Free Rules of Engagement by Tawny Weber

Chapter One
     
     
    “ I now pronounce you man
and wife.”
    Standing as Maid of Honor,
Gina Mayes sighed and unashamedly wiped the tears trickling down
her face. She hadn’t thought something as traditional as a wedding
would get to her, but here she was, sniffling at the altar like a
sap. But smart girls went waterproof, so she was set.
    The new Sergeant and Mrs.
St. James came together in a flurry of applause. Gina was thrilled
for her best friend. Sophia deserved a guy like Max. One who adored
her for who she was, who respected her strengths and helped her
believe she could be and do anything she set her heart
to.
    Guys like that were rare, dammit.
    Gina’s gaze wandered past
the happily smooching bride and groom to the delicious hunk of a
best man. Dark, intense and sexy, he was watching the happy couple,
too. Except instead of sentimental like she was, he looked like he
was facing a firing squad. His sharp jaw was set, his dark brown
eyes narrowed. She’d spent the last three years working in an art
gallery, honing her eye for beauty. And Sophia’s brother,
Specialist Rico Santiago, definitely qualified. All militarily
spiffed out in his dress uniform, Rico gave her a brief glance,
then immediately shifted his gaze away.
    But not before she’d caught
sight of something in those dark eyes. Disapproval, probably. He
always looked disapproving when he saw her. Which, since she was
best friends with and worked for his sister, should be quite a bit.
But since he was off doing his soldier thing, was really only a
couple times a year. Still, that assessing stare a couple times a
year was enough to give a girl a complex.
    Yeah, yeah, she was too out
there for his tastes. Girls like her who were big on
self-expression didn’t fit the norm. She got that message a lot.
But somehow, it sucked worse when it came from a guy she’d started
crushing on two years ago. It was a shame that such an uptight guy
was packaged with such a gorgeous face.
    Before she could mull on it
any further, Max, the cutie-patootie groom, finally stopped kissing
his beloved bride and the minister introduced them to a sea of
applause.
    The newly married couple
made their way up the glitter heart-strewn carpet that served as
the aisle to their garden wedding. As the harpists reached a
crescendo, Rico stepped forward to offer Gina his arm.
    Swallowing hard, she
shifted her bouquet of roses to one hand and tucked her other into
the crook of his elbow. Just there, below the strong, rounded
hardness of his bicep.
    Oh, my, it was hard.
    Not your type, not your
type, not your type , Gina chanted silently,
trying to ignore the little tingles of sexual awareness zinging
through her at the feel of his strong, muscular arm pressing
against her bare shoulder. His large,
oh-baby-so-impressively-large, hand underneath her
fingers.
    “ You’re crying,” Rico
noted, his words quiet as he escorted her up the aisle. “Why would
you get all choked up over such a happy event?”
    “ I just think it’s sweet.
Sophia and Max are finally married. And on Valentine’s Day. It’s
romantic, you know?”
    “ Romance makes you
cry?”
    He was such a guy. Gina
gave him an exasperated side-look and shook her head. Her hair,
styled in ringlets in a sedate blue-black with just a hint of red
at the tips for the wedding, danced over her shoulders.
    “ You wouldn’t understand.”
Guys never did. Especially not perfect guys like Rico. Perfectly
handsome, perfectly sexy, perfectly, well—she cast a glance at
him—perfectly normal.
    And, as she’d learned from
a couple of miserable break-ups, normal just wasn’t her
speed.
    Normal guys wanted her hair a single color.
Wanted her to watch her mouth and wear boring clothes. Normal
wanted to fit her in a box so she didn’t stand out in the crowd,
stifling her creative side and crushing her spirit.
    She was so not into normal.
    “ You crying over Sophia
dragooning you into being a part of the wedding?”
    Gina wrinkled her