Just In Time: An Alaskan Nights Novel Read Free Page B

on the reverend’s open Bible.
    Avery watched with rapt fascination as Walker slid the band effortlessly on Sloan’s finger and moments later when her friend returned the gesture. And when the couple kissed for the first time as husband and wife, the entire church let up a cheer.
    Walker and Sloan began their walk back down the aisle, and Mick and Grier followed. It was only when Roman took her arm once more to begin their procession through the church that a thin layer of panic seized her.
    Broad smiles greeted them as they moved down the aisle, making slow progress as many guests stopped Walker and Sloan with hugs. Hooch MacGilvray even threw her a big wink, which his wife, Chooch, responded to with an oversized elbow to the stomach.
    Roman seemed oblivious as they walked, his arm locked steadily with hers. She snuck a glance at his chiseled profile and—miracles of miracles—it looked as if he’d missed Chooch and Hooch’s antics. As if sensing her attention, he turned with a smile.
    “I haven’t felt this on display since I did a calendar shoot for charity.”
    Avery sucked in an involuntary breath. She’d seen that calendar when someone had brought a copy for Roman’s mother, Susan. She’d even given herself permission to go look at it late one night when she was manning the front desk by herself.
    Long ropes of muscles defined his arms from shoulder to wrist, and thick ridges sculpted his abdomen. He’d always been well built, but the man that stared back at her from the photograph, wearing nothing but a strategically placed towel, had taken her breath away.
    He was magnificent.
    A warrior.
    And he had been as foreign to her as if a stranger stared back from the page.
    Pulling herself back from the heated memory, Avery just shrugged as those inconvenient flutters once again filled her stomach. “Small towns.”
    A slight smile grooved his cheeks as he leaned in once more. “So why don’t we really give them something to talk about?”

Chapter Two
    R oman shifted his feet to bring Avery’s face more clearly into view.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Her hiss was low enough not to be heard by anyone else, but no one in the remaining pews between them and the door would miss the fury in her eyes.
    “If you’re so worried about what everyone thinks, let’s make it worth our while. Have a little fun.”
    “I’m not worried about what people think.”
    Fresh air greeted them as they finally made their way through the doors of the church and Avery pulled her hand from his arm.
    “Could have fooled me.”
    Avery flung a hand in the direction of the church, even as she stomped across the small front lawn to give them some privacy. “Did you not miss how we were on display in there? The oversized winks and broad grins, everyone so delighted we were walking down that aisle together?”
    Roman couldn’t resist poking at her a bit more. “Cupids in their eyes and all that shit.”
    “Exactly!”
    “Which was all I was really pointing out.” He kept his tone reasonable, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t hold back a grin.
    “You were talking about sex and that’s something else entirely.”
    “You’ve got a dirty mind.”
    “And you weren’t talking about sex, Mr. Big Shot Hockey Player?”
    “While I never turn down sex with a beautiful woman, no, that’s not what I was talking about.” He’d turned down plenty of sex, but Roman decided he didn’t quite need to share that tidbit now. Instead, he moved closer to Avery, intrigued when she held her ground. “I was actually talking about a little slow dancing. A few whispers in dark corners. Maybe even a well-placed kiss or two. You know, all the things people expect from the single members of the wedding party.”
    “This dress is not a neon sign for sex, despite what conventional wisdom—and
Cosmopolitan
magazine—suggests.”
    “And there you go, right back into the gutter again.”
    As if suddenly realizing how close they