Dirty Rotten Tendrils Read Free Page A

world that we were engaged.
    Just not yet. Not until I’d righted a wrong that I’d set in motion. The tricky part would be trying to avoid calling attention to that little factoid. I’d alienated a future mother-in-law once. I didn’t want a rerun.
    I wrapped my arms around Marco’s ribs, pressed my ear against his solid chest, and hugged him hard. “I love you, Marco, and I can’t wait to put that ring on my finger. It’s just that considering what else is going on, I think we should keep our engagement a secret a while longer.”
    “The what else being Rafe’s ad hoc wedding plans?”
    “What else?”
    “I don’t get it. Why should we let his foolishness affect our plans?”
    “You know what a stir your brother’s surprise announcement caused. Your mom didn’t come right out and say so, but I could tell by the shocked look on her face that she believes Rafe is making a huge mistake in marrying Cinnamon and she would love nothing better than to talk him out of it. Not that I blame her.
    “I mean, how could Rafe possibly know Cinnamon is the right person for him? How insane is it to meet a waitress during his first week as a bartender at Hooters, and date her twice before asking her to marry him? Rafe even admitted he knows little about Cinnamon’s background. I’m sure he knows even less about her as a person, except what he sees on her exterior. So what can he possibly be thinking?”
    “Probably about what he sees on her exterior.” Marco sipped his coffee.
    No doubt he was right. Cinnamon was one sultry babe—and by babe , I meant not yet of legal age—and Rafe was a virile twenty-one-year-old guy whose maturity level hovered somewhere in the vicinity of a fourteen-year-old’s.
    I hugged Marco again. “Thank goodness you’re not like Rafe. You see what’s below the surface, not just what’s on top.”
    Marco’s eyes darkened the way they always did when he had romance in mind. “What do you say we go back to my office and explore that concept?”
    I ran my hands up the front of his shirt. “I like the way you think, Salvare.”
    His mouth curved up devilishly. And then suddenly he was ushering me through the bar toward his office in the back. “We’ve got thirty minutes until my staff starts arriving.”
    “So you agree that we should postpone our announcement?”
    “Mmm.”
    Translation: My brain has shut down. Check back in thirty minutes.
    I came to a stop. Not that I wanted to spoil the mood, but it was important that we were on the same page before he picked up that engagement ring. “Was that a yes?”
    “To what?”
    “To what ?”
    He rolled his eyes as I perched on the last barstool and prepared to explain. “Here’s the situation. Your mom has a lot on her plate right now. Not only is she having to deal with Rafe’s hasty decision, but she’s been uprooted from her home in Ohio and is living at your sister’s house to help care for your nephew as Gina prepares for the birth of her second child. The last thing your mom needs is for us to toss our engagement onto the pile.”
    “Sunshine, the thing my mom wants most in the world is for me to get married. I don’t think she’d mind us tossing that onto the pile. I think she’d carry it to the top.” He glanced at his watch. “Twenty-five minutes.”
    Rats. He still wasn’t seeing the light.
    “So you believe it would be wrong for us to keep our news a secret because of how much joy it would bring your mom?”
    “Yes. Let’s go.”
    “I suppose you’re right. Imagine the pleasure she—and my mom, too—will derive from planning the wedding, making up their guest lists, and selecting the reception hall, menu, and caterer, not to mention throwing the rehearsal dinner and all those bridal showers. Because you realize there is no way on earth they will turn over those duties to us. Once the two of them learn we’re officially engaged and they put their heads together, we’ll be lucky to choose the