Free Unravel Me by Christie Ridgway Page A

blond good looks the guy wore a grin that declared all was right with his world.
    He stopped short when he caught sight of Juliet. His low whistle pierced the air. “I’d recognize those eyes anywhere.”
    “Well.” Made nervous by his intense regard, Juliet rubbed her palms along the skirt of her new, knee-length dress. It was a silky, paisley mix of turquoise, pink, and black, with three-quarter sleeves, a V-neck, and a sash that tied around the empire waistline. Was it too matronly? Too young?
    “Come on in.” From behind her, Noah’s deep voice gave the welcome she’d been too preoccupied to utter. His hand landed on her shoulder and gave it a supportive squeeze.
    It helped her find her voice. “Yes. Welcome,” Juliet said, stepping aside to let the man—still carrying his fiancée—inside. “Did something happen, Nikki? Are you hurt?”
    The woman kicked her legs, bared by a little skirt and ending in a pair of strappy sandals. “Jay likes me in high heels, but he doesn’t like me walking in them because I had recent knee surgery. So we’ve negotiated. I wear, he walks.”
    He set her gently on her feet. “Oh, yeah, right, as if you don’t like your girly shoes just for yourself.”
    “I like my girly shoes because of what you’ll do to get me in them—and then back out again,” she retorted, but the hand that moved up to adjust the collar of his shirt was gentle. She patted his cheek with her palm. “Jay Buchanan, meet my sister, Juliet Weston.”
    Her sister. She was Nikki’s sister.
    Biologically, yes, they were connected. But she was still cautious about extending that into a relationship. Though what if it could fill these empty, lonely places she’d woken up to find were in her life?
    The arrival of an arguing Gabe and Cassandra distracted her from her thoughts. “If you weren’t such a flake, you wouldn’t have forgotten to feed those wild cats of yours before we left,” the dark-haired man said, shaking his head. “Then we wouldn’t have had to backtrack, which caused us to be late.”
    “The cats aren’t wild,” Cassandra replied. Looking like an earth goddess in a leaf green, off-the-shoulder sweater she’d surely knitted herself, she smiled a greeting at the other two couples.
    Gabe barely appeared to register her protest. “And why I had to be the one to pour the food into their bowls and then endure their annoying ankle-winding—”
    “Because they miss you, Gabe. They like your attention and you haven’t been by in a couple days.”
    He narrowed his dark eyes at her. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, Froot Loop.”
    “And yet you let me do it anyway,” she said softly. Then she took him by the shoulders and turned him to face the rest of the party. “Meet the nice people, Gabe. You forgot to say hello when they came into the shop the other day. This is Noah Smith. And this, this is the last of the three sisters. Juliet Weston.”
    After shaking Noah’s hand, he turned to Juliet. When he smiled, he went from good-looking to good-God good-looking. “Three witches, you mean,” he corrected, taking her hand in his. “Because it must be some spell that allows all three of you to be so alike . . . and so damn attractive.”
    Cassandra’s eyebrows headed for her hairline. “Gabe? Compliments? And smoothly done at that. I’m shocked.”
    Me, too, Juliet thought. So alike? Yes, she and Nikki had the same dual eye color, but did she and her—okay, use the word—sisters, really have anything more in common?
    Again, it was Noah who stepped in to move the evening along. He put his hand on her forearm and drew her away from Gabe. “Drinks, everyone? What can I get for people?”
    With Juliet’s silent thanks, he continued in that vein, taking on the role of host. Before long he’d provided the beverages and helped her retrieve the hors d’oeuvres. The group gathered near the pool, settling at a table set beneath a radiating patio heater where they