Free The Sometime Bride by Ginny Baird Page A

skills weren’t so hot either. All the whites always seemed to come out a weird shade of neon pink. Even after all this time, Carrie couldn’t figure out which of her red sweater tops had been doing all that running.
    The driver’s door popped open, startling Carrie from her reverie.
    “Miss me?” Mike asked with an earnest grin.
    “Absolutely,” Carrie said, hoping her face didn’t look nearly as hot as it felt. “What you got there in the bag?”
    “Uh, uh,” Mike said, scrunching the paper roll at the top of the bad a bit tighter and slipping it into the back seat. “It’s a surprise.”
    The only problem was, Mike still hadn’t settled on the perfect place to share it. Not at his place, for sure. His apartment was a pig sty. Not that it was usually that bad... Mike slumped back against his bucket seat at the half inner truth. The fact was, compared to its usual state, his apartment looked good. Which wasn’t saying a whole heck of a lot.
    Mike could tell from meeting her family and seeing the tidy home she’d grown up that, though she hadn’t been raised rich, she’d definitely inherited class and style. A style that would be severely undone by the sight of his dirty boxers strewn all across the backs of his chairs. And those beers cans... Mike scratched the back of his head trying to remember if he’d put that last batch of trash out to recycle. Better not to chance it, he decided, heading the car west of the city.
    “Where to?” Carrie asked, a fine sweep of color caressing her cheeks, but only half as tenderly as Mike wanted to at this moment.
    “Someplace special,” he said, lowering his window just a crack to let in a refreshing breath of cool evening air.
    But, deep inside, Carrie knew that it scarcely mattered. Someplace special seemed to be right here with him.

     

     
    ****

 

     

     
    Chapter Nine

     
    Mike hoisted Carrie down from the top of the split rail fence and led her into the vineyard.
    “Well, what do you think?” he asked, clutching his mystery paper bag to his chest.
    Carrie inhaled deeply, absorbing the scent of summer hills and lilac. For acres before them, rows upon rows of trellised vines bloomed in lush cornucopias splendor, their endless trail spilling toward the tumbling Blue Ridge. Mountain upon haze-tipped mountain fell backwards in smoky array, blending infinitely with the settling twilight.
    “It’s gorgeous, just gorgeous,” Carrie said, talking not only of the scenery around them. For in this afternoon alone, she’d seen something altogether different in Mike. Not the tempting bachelor, nor the friend with a penchant for making her smile. But a regular family man. Carrie was certain now he hadn’t been fabricating his desires for that white picket fence. Mike was good in a crowd, great with people -- young and old alike. And playful to boot. Carrie was sure he’d make an excellent father.
    “Care to sit?”
    Carrie looked down, realizing Mike had removed his jacket and laid it as a cushion on the ground for her to protect her clothing.
    “You know,” she said, taking a seat and arranging her dress on the jacket to defend it from the spreading clay-dotted grass around them. “Alexia was really a very stupid woman.”
    Mike grinned in surprise and scooted in beside her on the splotchy earth. “Kind of you to say so.”
    “I mean it,” Carrie assured him. “But she was smart in one regard.”
    Mike raised his brow in expectation.
    “Picking you out in the first place.”
    Mike sputtered a laugh. “Alexia always was a good shopper.”
    Carrie tried to keep her eyes focused ahead of her, but it was impossible not to be drawn to the man beside her. Never in her life -- nowhere in the world -- had Carrie St. John come across the likes of Mike Davis. He was handsome and charming, absolutely. But much more importantly, he was genuine.
    “You know the thing about Alexia --”
    Carrie reached out and latched onto his rugged chin. “Mike.”
    He stopped