Chasing the Runaway Bride
Michelle Jo Quinn
MICHELLE JO QUINN
Contents
BLISS SERIES
1. Antecedent
2. Mamihlapinatapai
3. Dysania
4. Solivagant
5. Numinous
6. Assignation
7. Eleutheromania
8. Cafuné
9. Geborgenheit
10. Trepidation
11. Caim
12. Parea
13. Metanoia
14. Komorebi
15. Wanderlust
16. La douleur exquise
17. L’appel du Vide
18. Eunoia
19. Sehnsucht
20. Commuovere
21. Pareidolia
22. Alexithymia
23. Saudade
24. Halcyon
25. Quaintrelle
26. Nyctophilia
27. Sillage
28. Rasasvada
29. Kyōka suigetsu
30. Querencia
31. Cynefin
32. Lacuna
33. Hayati
Epilogue: Logolepsy
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Michelle Jo Quinn
Copyright © 2016 Michelle Jo Quinn
www.michellejoquinn.com
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover Designer: Lucy Rhodes, Render Compose
www.rendercompose.com
Cover image: iStock
ISBN: 978-0-9951506-5-2
To my sister, Shekinah,
and my own personal gentle giant, Cathy,
I’m lucky to have you both in my life.
BLISS SERIES BOOKS
CONFESSIONS OF A WEDDING PLANNER
THE BACHELOR’S PERFECT PROPOSAL
SANTA BEBé - HOLIDAY SPECIAL
COMING SOON!
NEVER A BRIDE (JAN 2017)
REVENGE OF A JILTED BRIDE (APR 2017)
Want to read the start of the series? Read the sample chapters here: http://bit.ly/Bliss1sample
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I bent my knees and scooped up my bestie into a massive hug. Let’s get something straight, I was no hugger. I had hugger-radar, and it came in handy whenever I met people who just loved to give hugs. It didn’t matter if I felt like a marble statue as soon as they made contact, or that I growled like a feral lioness before they even stepped forward. Huggers were huggers. End of story.
And I’d become one.
Not being able to see Nica as soon as she’d flown in from Paris with her now-fiancé, Levi, was torturous. She’d gone through some crazy events in Paris, and I wasn’t there to help her. I’d had family drama before, not that I’d ever share, but being in the middle of some other family’s shitstorm wasn’t any better. This woman shouldn’t have gone through that alone. I’d been powerless to stop her from getting hurt. Thank the ever-loving Universe she survived and came home unscathed. And happy. And engaged!
“Chase...can’t breathe,” she wheezed against my leather jacket. When I released her, her face was blotchy, and she had a dent on her forehead with the same diameter as the snap of my jacket.
“Sorry…I lost my bearings for a sec.” I threw her a crooked, unapologetic grin.
Nica placed a hand, one that was adorned with a huge sparkler, on her chest. “I almost suffocated between your boobs. Next time, give me a warning.”
“Holy smokin’, would you look at that!” I grabbed her hand. She preened and let me scrutinize the piece. “Art Deco. Nice. What year?” I’d seen the ring before, when her fiancé asked me to help out with his proposal, but on Nica, it shone even brighter.
She shrugged, a blush heating up her cheeks—the modest bride to be. “1940’s. His grandfather gave it to his grandma. Isn’t it sweet?”
“Sweet?” I scoffed. “I bet he got laid.”
“Chase!” The red on her face intensified as we both laughed. She rolled her eyes and admitted, “Maybe just a little.”
“A little? Ha!”
Nica covered her face with her hands, stifling a snort. “Okay, a lot, but not because of the ring.”
“Mmm-hmm. Where’s the lucky bastard now?”
I leaned my butt against her glass desk, and over my shoulder I watched Nica walk around it to rearrange the magazines and files the way she always wanted them—organized, OCD freak-style. Gotta love her for it. Without her, our little event planning business, Bliss Events, would have burnt down to the ground even before it was set to open, and I would have turned to ashes with it. Nica had saved me. She didn’t know it, and I wouldn’t know how to tell her other than being loyal to her, but she had.
“He’s outside, waiting for his brother to finish smoking,” Nica replied as she sat down.
“The shit-disturbers are here?” I glanced over my shoulder to Nica, and scrunched my face up as though bile just filled my mouth. Two Laurents in this small office. Just what I asked for this morning—coffee, donut, and egotistical men. I’d never met the brother but I could only assume his head was as inflated as Levi’s.
Nica gave me the “Chase behave yourself” look. I scowled at the window, which faced the lot, and crossed my arms over the front panels of my jacket. “Am I right or what?”
“Give them a chance.” She sighed. “You know Levi’s staying put. I’m not letting him go anywhere. We’re getting married and that’s that. And his brother Alex is not so bad once you get to know him.”
I snorted, scoffed, and snorted again. “Nica, you think that about everyone.” I turned around to face her, bringing my palms down on her desk. “‘He’s not so bad,’” I imitated, “‘He’s only a bit of a handful, but he’s really sweet. You’re going to love him. He’s Levi’s brother. Enough said.’” Yes, I could be a handful as well, but Nica knew I’d scale Mt Everest for her; all she had to do was ask.
“Glad you missed me too, Chase.”
I heard the remark, soaked in sarcasm, behind me. Levi sauntered over to his future wife. I looked up to the flat ceiling and hoped that I wouldn’t become a murder suspect today. Nica reached for one of my hands and smiled. Her fiancé (vomit) smirked at me before leaning down to give Nica a kiss (double vomit). A joke about only a mother being able to love him played on the tip of my tongue. But I caught Nica’s pleading gaze, and I had to retract my fangs. For now.
Straightening up, I heaved a sigh and extended my hand. All for my best friend. “I heard congratulations are in order.” We shook hands. I spread my lips into a flat smile, and muttered between my teeth, “You lucky sonofabitch.” Levi dropped my hand, and I wiped mine on my jeans.
“Chase, play nice.” Nica tilted her head, exasperated at my antics.
“Fine.” With an eye roll, I continued, “I promise not to set your tuxedo on fire on your wedding day.”
A snigger came from behind me, and I turned so fast I got whiplash. My eyes felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets. The muscles on my temple twitched.
Trouble sat on Nica’s office couch, with dark, mussed, James Dean hair, and decked out in full leather. His booted feet were propped up and crossed over the dainty coffee table, which Nica and I had spent hours sanding and refinishi
ng to perfection. And he smirked like the devil.
“Chase, meet Levi’s brother, Alex,” Nica piped up behind me.
I always thought life was a bitch. A bitch who loved to inconvenience me. It had been years since I’d met someone like this guy—Alex. He twirled a cigarette around his left index and middle fingers. Fingers that girls would notice. Fingers that women would clamor for a chance to lick. Fingers that undoubtedly symbolized riveting pleasures, and pure, white-hot ecstasy. Fingers of a man who had rendered me speechless.
Say something. Anything!
An almost-word gurgled from my mouth, which brought another snigger out of Trouble incarnate. He locked gazes with me as he stood, all six feet and five inches of hot-damn hotness, and stalked to where I was frozen. Instead of shaking my hand (not that I offered mine), he leaned forward and placed two swift kisses on both my cheeks. Warmth ebbed in me, blossoming from the tips of the miniature hairs on the back of my neck, and down to the little polished nails of my pinkie toes.
I wheezed, about ready to pass out, and willed myself to breathe and get a grip.
Oh, I got a grip all right. My hands, of their own traitorous volition, raised and grasped at the lapels of his leather jacket.
His blue eyes burned into my being, reached past into my retinas and captured my soul (apparently I had one, despite what others believed). His lips, full and red, quirked at one corner into a blasted, knowing smirk.
“Pleasure to meet you too, Chase.” If sex was a person and spoke, it would sound like Alex—decadent and smooth with an exotic accent. The beautiful bastard ran his bottom lip between his sparkling teeth, inches from mine. My core tightened. And I knew then that he had me. Unfortunately, he knew it too.
This was so. Freaking. Inconvenient.
Life was a major bitch.
“Drink your scotch and stop pouting.” Nica gave me her warning stare. I should tell her it made her look constipated, rather than threatening. The art of the scowl couldn’t be taught. It was a skill which one mastered with practice, and which I had perfected to a tee.
I jutted my head forward, away from the back of the leather booth, slouching as I glared at my bestie. She’d invited me to have dinner with her fiancé and the brother. I could be doing better things, like color-coding my underwear drawer or refilling my non-existent spice jars. “Why am I here?” I asked.
Nica unfolded her napkin, refolded it into a freaking swan, and rearranged all her utensils. She’d chosen a fancy-pants restaurant for this lovely gathering (note the big ass hint of sarcasm there).
“To celebrate my engagement, and to talk about my wedding.” She beamed at me.
I called BS. We could be talking about the wedding at work, while finishing off a couple of bottles of wine clients had given us, and a bag of chocolate eggs I’d found stashed behind one of her frilly storage boxes. Nica looked everywhere, except at me. She was a horrible liar, which made her a good person in my books.
“I could have asked Jake and Sandrine to be here too, but they’re still in Paris.” This girl was killing me.
I should count my lucky stars they were out of the country. Jake was Nica’s ex, and Levi’s best friend, and Sandrine was Jake’s new wife and Levi’s cousin. How messed up was that situation? And people said the world was such a big place. Puh-lease! It added to reasons why I shouldn’t be here. I didn’t want to have to face Alex again. Not after that embarrassing moment in Nica’s office. I shuddered at the memory of him...Alexandre Laurent—such a pompous name—and the way I’d reacted to that ingratiating smirk of his as I held on to his jacket like it was a freaking life raft.
As soon as I’d realized what I’d done, I let go of him as though I’d suffered third degree burns on my hands. I’d checked them too, back and front. Alex had chuckled, low and hushed, and God help me, oh so freaking sexy. I’d made a poor excuse of having to check on something work-related and dashed out of Nica’s office, my cheeks burning for once.
And now, we sat, Nica and I, in front of each other, waiting for Levi and Alexandre. After chugging my drink, I winced and said, “We can talk about your wedding plans at work.”
She was going to ask me to do something that wouldn’t bode well for me. No wonder she’d ordered me a double scotch before I arrived.
“Spit it out, Nica, or I leave.” I leaned forward, crossing my arms over the white linen tablecloth.
Nica straightened in her seat, ducked her chin and peeked under her lashes. “Can you show Alex around San Francisco?”
I was about to throw my napkin down and run out when she grabbed my arm, held on with a death grip, and spoke rapidly. “Please, hear me out. Alex has never visited San Francisco, and he’s here for less than a week. I feel like you’ll be able to show him things that interest him. You guys are kind of the same, you know.”
I sputtered out a response, “Gah... Wha... Nica? Could you insult me more?”
“I wasn’t trying to insult you! Chase, please.” Cue her doe-eyed look.
I was off my seat, gathering my stuff. “Why can’t Levi do it?”
“Levi has to go to Napa. Alex is going there at the end of the week, and Levi has to make sure it’s up to par. And before you say it, I can’t, because I have a million things to take care of that piled up while I was away.” I narrowed my eyes at her, and she had the audacity to pout. “Please, Chase, he’s not that bad.”
I shook my head, furious at my so-called bestie for putting me in such an awkward position. For once, I couldn’t go with Nica’s plan. Not when it meant being alone with Trouble. I could still smell his musk comingling with his leathers. It smelled like a big mistake.
Once we were alone in her office, Nica had sat me down and expanded on the situation between Levi and his brother Alex. “Alex was engaged, years ago.” She fluttered her eyes and double-checked that the door was shut tightly before continuing. “The girl, Simone, cheated on him and with someone so close. Alex’s initial suspicion was Levi, but he claimed innocence, even when Alex beat him to a pulp.” She paused, mulling the rest of it in her head. There was more to this story than she’d wanted to share. “The fight caused a riff between the brothers, which lasted over a decade. But they’re starting to patch things.” I’d speculated as much. Most of the time, only two things came between brothers—money or a woman. Involving myself in this circus could cause a lot more issues than any of us would want. No, thanks.
Nica must have seen the determination in my eyes. She took the damned napkin again and this time, folded it into a rabbit before saying, “Okay. I thought I’d ask. Maybe Jewel will do it.” She reached into her purse for her phone and typed a message, I assumed to Jewel, our friend and colleague. I hated to disappoint Nica, since she’d never disappointed me. “There. Done.” Before she could slip it back in her purse, it vibrated. “That was quick! Jewel’s more than happy to do it. You’re off the hook.”
Alex would be safe in Jewel’s company. Safer than with me. I would most likely end up punching him in the gut once or twice. Jewel was a sweet girl, a little excitable at times, but she was nice and smart and pretty in that girl-next-door some guys find attractive. She was a ray of sunshine to my constant thunderstorm. And I was sure she wouldn’t kick Alex out of bed if he asked for a tour of that, too. My chest constricted and my breath became ragged. Not only was I imagining one of my friends cavorting with Trouble, I was greener than Shrek because of it.
“Chase. Chase!”
Something thumped against my jacket sleeve. I caught it, looked down at my hand, saw a piece of unbuttered roll, and muttered, “What the hell?”
“What’s up with you? I’ve been yammering here and you weren’t even paying attention.” Nica tore another chunk off her roll. Her gaze flitted over my right shoulder, her eyes lighting up.
Before he spoke, I felt him. “Well, hello again.” Alex. I shivered despite the heat that suddenly overtook me. That voice shouldn’t have been too familiar, and worse yet, it shouldn’t make my knees weak.
Alex and Levi stood behind Nica. Levi bent down to plant a slobbery kiss on Nica’s lips, and Alex peered at me.
“Yeah, and goodbye,” I snapped.
“Aren’t you staying for dinner?” Alex asked.
Three pairs of eyes stared at me. Nica’s were pleading. Levi seemed entertained. And Alex...well, if he’d stop licking his lips I might be able to focus on his eyes. As I dragged my gaze from his lips to his eyes, I was lost in their blue depths.
“Perfect, après vous.” Alex waved his hand toward the booth. I imagined those hands running over my legs under the table, up my thighs and...Stop it, Chase!
“I have to go,” I said, and rushed out of the restaurant.
When I stepped out, I welcomed the coolness of raindrops on my face, positive there would be steam coming off me as cold rain met my heated skin. My body had warmed up under Alex’s gaze. Hell, who was I kidding? My temperature spiked when I met him and had stayed that way the whole day because I did nothing but imagine him naked...with me.
“You forgot this.”
I turned. There stood Alex under the eaves of the restaurant, with my helmet in his hand. His face conveyed nothing, but the fire alarm in my body screeched. Why couldn’t I get hold of myself when I was near him? “Maybe one day, you could take me for a ride?”
Are. You. Kidding. Me?
Oh, I’d ride him all right.
I tried to grab my helmet but the bastard hid it behind him, so I pressed against his chest. Breathe, Chase, breathe. Ah hell, that was a bad idea. My heartbeat sped up when I got a good whiff of his cologne. I straightened and stepped back. “Give me my helmet.” I had to raise my voice to fight against the sound of the rain.
“You’ve been drinking. Should you be riding?” Alex asked.
“What do you care? Give me my helmet.” I sounded childish, which angered me more.
Alex shook his head, walked away from me, and headed back into the restaurant. And like a petulant child, I stomped my feet but stayed put. Hell no, I wasn’t going to follow him. I trudged down the street, cursing Alex under my breath.
Chasing the Runaway Bride (Bliss Series Book 3) Page 1