Choosing the Right Man - Nice Girl to Love, Vol 3 (Can't Resist #3)(3)

“Suit yourself.” The sound of plates shuffling in the background filled the phone line before she exclaimed, “Oh! It’s cake time! I’ve got to go, Brian. It was fun almost talking to you!” And with that she hung up.

Strange woman.

Connor’s tastes sure were changing.

Brian pulled in to the front of Skylar’s school and shut off the engine. He still had about a half hour until she was done with band practice. Fortunately, talking to Connor’s latest flavor of the month had served to calm him down considerably. Unfortunately, the loss of that rage forced him to focus on what tomorrow could bring.

The very thing he’d been afraid of for months.

He’d hoped after all this time that his brother’s hold on her heart would have let up. Clearly, it hadn’t. Seeing the look on Abby’s face when he’d first walked into her office had absolutely shredded his insides.

“Hey dad!”

Brian made sure to wipe all the anxiety from his expression before he glanced up. Skylar was rushing across the courtyard, waving her phone excitedly. “Thanks for the picture! Abby looked so happy!”

The kid could make a Buckingham Palace guard crack a smile. Despite everything, he chuckled at his daughter’s utter lack of volume control as she neared the car pelting him with nonstop questions about Abby, interspersed with spontaneous anecdotes about her own day, all tied together by very thin tangential threads.

“Sounds like you had almost as big a day as Abby. How was band practice? You guys finished pretty early today.”

“We always finish at this time.” She buckled up quickly. “I just didn’t stay back to talk to anyone; I wanted to make sure we had enough time to get everything set up in the orchid house since we’re showing it to Abby after dinner. Were you able to find those twinkle lights?”

“Yep,” he replied slowly, proceeding with ultra vague hedging. “But you know what? Let’s hold off on showing Abby the orchid gazebo.”

“Why?” Skylar whipped her eyes over to him quizzically.

“Well, I’ve been thinking that it might be better if we showed it to her on another day. Let her get her bearings and all first. Besides, if we show it to her tonight, we may not have enough time to make that special dessert you have planned at her house.” It sounded like a pretty good argument, really. “So how about we do it next weekend instead? We’ll have her over and maybe barbeque outside or something.”

Next weekend—shoot, maybe he should’ve bought himself more time.

Disappointment streaked across Skylar’s face, and her shoulders slumped in silent disagreement even as she acquiesced to the rain check.

“Can we still put the twinkle lights up though? So Becky and I can do our sleepover out there with our sleeping bags tomorrow night?” She blinked up at him hopefully.

He chuckled. “Well played. You’ve got yourself a deal, munchkin.”




Taking one last bite of the ‘punchbowl cake and candy bar trifle’ Skylar and Abby had made, Brian marveled at how he was the only one suffering from a sugar high at this point. Both Skylar and Abby had passed out a half hour prior, leaving him to finish the DVD they’d rented, and the rest of the dessert, on his own.

Granted, he didn’t have nearly as much experience as those two did in this particular field event. After all their years of daily sugar training, it was very likely the pair were fully immune to the stuff by now.

He shut off the TV and quietly carried Skylar to the guestroom to get her settled in. After a minute of listening to her hold a one-sided discussion that was more sleep-drunk word bubbles than anything else, he tucked her in and headed back out to the living room.

Abby was only about a quarter awake and in the middle of a sleepy kitten stretch when she peeked open an eyelid and caught him gazing at her.

“What are you smiling about?” she fell sideways back down onto the couch. “Was I snoring?”

“Like a fog horn,” he lied, dropping down onto the ground beside her.

“Well get ready for an encore,” she murmured, already starting to doze off again.

“If you fall asleep out here, I’m going to have no choice but to join you,” he warned, testing the waters to see if the effects of Hurricane Connor were still lingering. As he slid a thumb over her lower lip, he watched her sleep fog lift in a slow panic. Her expression changed and she looked up at him as if she wanted to say something but just didn’t know what.

He knew what.

“Things aren’t the same between us now are they? Now that Connor’s back in the picture?”

Clutching a throw pillow against her chest, she admitted softly, “Honestly, I don’t know. I feel like I need to hear him out at least. Find out what he has to say.”

Knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer, he asked anyway, “And if he says he wants a second chance?”

The small flare of hope in her eyes wasn’t exactly a shocker. But it still clobbered him in the gut.

He cupped her face in his palms and slid back the curtain of hair she was hiding behind. “If you decide that Connor’s the one you want to be with, I’ll respect your choice and step aside, sweetheart, I promise.”

Pulling her into his arms, he whispered, “But that doesn’t mean I won’t fight for you the entire time until then.” And with no other warning than that, he brought his mouth down onto hers in a searing kiss and slid his hands under her legs to lift her up off the couch. After a brief startled second, her legs immediately wrapped around his waist in reflex.