Free Rules of Engagement by Tawny Weber Page B

imagined him
naked.
    “ I don’t think you’d
understand,” she said instead.
    “ Try me.”
    Her eyes dropped to his
mouth, those lips tempting her. Just one taste, that’s all she
wanted.
    But that’d be every kind of stupid.
    So she shifted her smile to
saucy and shook her head. “Nope. Women like to be a mystery. Didn’t
you know that?”
    “ You are definitely
mysterious,” he muttered with a confused shake of his head. But he
smiled back. A real smile, the kind that made his dark eyes dance
and those manly dimples flash. The kind of smile that melted her
heart.
    She sighed, wishing for
just a brief second that she could pretend to be his type. But Gina
didn’t do lies, so trying to pretend otherwise just ended up
hurting all parties involved.
    And she wasn’t big on being hurt.
    “ I’m sure you have other
things to do than listen to me, anyway. Since I doubt I’ll see much
of you before you go, you take care of yourself,” she said. Then,
unable to resist, she reached out and skimmed quick fingers along
his already stubbled jaw. She gave him a tremulous smile, then
winked. “No more throwing yourself on bombs or any other crazy
heroics. It freaks your sister out.”
    Her hand on fire, aching to
touch more, she tightened her fingers around the stems of her
bridesmaid bouquet of red roses, turned on her strappy stiletto
heel and hurrying off.
    Before she did something
really stupid like forget her convictions and attempt a little
make-believe normalcy.
    Although for a tumble with a guy like
Rico?
    Make-believe normalcy and a
broken heart might be a fair price to pay.

Chapter Two
     
     
    Baffled, Rico watched his
sister’s wild assistant hurry through the crowded ballroom. The St.
James house was huge, the ballroom where they’d had the ceremony
flanked on one side with French doors leading to the garden and the
other side opening to the foyer and rooms beyond. He’d seen it all
before, though, so Rico didn’t pay much attention. He was too busy
wondering what was up with Gina.
    What was the deal? She
flirted and chatted up most guys like crazy, but acted like he was
the devil and had just propositioned her for a piece of her
soul.
    His eyes fixed on the
tempting sway of her hips. He had to admit, it wasn’t her soul he
wanted a piece of.
    But there were rules to be respected. He
wasn’t the kind of guy who chased after a woman just for sex. At
least, not when the woman was his sister’s friend.
    “ Scaring off the girls?”
Carlos asked, the question followed by a punch to the shoulder.
“You need to work on that, little brother. You’re the last one of
us left loose and single. If we’re gonna marry you off, you can’t
make them run away.”
    “ Don’t you have anything
better to do than hassle me? I’m gonna find that pretty wife of
yours and tell her you’re so bored you’re playing matchmaker now.”
Rico shot back.
    Not that Rico was against
the idea of marriage. He wanted to get married. Hell, he hadn’t
realized just how much until he’d watched his baby sister promise
to love and honor his best friend.
    But he wanted just the
right kind of wife. His dream wife. The Santiago kids had all been
young when they lost their mother, Rico only four. He’d spent his
childhood dreaming of a woman who’d make a perfect house. Warm
meals, clean clothes, hugs and a little bit of attention. He’d
spent plenty of years chasing the joys of easy sex, too. But as fun
as that was, he’d always known it wasn’t the direction he planned
to look at when it came to marriage.
    “ Maria’s all for getting
you settled down. She even has a few girls lined up for you to meet
now that you’re home. Two of them here at the wedding. I heard her
and Carla talking about which of their favorites you should dance
with first.”
    Rico winced. “I can get my
own girls.”
    “ Yeah. I saw how well that
was going when you scared off that girl. It was Gina, right?”
Carlos prodded. “I like her. She’s