure thing," she reassured hi, and he seemed ready to question her further but a feht here," he yelled back to his wife,form to the side to offer visual confir next to her followed suit
Rafe Davenport
Courtney’s h her Six feet or better of lean muscle, he looked like he could have led the Trojans into battle if he had to She had gotten to see hione out for drinks to celebrate his coirl lost in the woods In his police blues, he was pure fantasy In the tux, he gave Ja s hie to flip hi out the brat in her
Besides, it wasn’t like she was hiding from him, so much She just wasn’t in the ht wason her self-discipline It seeot into some sort of beef that left her irritated, frustrated and way too aware of her body
Apparently, he either didn’t feel the same way or enjoyed the sensation, because he dipped his head to say so to Lacey and then e, long legs eating up the dance floor between them
Talk about your puth to stand her ground So what He was going to come over, break her balls, they’d do their little verbal sparring, and then he’d walk away This wouldn’t be the first tiet better at roup of friends, and he was part of the package, so the sooner she learned to deal with hi her shoulders, she tipped her head up to face him as Galen moved off to meet up with his wife
"Hello, Courtney" Rafe’s silky voice held a laugh right beneath the surface that had everyof her heart as she offered a fake smile
"Hey, Rafe" That’s it, Court Keep it casual-like Only those eyes, black as pitch, sexy as sin, seeh her, and her s else "What can I do for you?" As soon as the words slipped fro she said around hiaze went hotter and hesound with his mouth Chills broke out over her as he leaned in closer Instinctively, she backed up, until the still-sun-warainst her spine
"I think you know me better than to ask a question like that," he said softly
The thing was, she didn’t Not really They’d hung out as a group a lot, but the two of thele for a short while when forced, but that was about it Soed to keep her wary distance until the night of Lacey’s bachelorette party, when she’d found out he was some sort of bedroom dom Which, while none of her business, hadn’t been far fro hiht and took a sip of her wine to gather her wits before responding "That’s char Someone asks a simple question and you auto Why don’t you scope the roo?" she asked "I’lanced down at the ficus she was clinging to with her free hand and shrugged "Your date looks like a real bore I’s up a little And for the record, I didn’tabout BDSM You know, for so it up a lot"