Running With a Sweet Talker - Snippet 1
Unedited
Jack Avery stared at the scene before him while sucking on a cherry lollipop his godson, Aiden had given him. His third-floor window gave him the perfect vantage to observe the bride sprinting a serpentine pattern across the lawn of the wedding venue. Luanne Price was beautiful, brilliant and surprisingly agile in a banana-cream-pie dress as she leaped over a fallen log in her path.
“What are you up too, tough girl?”
Not his business.
She’d already caused him enough distraction. Why he found a woman who gave him so much shit attractive, he’d never know. But something about her smart mouth lit him up like a Roman candle. This woman intrigued him. He couldn’t remember the last time that happened. Lately, the beautiful and docile women he dated had begun to bore him to death. They paled in comparison to the feisty pixie that just scurried behind the flower-covered alter. “What the hell?”
Why did her every move fascinate him?
Stupid, Jack.
He was ten kinds of crazy to even contemplate getting involved with her for any reason. Thankfully, in a little more than an hour, she’d be someone else’s problem.
That’s the reason he was here today. To see Luanne tie the knot. It would be tough to watch, but then it would be real, and she’d be off limits. He didn’t mess with married women. Ever. His mama would come back from the grave and slap him into next week if he ever did.
He leaned closer to the window of the suite and watched as she hiked up her dress and ran out of sight to avoid a couple of waiters. The glimpse of tan leg she gifted him with ignited images of all the things he’d never get to do with her. Another man would have that privilege.
Jealousy tore at his insides. The irrational urge to beat his chest and bellow mine concerned him. Luanne wasn’t his. She barely gave him the time of day. And when they did converse, she bloodied him with her words. In spite of that, he fantasized about arguments with her that ended with the two of them sweaty and naked. It was damned inconvenient… and dangerous, considering he’d probably end up dead after such an encounter.
But what a way to go.
“Hey, man. Where’s my kid?” Gavin Bain sauntered into the room. His friend was his number one client and the hottest thing in music right now. Gavin looked every bit the badass rock star, even in a thousand dollar suit and tie.
Jack pulled the sucker from his mouth with a pop. “He’s out siphoning gas from cars in the parking lot.”
“Good. The boy needs to learn life skills.”
Gavin wasn’t fooling him for a second. He may seem casual about his toddler son, but nothing could be farther from the truth. That three-year-old and Scarlett, his wife, were Gavin Bain’s whole world. “He went down for a nap about thirty minutes ago.”
Another flash of white caught Jack’s eye as Luanne threw herself against the trunk of a huge oak tree. She quickly poked her head out and then jerked it back like a CIA operative on a recon mission.
Seriously, what was she doing?
The answer came in a brain-scorching lightning strike.
“Hot damn, she’s running,” he mumbled.
“Jack?”
“Huh? What?” He couldn’t tear his eyes from the runaway bride. Especially when she dropped to the ground and belly crawled through the flower bushes.
“I said I can stay with Aiden until the sitter gets here if you have something else to do.” Gavin’s brow wrinkled. “What’s so interesting out there?”
“Yeah. Great. Gotta go.” He grabbed his suit jacket from the back of the sofa and barreled for the door.
“Okay. Don’t let me stop you.” Gavin chuckled.
He wouldn’t.
He was on a mission
He had a bride to catch.