Free Jilted: Promise Harbor, Book 1 by Kelly Jamieson

because of the memories it brought back. They’d watched all the Austin Powers movies together. She’d loved to tease him about watching something so lowbrow, pretending she was above that, and yet she’d sat there with him and laughed along with him at all the ridiculous penis and bodily function jokes. Then she’d teased him because he’d watched the movies so many times, he knew what line came next at any given moment.
    “ The Spy Who Shagged Me ,” she murmured.
    He held out a fist. “Good job, Dev,” he said. “I’m proud of you.” She grinned and made a fist and bumped his knuckles with hers. Shaking her head, she dragged her gaze away from Josh’s handsome face to look at the big television. She closed her eyes briefly at the emotion that washed over her, a sense of familiarity, of comfort, a rush of warm affection. God. Her heart banged in her chest, and she focused on breathing to slow it down, pretending to watch the movie while her thoughts and emotions rampaged inside her.
    He probably didn’t expect to be spending his wedding night watching Austin Powers .
    But she kept that thought to herself, sipping champagne and trying not to cry, until the movie eventually did make her laugh out loud.
    Josh glanced at her with a sly smile. “See. You do think it’s funny.”
    They’d had this discussion many times, always with good-natured teasing, often ending with him grabbing her and wrestling her down until she admitted that stupid movies made her laugh, and then he’d kiss her and…
    Heat swept from her chest up to her hairline.
    “It’s ridiculous,” she said, tossing her hair back, but she couldn’t help but smile.
    “I know,” he agreed, settling deeper into the cushions. “That’s why I like it.”
    She reached for the bottle and topped up their glasses. After a second glass of champagne, the movie was even funnier, Josh was even cuter, and the whole wedding-interrupted thing seemed like a pesky annoyance. Champagne was good.
    When that move ended, Goldmember began. “It’s an Austin Powers marathon,” she said with a giggle.
    “Lucky us.” Then Josh let out a huge belch.
    She stared at him in mock horror.
    “Excuse me,” he said, grinning. “It’s the bubbly.”
    “That was very rude,” she said primly. She turned her attention back to the TV. It only took her a few seconds to work up an almost equally impressive burp.
    “Good one,” Josh said, still grinning.
    And she burst into giggles, her head falling back into the couch cushions, tension easing out of her body. Ah god. Laughing was so good.
    They watched the next movie too, and somehow she was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Josh, leaning into him when she laughed at the jokes, and then he looked down at her and met her eyes. Awareness of his big muscles made her tingle everywhere, and the air around them suddenly seemed electric. His smile faded, and they stared at each other as moments accumulated and her insides grew heavy and achy. She was close enough to see the whiskers starting to shade his jaw, his long eyelashes, the tiny mole in front of his left sideburn that she remembered so well. She tried to breathe but her lungs were constricted.
    Tempting. So tempting, to reach out and touch his face. To kiss his mouth and see if it felt the same, to see if he tasted as good, if he was still the best kisser she’d ever been with. To give in to the emotion welling up inside her, the lust and need and yearning. She’d missed him so much. Maybe he’d missed her a little too…
    No. He’d been going to get married. To Allie.
    It took everything she had to drag her gaze away from him and look back at the television, trying to shift a little away from him so they weren’t touching, without being obvious about it.
    And once more her awareness was all on the man beside her and not the movie, the jokes going unnoticed as she valiantly fought the attraction that tugged at her, the intense, physical need for him. Jeebus.
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