Free Lost in You: Petal, Georgia, Book 2 by Lauren Dane Page B

fascinating. You’re going to get a line on your forehead though, so stop. He’s too tall for my taste. But he’s got a great ass.”
    “He’s the kind of kisser that makes a woman weak in the knees. Takes his time.” She shivered as she watched him with her brothers and the Chase boys.
    “Man takes his time with your mouth, he’s good with other parts.” Tate looked wistfully over in her husband’s direction.
    “You all should remember I am single at the moment. I’m not getting any and all this talk is making me antsy.” Anne sighed.
    “Then why do you keep turning Royal down when he asks you to marry him?” Maggie Chase asked.
    But Beth knew the answer. Anne had grown up smacked in the face with the worst marriage ever. Their parents were miserable people on their own. Together they’d been a train wreck of epic proportions. Anne didn’t believe any marriage could work. And Beth also knew despite how beautiful, smart and talented her sister was, she didn’t believe she was worthy of her happily ever after.
    So she held men back. Royal was the one who kept at it. But he was close to giving up and that made Beth sad. He was a good man who loved her sister. But the scars your life gives you sometimes run so deep you can’t ever heal over.
    In the end, she just wasn’t sure Royal had whatever it took to get past Anne’s defenses. Or if anyone did.
    Anne sighed. “I don’t want to get married. If he’d just date me, we’d be fine. But he insists on marriage and I keep telling him I’m not interested.”
    Beth neatly stepped in and changed the subject. “So, Tate, what do you think? Boy or girl this time?”
     
    The sisters looked over, laughing and whispering. Matt Chase raised a brow and looked to Joe. “They’re talking about you.”
    Joe felt the heat of a blush. “What makes you say that?”
    “He’s not a moron.” William sat back and sipped his soda.
    “Don’t look so panicked. They do it about us all.” Matt tipped his glass. “Thank God for it. Look at ’em.”
    The group took the women in. Marc Chase, Matt’s little brother, laughed. “Damn, such a pretty bunch of females. Each is wily though, Joe. That’s the thing. Beauty, no doubt. But they’re all smart and independent.”
    “They work in a pack.” That was Shane, the sheriff and oldest Chase brother.
    That made Joe laugh. “A pack?”
    “Wolves are really smart. And vicious as hell if you mess with them and theirs.”
    “I like Beth. Beth likes me. That’s really it.” He shrugged. “I’ve known you Murphys for my entire life. She’s a friend first and foremost.”
    It was Marc who seemed to find that the funniest. “Yeah. Liv and I were friends too. Now she’s given me two babies and makes me mow the lawn.”
    Yeah well hopefully she wouldn’t have to call their children to come over to talk him down from a rage where he’d threatened to burn the house down with their mother in it. That had been a great capper to a night where he thought he’d be getting in between Beth’s thighs.
    He’d dropped Beth off and raced to his parents’ house to find his mother huddling in the car, weeping, while his father paced around the house, ranting and making threats.
    There was a dark knot of rage in his father’s belly and it seemed to be growing. Joe had no idea what to do about it. He wanted to call the cops, hoping that the shock would push his father to get help. But his mother had only gotten more upset. Joe had brought her to his apartment to spend the night, but she’d gone home soon after she’d gotten up and kept insisting things were fine.
    He shouldn’t have come here. But Beth had been so pretty when she asked. So sweet. And the allure of normal time with friends was too much to turn down. It had been good, he realized. He’d needed it. But he knew it wasn’t a good idea to get used to it.
    But it was hard to keep to that when she’d sat with him while they watched the movie. One of the kids