How to Lose a Groom in 10 Days Read Free Page B

with a perfect “last date” planned—maybe take photos in the wedding finery and ride around town with cans tied to his bumper. She sure hadn’t expected they’d really be married.
    Now, she disassembled her wedding hairstyle, pulling out pins from the “Perfect Updo” she’d copied from a magazine. It hadn’t come out the same since her dark hair only reached her chin, but it had been fun to try.
    Too bad she was done playing dress-up. In all aspects of her life.
    Damn her eyes stung.
    Knock, knock .
    The rap on her window scared a scream out of her. Wrenching her burning eyes open, she saw … Grady?
    His poster perfect face stared back at her through the windshield.
    Her heart still racing from the scare, she couldn’t process what she saw. But it was him—her too-handsome-for-his-own-good superstar ballplayer in a tuxedo custom-tailored to his absurdly athletic body. His dark hair was freshly cut, a fact she hadn’t noticed during their wedding ceremony. He must have gone to the barber yesterday. The cleft in his chin seemed deeper, his jaw set. His pickup truck was parked in front of her Honda, blocking her exit from the rest stop.
    Oh God .
    It was one thing to ignore his calls and texts. Grady Hollis was not the kind of man she could ignore in person. Just looking at him—even through eyes that pricked with tears of pain—made her chest hurt with wanting him.
    Swallowing hard, she blinked fast to try and clear her vision as she rolled down the window. A cool afternoon breeze blew in along with the scent of a nearby mimosa tree.
    “How did you find me?” Her voice cracked, her throat a little hoarse from the crying she’d done on the turnpike.
    He flipped the screen of his phone toward her so she could see it. A red dot blinked on a map.
    “I put the Family Finder app on your phone that night when you took mine to change my ringtone, remember? I figured the next time you got lost or needed directions, I’d be able to help you out.” He shoved the phone in his pocket.
    “Instead it led you right to me.” Not everyone was as directionally challenged as her. She’d lived in and around Kissimmee and Orlando all her life and she still got lost more than Grady.
    “Funny thing that. I wanted to be with my wife on our wedding day.” He reached through the window to brush a finger along her cheek. Tilt her chin up. “What happened to your eyes?”
    His touch made her heart skip a beat. Same as always.
    But dang inconvenient when she needed to prove to him that marriage was a mistake.
    “I used an alcohol wipe too close to my eyes.” The sting had eased but she could only imagine what a bloodshot mess she had going on. She took hold of his hand to move it carefully aside, resisting the urge to curl her fingers around his and link them. “Grady, I ran from the wedding for a reason—”
    “Can we talk about this in the car?” He looked over his shoulder toward a couple stumbling through the woods as they tried to hold on to the leashes of matching St. Bernards. “I’d rather not advertise our discussion.”
    Right. Him being famous and all that. She’d been with him more than once when a seemingly lone fan suddenly multiplied into fifty people waving ball caps, cocktail napkins and occasional exposed body parts in his face.
    “I guess,” she said begrudgingly, “but it’s important you understand that I only want to—”
    She gave up her speech since he’d already jogged around to the passenger side. She reached over to pull up the lock hoping it wasn’t a mistake to let him in. But she needed to explain to him why they were all wrong for each other. Why they shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place. And perhaps that was something a woman shouldn’t do via text.
    “Thanks.” Angling his broad shoulders inside, he lowered his unfairly scrumptious body into the seat beside her, shoving aside the peonies so they didn’t get crushed. He peered over the head rest at her clothes,