Free Bad Taste in Men (Clover Park, Book 3) Contemporary Romance (The Clover Park Series) by Kylie Gilmore Page A

prayer while holding a full glass of wine. Next her dad removed the cover from the challah—two sweet braided loaves of bread—lifted the bread and said a blessing before passing it around for everyone to tear a piece off. Rachel loved challah bread.
    They sat down for the meal. Her parents sat on opposite ends of the table, at the head and foot, while everyone else filled in between. The scary thing was, even when no one was here to join them for a meal, her parents still sat at opposite ends of the kitchen table. Her dad ate while reading the newspaper in front of his face. Her mom stared at the newspaper from afar, perpetually angry over the noncommunication but refusing to break the silence. It was downright creepy. Would it kill them to talk about it rather than live in tense silence day after day?
    Rachel didn’t envy Sarah and Mark’s marriage either. Oh, they got along okay, but Mark was always working, and Sarah spent her days and nights elbow deep in diapers, runny noses, and noise. Her sister had been on the corporate fast-track before kids. It wasn’t that Rachel didn’t like kids, she was crazy about her nieces and nephews, but she certainly didn’t want to feel like a single mother doing all the hard work by herself. Sarah didn’t seem to mind having a workaholic husband, but Rachel steered clear of that type.
    She wanted someone who was dashing, brooding, arrogant, with barely suppressed passion just waiting for the perfect woman to bring him to heel with her love.
    She wanted Mr. Darcy.
    She sighed. There were so few of those to go around. Pride and Prejudice was her go-to comfort read, and she fell in love with Mr. Darcy all over again every time she read it.
    The meal passed pleasantly. The kids took off to watch TV in the pajamas Sarah had brought along while the adults lingered over wine. The wine made her think of Shane and Janelle. Right about now they’d be meeting for drinks at Garner’s. Janelle had told her earlier today. Would they get a little tipsy and move things over to Shane’s place just down the block? Rachel suddenly felt sick and set her wine down.
    Shane was free to see whoever he wanted. In fact, the sooner he was part of a couple, the better for their business.
    The dinner conversation turned to the stock market, but all Rachel could think about was Janelle and her so-called seduction spell. What the hell did she do anyway? Rachel had never set out to seduce. Things just sort of went that way naturally after dating for a while. She’d never cast a spell. Was Shane vulnerable to that? Would he put out on the first date?
    Rachel pushed up from the table. “I’ll get dessert.”
    “Thanks, honey,” her mom said. “I’ll help.”
    “Me too,” Sarah said.
    They made short work of clearing the table. Rachel opened the pie box and sliced the pie. Sarah got out some dessert plates.
    “So you and Shane in business together, huh?” her mom said.
    “Dad told you?” Rachel was shocked. Her parents hardly ever talked. She always had to tell them news twice, once for her dad’s benefit and once for her mom’s.
    “I overheard,” her mom said. “He’s a very nice young man.” She smiled her mysterious I’ve-got-some-ideas-about-that smile.
    “Oooh!” Sarah sang. “I sense some matchmaking.”
    Her mom turned. “It worked for you, didn’t it?”
    Sarah grinned and kissed her mom on the cheek. “It sure did.”
    Mark was the nice Jewish boy, the son of her parents’ friends from college, that her mom had set her up with. Sarah, being a pragmatic woman, had decided at twenty-seven that it was time she married and had kids. They met, got along, and married one year later. Sarah had been popping out kids ever since. Rachel didn’t need that kind of help.
    “Shane is very nice,” Rachel said calmly. “So am I. That’s why we’ll be good business partners.”
    “Maybe business plus something else,” her mom suggested.
    “Business plus,” Sarah chimed in. “I