a common curse in my profession,” she conceded. “But I try never to be predictable.”
“So far you’re doing a good job,” he said. In fact, she was so unpredictable he wasn’t quite sure what to make of her, and that really, really worried him.
A few minutes later, he pulled up in front of the new art studio being run by her sister Gabriella. He’d been to the opening a couple of months back, mostly as a favor to Boone. His knowledge of art was limited to recognizing a van Gogh when he saw one...as long as it was a painting of sunflowers. Beyond that he’d been hopeless in art appreciation classes.
“You’re having your dress fitting here?” he asked, puzzled by the choice.
“Gabi can’t get away. Emily’s freaking out that we’re running out of time. Since everyone’s goal these days is to calm the bride’s jittery nerves, we do whatever she asks.” She grinned at him. “You might want to keep that in mind. I’m pretty sure Boone is living by the same rules. He could probably use a whole lot of moral support from his best man.”
“Not a doubt in my mind about that, and I plan to do my best,” Ethan said, then grinned. “I’m under strict orders from Cora Jane.”
Samantha laughed. “Yes, she can strike terror into the hearts of most people I know, but she is amazing.”
“No argument from me about that.”
She studied him for a minute. “I know you’re older than me, and that also makes you older than Boone. How’d the two of you wind up as such good friends?” Her gaze narrowed. “Or are you? Please, God, tell me that Emily didn’t pressure Boone into asking you to be his best man just because of me, did she?”
Ethan laughed. “I have no idea when the diabolical plotting started, Samantha, but Boone and I have been friends for years. Our families were close. The age difference never seemed to matter much. We bonded over sports. We’ve been there for each other through some tough times.”
“When Boone lost his wife,” Samantha guessed.
Ethan gave her a long look. “And when he lost Emily before that. I was mostly away back then in med school, but I was around enough to know she broke his heart. I hope she’s not going to do it again.”
“Not a chance,” Samantha said, not even trying to deny that her sister had made a terrible mistake years before by choosing her career over Boone. “She knows how lucky she is that they have this second chance.”
“Second chances are hard to come by,” Ethan said.
“Voice of experience?” she asked him.
“You could say that.”
She looked as if she wanted to probe a little more deeply, but Ethan forestalled her questions by asking, “You’ll have a way to get back home from here?”
Though she was clearly disconcerted by the change of topic, she merely nodded. “Sure. Emily, if I’m still speaking to her after this morning’s turn of events. If not, I’m sure Grandmother will take pity on me and let me use her car.”
“If that doesn’t work out, give me a call. I have a light morning at the clinic, unless some big emergency crops up. I can always run you back home.” Even as the offer came out of his mouth, he was mentally kicking himself for making it. Spending any more time with this woman than absolutely necessary was probably emotional suicide.
She grinned at him. “You almost made that sound like a sincere offer,” she said.
“It was,” he insisted.
She shook her head. “Something tells me we shouldn’t be giving them any encouragement. I’ve seen how my family works, Ethan. One tiny little hint that their meddling is working and they won’t let up. Do you really want the aggravation?”
“No, I suppose not,” he said, surprised to find that a part of him was actually disappointed at the prospect of running across her only when their wedding duties required it.
“Okay, then,” she said breezily. “Thanks for the lift. See you around, I’m sure.”
“See you,” he mumbled, and watched her go. He told himself his inability to tear his gaze away was purely masculine appreciation of a gorgeous woman, but the truth was, there was also just the tiniest twinge of regret.
* * *
Unfortunately the clinic was even quieter than Ethan had predicted, which made his determination to keep his mind off Samantha Castle much harder to achieve. If he closed his eyes for so much as a second, he could see that old football jersey of his riding up her bare backside as she stretched on tiptoe to reach into a kitchen cupboard. The fact that the image had stuck with him was troubling. Then, again, it had been a while since he’d seen a sight that provocative.
He grabbed the running clothes he kept at the clinic, changed into them in the bathroom, then stopped to let his partner, Greg Knotts, know that he was taking a break. The other Afghanistan vet gave him a knowing look.
“Something on your mind?”
“More like someone,” Ethan told him.
“A woman?”
Ethan nodded.
Greg’s expression lit up. “Well, hallelujah! It’s about time you moved on. It was a crying shame you let an idiot like Lisa keep you from having an active social life.”
Ethan grinned. Greg, along with Boone and his other friends, had been fiercely united in their dislike of his former fiancée. Unlike some of them, Greg had never been shy about expressing his opinion. That straightforward talk, while annoying at times, was one of the reasons they got along so well. Ethan knew he could trust Greg to have his back. Boone was the only other friend about whom he felt the same way.
“Lisa is old news,” he told Greg. “I try not to think about her.”
“But the woman’s still in your head,” Greg said. “I’ve seen you show a spark of interest in someone new a time or two, and then in a flash I can almost see the wheels in your head turning and that tape of her dumping you playing again. I think that’s what I hate her for the most, not that she left, but that she ripped your soul to shreds in the process.”
It was true, Ethan thought, but refused to admit. The fact that he let a woman like Lisa control his life, even a little, was crazy. Rationally, he knew that. That didn’t make it any easier to burn that stupid mental tape Greg was talking about.
“No more,” he insisted, more wistful than convinced that it was true.
“I hope so,” Greg said. “So, who is she? The woman who’s got you in a dither this morning?”
Ethan knew he wasn’t going to get out of the clinic without filling Greg in. Unlike Ethan, Greg was a happily married father of three, who yearned to live vicariously through someone else’s exciting social life. He’d pester Ethan until he spilled details.
“A woman named Samantha Castle,” he told him.
Greg whistled.
Ethan
