What I Love About You Read Free Page A

his sixty-second day of sobriety. The kind who wanted to pour some Johnnie down his throat, say fuck it, and dive face-first into soft cleavage. “What kind of mother lets her child roam around unsupervised?”
    She gasped. “She was supervised.”
    “Uh-huh.” He’d made her mad. Good. Now maybe she’d leave. Leave him to his fight with Johnnie and himself.
    “Charlotte knows better than to leave our yard.”
    He pointed out the obvious. “This isn’t your yard.”
    “She’s never run off before.”
    He couldn’t see her eyes, but he could feel her angry gaze. All hot and fiery. He liked hot and fiery. He liked it riding him like a banshee. Wild, screaming his name, and . . . Christ. His lust for Johnnie and this nameless woman made him dizzy. “Only takes once for her to get hit by a truck,” he heard himself say between clenched teeth. “I had a dog that only got out once. Bucky ended up as axle grease for a Chevy Silverado.” He shook his head. God, he’d loved that poodle. “He’d been a damn good dog, too.”
    Her pink mouth opened and closed like she was speechless. Then she waved a hand at the bottle of Johnnie and obviously found her voice. “Are you drunk?”
    “No. Haven’t had a drop.” He wished he could blame his erection on Johnnie.
    “Then you don’t have an excuse. You’re just a . . . a . . .” She paused to cover the girl’s ears with her palms. “A raging asshole.”
    She’d get no argument from him.
    “I heard that,” the kid said into her mother’s stomach.
    “Come on, Charlotte.” She grabbed the kid’s hand and stormed off. He could practically see the steam shooting out of her ears.
    So much for being the charming twin.
    He shrugged, and his gaze fell to her nice butt.
    Fuck it. Charming was for nice guys, and he hadn’t felt nice for a very long time.

 
    Chapter Two
    Natalie Cooper had been raised to believe that a woman was more than a pretty face. More than good hair and a flair for picking out shoes. Her mother and grandmother had preached the need for a good head beneath that hair and the importance of having her feet planted in reality. Above all, the two divorced women had pounded the pulpit about the importance of a woman having her own money. Too make it and stash it for when that no-good bastard of a husband ran off with a younger version.
    Too bad Natalie hadn’t listened. She’d loved glitter crowns and pink boas. Her hair rolled on big curlers for bounce and body, and her feet in high heels or jeweled sandals. She’d loved everything girly, but most of all, she’d loved Michael Cooper.
    He and his family had moved to Truly when he’d been in the sixth grade, and he’d sat at the desk in front of her. She’d loved the cut of his dark hair across the back of his neck and his shoulders in his plaid shirts. He was the cutest boy she’d ever seen, and his dark brown eyes had melted her young heart.
    If he noticed, he never let on until the tenth grade when he finally asked her out. He’d taken her to see Titanic , and she’d paid more attention to his arm next to hers than to the sinking ship. They spent the next day together and most every day after. He’d been the quarterback of the football team and she the head cheerleader. They’d been on the student council, heads of the debate team, and members of every royal court from tenth to twelfth grade. The coup de grâce came the winter of their senior year when they’d been chosen king and queen of the Truly Winter Festival.
    The festival drew tourists from as far as five states away and was famous for such contests as tube racing, snowmobile jumping, ice sculpting, and the Truly Bachelor Auction.
    Every year, a parade down Main Street kicked off the festival, and Natalie and Michael had sat atop their snowy thrones, waving to the crowd. She’d worn a white fur cape over a royal-blue velvet gown that perfectly matched her eyes. A big rhinestone crown sat within a mass of blond curls on