Free Welcome to Forever by Annie Rains Page B

her pale skin and flowing blond hair that hung past her shoulders.
    And there was no man in sight. This was the second time that he’d run into her outside of school and she’d been without a guy. She obviously had one. Women didn’t just wear diamonds on their left ring finger for no reason. Whoever the hell her fiancé was, he was lucky to get to take her home. So why wasn’t he guarding his territory? Maybe her fiancé was in the military and deployed, he considered, which made him feel even shittier for checking her out.
    She-Ra, as Lawson had deemed her, stood up and headed in their direction. When she got to their table, she leaned forward, bracing her hands on the table in front of her. “Thanks for the drinks, guys.”
    She was thin, but light muscles twisted up her arms. It wasn’t a look that Micah normally found attractive, but, considering she was a clone of Kat Chandler, it worked.
    She stuck out her hand and shook both of theirs. “I’m Julie Chandler. That’s my sister, Kat, and her friend Val.”
    Lawson was in full charm mode. “I’m Lawson and this is my buddy Micah. Are you ladies all alone tonight?” he asked.
    With a smile, her gaze landed on his cowboy hat. “Hopefully not for long. Want to join us?”
    Micah started to say no, but was stopped short by Lawson’s “Hell, yeah.”
    A moment later, the five of them sat comfortably around the other table.
    “We keep running into each other,” Kat said, leaning over to him as Lawson captured Val’s and Julie’s attention.
    “Great minds think alike.” It had come out smooth, hopefully charming, but then Micah shook his head. “Actually, this wasn’t my idea. To be honest, I’d rather be at home with Ben.” He looked at Kat. “No offense. You’re beautiful company.”
    Her hair swept across her face as she glanced down to look at her hands. “Thank you. And this wasn’t my idea, either. Val and Julie decided I needed a night out.”
    “Why is that?” he asked.
    A shadow of emotion crossed her expression as she looked at him. “Oh, you know. I work too much, I guess.”
    “We’ve talked about that, Kat,” he said, taking another sip from his beer, and motioning toward her ring. “When you get married, you’re going to have to rearrange your priorities.”
    Her smile faded.
    “Sorry, just saying. I know this from experience. Ben’s mom loved her work more than she loved us. The relationship was doomed from the beginning.”
    Shit.
By the look on her face, he’d really stuck his foot in his mouth. He tried to backpedal. “I’m sure your marriage will be different, though. And he’s a lucky guy.”
    Maybe he did need to wear a damn cowboy hat, because his charm was nowhere to be found right now.
    Lifting her beer for the first time since he’d sat down next to her, she took a sip. And another. Then she took such a long pull on her bottle that Micah wondered if she’d pass out from the lack of oxygen. After several more swigs, Val and Julie stopped to watch her, glancing at Micah in question.
    “What did you say to her?” Val asked, accusations etched all over her face.
    “He didn’t say anything,” Kat said, raising her voice. “I need another drink.”
    As if on cue, the waitress came with bottles for everyone except Lawson, who took another soda.
    “If I said something—” Micah leaned in close to her, catching the scent of her perfume.
Damn.
She smelled amazing.
    “You didn’t.” Rolling her lips into one another, she kept her eyes on the drink. “It’s just, well, I’m not engaged any longer.”
    “Oh.” His gaze lowered to her ring.
    With a shrug, she looked around the table. “That relationship is in the past, and I’m moving on.”
    Shit, shit, shit.
He’d really screwed up this relaxing night out for her. He wasn’t sure what the story was, but he was starting to suspect it was the reason behind the haunted look he sometimes saw in her eyes. His hand found hers under the table and he offered