Author:Mira Lyn Kelly
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Date of publication: August 2016
Each a Best Man at a wedding
One chance to get it right
Jase Foster can’t believe his bad luck. He’s been paired with the she-devil herself for his best friend’s wedding: Emily Klein of the miles-long legs and killer smile. She may be sin in a bridesmaid dress, but there’s no way he’s falling for her again.
They can barely stand each other, but given how many of their friends are getting married, they’ll just have to play nice—at least when they’re in company. Once they’re alone, more than just gloves come off as Jase and Emily discover their chemistry is combustible, and there may be something to this enemies to lovers thing after all…
Because Jase wasn’t looking at her like he wanted to insult her. Or
carry on with the banter. He looked like he wanted something else. Maybe the
same thing she’d only in that second realized she wanted too.
Jase frowned. Coming to his senses maybe, probably. Because this
look between them was nuts. Wrong. Something she knew she shouldn’t want, but
couldn’t seem to break away from regardless.
So it was good that he was. Because otherwise she didn’t even want
to think about what—
His stare dropped to her mouth. And with a shuddering breath, she
realized, yes, she was already thinking about it.
About how big his hands felt on her leg. How strong his arms had
been around her. How the lips she’d forced herself to stop speculating about in
high school might taste.
“Just once,” he said, his voice gone gravelly low. “Just to put an
end to the curiosity.”
She was nodding, sort of, her head moving the barest amount.
“No way will it live up to the hype,” she replied. “I’ll walk away
disappointed. Probably feeling sorry for the girls with such high expectations.”
Jase’s mouth curved at one corner, a cocky addition to his words. “You’ll
walk away wishing for more.”
She might. “Not a chance.”
“Whatever.” And then he did it. Caught the back of her neck in his
palm and closed the distance between them, his eyes locked with hers, almost
daring her to back out, until that last instant when she saw something flash in
them besides challenge. But then, contact.
Contact that teased with a barely there quality, rubbing in a gentle,
tasting exploration that shocked a trembling gasp past her lips.
Damn. She wasn’t supposed to get caught up in it. She wanted to
remain unaffected. Indifferent. But the skill with which Jase’s firm lips moved
over and against hers made indifference impossible. He was good.
Jase pulled back.
Shoot. She hadn’t wanted it to end. Wasn’t ready for the wanting
more he’d promised to become a reality so quickly. But the last thing she was
going to do was beg, even if she could still feel that almost-too-light,
somehow just-perfect press of his lips.
Her eyes drifted open, and she found Jase barely an inch away. A
frown carved deep across his mouth. His eyes dark and fixed on hers.
“Jase,” she whispered, barely managing the single word before the
fingers at the back of her neck tightened and she knew without question what
was coming next.
More.
His mouth crushed down on hers. No tentative kiss this time. No
featherlight tease. His mouth was firm, his kiss confident. Arresting. She
opened beneath him, letting him lick into her mouth, breathe against her lips.
Taste her tongue as she tasted his.
Her fingers were locked in the front of his shirt, pulling him
closer. Because, yes, please—closer. She needed him closer. And he
must have been of the same mind because he’d wrapped his arms around her and
was gathering her toward him as he kissed her again and again. Devoured her
mouth, and groaned when she bit at his.
Her fingers were in his hair, the silky waves she’d spent too many
study halls thinking about. Thank God she’d never gotten her hands into the
stuff before now, or she wouldn’t have been able to forget it. Even now, she
wondered if she could.
His kiss was so hot.
Hot enough that that her mind seemed to be flickering between
satisfaction that this was Jase—her high-school fantasy fulfilled—and the
certain knowledge that this had to stop because it was Jase. Jase,
kissing her like she’d never been kissed before. Jase thrusting into her mouth,
his tongue sliding wet and hot against her own. Jase working one wide palm
beneath her skirt and up the side of her thigh, his grip tightening and
relaxing with every few inches he advanced. Jase making her burn and beg for
his touch to extend just a little further, just that much more, just—
A phone sounded but neither of them stopped, not until the third
ring when suddenly Emily jerked back with a gasp, staring in horrified shock at
Jase, who looked more stunned than anything else. Stunned and still wearing
that sexy sort of frown on his face.
They were in the car. In the parking lot of the church, where they
were both supposed to have been five minutes ago.
Jase snapped out of it, patting around his pockets and then
retrieving his phone, all while keeping his eyes trained on her.
“Jase,” he answered. Then, “Are you fu—” He broke off, closing his
eyes as his free hand went to the bridge of his nose and a coarse sound worked
its way past his gritted teeth. Slapping the wipers on, he asked, “They can’t
get anyone else?”
Emily sat up as her stomach began to sink. Over the dash she saw the
first signs of activity. One bundled body after another leaving the church.
Oh no.
“Okay, man. Yeah, let me know.” Clicking off the call, Jase looked
down at Emily’s feet still in his lap. “Priest slipped on the ice and broke his
hip. They aren’t sending anyone else out. The wedding will have to be
rescheduled.”
Passing the phone across the seat, he sat quietly as Emily dialed
first one number, then another until finally she got through to the father of
the bride.
Sally was okay but didn’t want to talk. They were taking her home.
A moment later, there was a knock on the window. And one of the
other bridesmaids was holding up Emily’s boots and coat.
“You want a ride home?” she asked, her stare flickering from Emily
to Jase and then back again.
Emily was about to crawl out the window and into the girl’s arms because
she was so relieved to see her—because what the heck had she been thinking—when
Jase pushed her back in her seat and reached past to grab her things.
“I’ll take her home.”
Oh man.
About Mira Lyn Kelly
USA Today bestselling author Mira Lyn Kelly grew up in the Chicago area and earned her degree in fine arts from Loyola University. She met the love of her life while studying abroad in Rome, Italy, only to discover he’d been living right around the corner from her. They live in rural Minnesota.
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