Free Bury the Hatchet by Catherine Gayle Page B

glove. I couldn’t afford to gain so much as a pound or it would show, and Lance always said that anything with sugar or fat in it would go straight to my hips and make everything look awful. That was why he was constantly putting me on those crazy fad diets, keeping me from…
    Keeping me from living life like a normal person. That was the crux of it. That was the heart of the matter, when I got right down to it.
    I dug my spoon into the spread and came up with it heaping. Then I put it in my mouth. It tasted like heaven, only too sinful to possibly be heaven. It was perfect. I closed my eyes, savoring every bit of it as it melted over my tongue. I might have even let out a humming sound of pure joy.
    “Good?” Hunter asked.
    When I looked up at him, it was to find his silver-green eyes smiling back at me even though his lips weren’t. I took the spoon out and licked my lips. “Better than good.”
    “You’ve got—” He reached out a hand toward my lips, but instead of brushing away the drop of Nutella with his finger, he dipped down his head and licked.
    My breath caught in my throat as he backed away.
    His eyes weren’t smiling anymore. They were dark and intense, sharp enough to pierce my lungs. “I guess we should be getting back, then.”

 

     
     

    OTHER THAN JOHN and Darren having to physically restrain me from throat-punching Lance because the asshole was so intent on making sure Tallie’s hair and makeup were perfect that the whole damned thing started late—the wedding wasn’t until the next day, for fuck’s sake, so who cared what she looked like right now?—the rehearsal dinner went off without a hitch.
    Mom had informed me when she and Dad arrived that Carrie would be coming for the wedding but that she wouldn’t catch a flight until the next morning. In other words, I’d see her at the wedding but not before. No time to figure out where she stood on things beyond the brief phone call we’d had earlier in the week. It was probably for the best, all things considered, but it definitely left me on edge.
    But now, the rehearsal was over, dinner was finished, and everyone was starting to trickle off to their homes or hotels for the evening. Instead of having a bachelor party, I was going to spend my time with John, Darren, and my parents. It would be a good opportunity for Tallie to do the same, particularly since we were going on a honeymoon of sorts in Hawaii almost as soon as the wedding was over. It might be the only chance she would have to spend any quality time with my family since they’d be heading back to Prince George after the ceremony was over, and they might not be able to come down for a visit during the season.
    I supposed Tallie didn’t really need to get to know them, especially since this was all a farce and it’d be over almost before it began, but there was still a part of me that wanted her to spend some time in their company. Maybe I just wanted her to see what a real family ought to be like, to give her more incentive to get out from the clutches that her mother and Lance had over her once it was all said and done. My family wasn’t perfect—one look at Kade and all the shit he’d been into since his late teens was more than enough for anyone to realize that—but if you ignored him, like I tended to do, we were no different from the average Canadian family. Well, apart from the fact that I was in the NHL, at least. There might be a lot of Canadians in the league, but that didn’t mean that most Canadian families could claim that.
    The thing was, I was positive that Tallie’s family was anything but normal. I’d spent more than enough time with them this week to have removed any doubts I might have held on that score. Her father might be all right, but her mother? Not even close. Not only that, but joining me and my family would get her away from Lance for a few hours. That, in and of itself, was more than reason enough for me to want her to join us, so I drew