Free Lucky Love by Nicola Marsh Page A

his eyes crinkled with amusement.
    “And my loony aunt wants me to travel to some crazy Love town to find my dream guy unless I find him before the end of the month.”
    “Is that all?” The corners of his mouth twitched. If he laughed I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions. “Cameron’s a prick. Hand over his file to someone else so you don’t have to deal with him again.”
    He took a step closer. “The guy thing? My mum told my sis she has to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince, or some such crap.”
    Another step closer brought him within aftershave distance as a waft of something cool and crisp tickled my nose. “As for the problem with your aunt, why don’t you use a pretend boyfriend to get her off your back?”
    His calm logic riled me further.
    “Yeah? And where would I find one of those?”
    “I’ll do it.” He spoke so softly I thought I’d imagined his offer.
    “You?” I laughed, annoyed by the leap of my pulse. That’s all I needed, for my secret crush to become my fake boyfriend. “Yeah, right.”
    “You got a problem with that?” He gripped my upper arms and my heart jack-knifed.
    I’d seen Brody catatonic after Friday night drinks; I’d seen him casually teasing every Sunday. I’d never seen him look at me the way he was looking at me now.
    Like … like he wanted to kiss me.
    I placed my palms against his chest to shove him away. “Don’t mess with me. I’m not in the mood.”
    “Maybe we can change that?”
    Before I could break his hold he kissed me, his lips crushing mine with a force that snatched my breath.
    I could’ve protested. I should’ve. Instead, I moaned and leaned into him, welcoming his tongue invading my mouth, savoring the taste of espresso and mint.
    He backed me toward his desk, our bodies flush, leaving me in little doubt not everything about the arrangement he’d proposed would be fake.
    That’s when I knew I couldn’t do this.
    Brody’s hard-on gave me a hard dose of reality.
    I didn’t want to fake anything any more. I didn’t want to go on any more meaningless dates. I didn’t want to act like my job was so important I couldn’t leave. Now that I knew what I didn’t want it was time to figure out what I did.
    This wasn’t it.
    I broke the kiss and pushed Brody away.
    “You okay?” His sheepish grin begged forgiveness.
    I nodded. “You’re good at pretending.”
    “I guess.” He managed to look bashful and confused and cute as he dragged a hand through his hair. “Do I get the gig?”
    I shook my head. “Thanks, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for BatBoy and WonderGal to hook up, even for fake fun.”
    “You’d rather let your dotty aunt convince you a holiday fling is better than …”
    “Than what?”
    He shrugged. “I like you.”
    The old me would’ve jumped him.
    The new me? Not as gullible as the old me.
    “Why now? We’ve hung out together for two years and you’ve never shown any interest.”
    He grinned, the familiar cocky grin that preceded one of his zingers. “Would it be so hard to make the transition from buddies to bonking buddies?”
    Bzzz. Wrong answer.
    I should’ve known. Brody was out for one thing and it wasn’t my undying devotion.
    “We could have a lot of fun together—”
    “Thanks, but I’m done.”
    The second the words popped out of my mouth I knew it was true.
    I couldn’t do this any more.
    Couldn’t go from one bad date to another. Couldn’t keep pretending I was happy. I wasn’t and probably hadn’t been for a long time.
    I needed a change of scenery.
    “Done?” He frowned. “What does that mean?”
    Feeling lighter than I had in years, I dropped a quick kiss on his cheek.
    “It means BatBoy needs to find a new buddy because WonderGal is ready to fall in Love.”

 
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    Aunt Flo’s tips to be lucky in love.
    Welcome to Love. Population 12001 and rising (which means don’t forget to pack protection.)
     
     
    I made it home a long eight hours later,