Read Take Me I'm Yours (Coffee House Chronicles) for Free Online Page B

paused, glancing over her shoulder with question in her emerald green eyes. “Hot man?”
    “You could say that, yes. ”
    “I never thou ght of Graeme as hot, but okay,” Delilah said with a shrug.
    Neither did I until today , Marion thought. “Anyway, it’s not a date. It’s just dinner.” Oh, sure. She wanted to play it off that way.
    “You mean a non -date?” Delilah raised a brow and gave her a cursory glance, one that said she didn’t really believe her.
    “Something like that.”
    “Right.” Delilah flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and started walking again. “Seriously, Mar, I don’t know what you’re thinking. You shouldn’t be taking up with him. He was the best man at your wedding, for God’s sake.”
    “The wedding that never took place,” Marion corrected as she followed her friend, hot on her heels. “And it wasn’t Graeme’s fault he left me there. In fact, Graeme is the one that brought me the note, in case you forgot.”
    Delilah threw open her closet door. “No, I didn’t forget. But did you ever wonder why Graeme was the one that did it?”
    “Because Ethan was too chicken shit to do it himself. We both know that. And we were all friends.” Marion folded her arms across her chest, defensive of Graeme.
    “ You may have all been friends in the past, Mar, but I think I would be wary of this guy.” She shuffled the clothes on the racks, searching through the garments.
    “ For crying out loud, it’s just Graeme ,” Marion said and huffed. “He’s harmless.” But, really, she hoped deep down he wasn’t.
    “If he’s so harmless, why is he sniffing around you after all this time?”
    Marion never told Delilah what happened that night at the pool hall. Or all the time they had spent together since the wedding that wasn’t. She didn’t know why. It never seemed like a good time. And she worried Delilah would give her hell about it. Which she was.
    “He’s not sniffing. Ethan is the one that’s sniffing. He showed up at my table when I was having brunch this morning.”
    Delilah halted her rummaging in the closet and spun to face her friend, her eyes wide. “Come again?”
    “He wants to get back together.”
    “And you said…?”
    “No, duh.” Marion rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I walked down the street to this coffee house to get away from Ethan. That’s where I ran into Graeme. It was good to see him again.”
    “ I’ll bet.” Delilah still didn’t sound convinced.
    “I asked him to dinner.”
    She turned back to the closet, shaking her head. “I don’t like it. What kind of man willingly breaks the heart of his best friend’s fiancé?”
    “Why are you giving me such a hard time about this?” Marion propped her hands on her hips, frowning.
    Her friend paused and looked at her. “I want you to be careful. That’s all. You’re my best friend. And as dumb as it sounds I love you and I don’t want some jackass fucking with you.”
    Touched, Marion smiled. “I know you care. And I’m glad you do. But Graeme isn’t a jackass. At least , I don’t think so. He’s certainly nothing like Ethan.”
    “And if he turns out to be…well, then he’ll have me to deal with.” Delilah turned back to the racks of clothes. “Now let’s find you something to wear and then I’m taking you grocery shopping.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Forty minutes later, with a pile of clothes in a small mountain on her bed—Delilah said it was to keep them from having sex on the first “non-date”—the outfit was chosen and they were on their way to the local grocery store.
    Delilah picked a black shirt, low cut enough to give him eye candy but still respectable enough for Marion’s taste. It gave the message she was available but not desperate. Or so Delilah said .
    After much argument, Marion chose a pair of form-fitting jeans. She’d wear her favorite comfy shoes since she’d be on her feet cooking.
    “No sexy underwear,” Delilah said.
    “Why not?”