Touch of Love Read Free Page A

walkers. She didn’t need to worry anymore. Plus, they had made some kind of connection, however fleeting and shallow it might have been.
    ‘I’ll walk you to the gate .’ It wasn’t so much an offer as a statement. They walked on together, the glorious morning sunshine pouring down on them from a perfectly blue, cloudless sky. Another gorgeous day, she thought bitterly, trying to figure out where to go once they reached the gate. Sitting in the restaurant for a whole hour was out of the question. She could always change her plans and visit her parents, but she could only imagine her mother’s shock if she admitted that she’d had a fight with Brad. In her mom’s eyes, her Brad could do no wrong, and Elly didn’t want to share his threesome idea with her mother.
    ‘ Aren’t you going to ask me why I popped out from behind the tree?’ Adam was watching her, a mix of curiosity and disbelief darkening his eyes even more. ‘I mean, that’s not your everyday experience, is it?’
    ‘I guess ed you must have your reasons.’ She was curious, but nosing into someone else’s life wasn’t her style. And she wasn’t about to change that, no matter how tempting it seemed.
    ‘ Last night was my wedding rehearsal.’ His words made her slow down, and she looked up at his face, where she saw nothing but a perfectly smooth façade with just as much life as one of the statues placed strategically around the park.
    ‘I gather it didn’t go well?’ She felt embarrassed by her sarcasm, but she couldn’t hide it. At that moment, any talk about weddings, engagements, and such didn’t feature on her list of favorite topics.
    ‘ That’s the understatement of the century.’ He kicked a pebble, making her notice his handmade Italian shoes. The dark leather was dusty and tired looking. ‘To make a long story short, my fiancée decided to break it off, right in front of everyone. She’s always had a flair for the dramatic, but I never imagined it would involve humiliating me, as well.’
    ‘Why did she do it?’ Since he was asking her personal questions, she felt entitled to do the same. And in a sick way, she thought hearing about someone else’s problems would make her feel a bit better about her own.
    ‘The usual. “It’s not you, it’s me” kind of stuff.’ He smiled bitterly, betraying his agitation with the tiny gesture. Though he acted indifferent, Elly could tell he was hurting. And she felt ashamed of her curiosity.
    ‘Basically , she slept with my best friend—our best man.’ He laughed shortly. ‘And she discovered she loved him. I mean, she did love him once before, when we were still in high school. So in a way, she’d just got back to the starting point.’
    The park gate loomed ahead of them, where two stone lions watched them with stoic expressions. There were more people here, and she studied the moms with strollers and a group of sporty-looking middle-aged women following someone who appeared to be a yoga instructor.
    ‘So I left with a bunch of my friends, got drunk , and lost my wallet. You know the rest.’ He grinned down at her.
    If this is how he looks hung-over, he’s a lucky man . Except for his crumpled clothes, he looked as if he’d just stepped from the glossy pages of a magazine. The slightly rugged look only added to his sex appeal. Not that she cared, of course.
    ‘Well, I hope you’ll find your wallet,’ she said, aware of how lame it sounded. But saying something sympathetic was awkward, and she hated sounding superficial. ‘As for the rest, you never know, things might turn out okay.’
    She noticed a car pulling over to the curb, just a few meters from the gate. A flashy red convertible with white leather seats.
    ‘Adam?’ The driver leaned over, his freckled face concerned. ‘Hey, man, are you okay?’
    ‘ Yep.’ Adam still watched her, his pensive look making her uncomfortable. He looked… reluctant to go, even as crazy as it sounded. ‘Coming, Brian.’
    ‘