Strong (Kindred #1) Read Free Page B

most beautiful girl in the world?” I ask my brother as we do the man hug thing.
    “He has serious skills with his tongue,” Josie whispers. “And he’s hung like a horse!”
    “Gross. Way too much information.” I shudder.
    “Go and sit down so we can get this started.” Jack pushes me in the direction of my table and I laugh.
    As I get closer to my table, I notice Carmen is already sitting down and the one lonely seat, right next to her, is mine. I make a mental note to thank Jack and Josie later as I place my glass on the table and pull out my chair. She looks up and smiles at me and I feel something close to dizziness, being on the receiving end of her smile is something to behold.
    “Fancy seeing you here.” she grins at me as I sit down.
    “I know, small world.” I grin back.
    “Isn’t is always awkward going to a wedding as a single person, surrounded by happy couples and then it gets to the dinner and it’s blatantly obvious you’re on your own. Want to pretend we’re together so we don’t look like sad muppets?” she asks, her mouth twitching in amusement.
    “I think I can manage that,” I smile, letting my gaze linger a little too long on the curve of her cleavage that is in direct line of my vision. “It will mean I’ll insist on dancing with you later though.”
    “I already promised you a dance.”
    “I might need more than one and one of them might be a slow one.”
    “Deal.”
    She holds out her hand and we shake, a feeling like an electric current travels up my arm and through my entire body at the feel of her skin on mine. We all stand as Jack and Josie make their entrance and take their seats at the top table and everyone else slowly sits down too. I go to pour Carmen a glass of wine, she leans into me and whispers in my ear.
    “No thank you, I’m not drinking.”
    “You’re not drinking?” I ask a little surprised.
    “No, I’ll just have some water.”
    Talk soon turns to work and where we live, Carmen tells me she’s living in a smaller house than they originally rented when they went to Australia.
    “It was way too big and not to mention expensive after Megan and Josie left, so I found a cute little one bedroom apartment to rent. It’s right on the beach and there are lots of places to eat and drink all within walking distance, I only need a little space so it seemed silly to rent anything bigger. What about you? Do you live at home?”
    “No, I have a place not far from Mom and Dad. I guess working with Dad paid off, I was able to buy somewhere that needed work doing and do it myself, really make my mark on it you know?”
    “So can you do all kinds of decorating? Or is it building that’s your speciality?”
    “I’m more into the decorating, you know, plastering and stuff, but I help on the big sites and can do a little bit of most things. I’ve been overseeing building work back home for a while.”
    “Impressive.” she grins.
    “And you’re a dancer?”
    “Yeah, I’ve just finished a run on stage, I’m not working at the moment,” a look passes over her face but it’s gone too quick for me to be able to work out what it is. “So, you’re staying for a month Josie tells me.”
    “That’s the plan, but I’d like to stay longer and explore a little more, it seems England has more to offer than I first thought.”
    If she understands the meaning behind my words, she doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even react. The food arrives then and we make small talk between mouthfuls. We chat to everyone else on the table even though they hold little interest to me, all I want to know about is Carmen, I want to know what she likes, what she doesn’t, I want to know what music she’s into and what her favourite film is, and most importantly I want to know if she’s seeing anyone.

 
    T wo hours.
    I’ve been sitting next to him for two hours and for those two hours, I’ve had this butterfly feeling in my stomach, not just one butterfly, but a whole load of