Destiny by Carly Phillips Page B

“Until she found out you were my ex-husband.”
    “Son of a bitch,” Nash muttered, suddenly knowing exactly what was bothering Kelly. “I have to go talk to her.”
    Annie stared at him, surprised. “What’s going on?”
    “Nothing. I’ll be back.” He left his ex-wife standing with her mouth open wide, knowing he’d be in for a ton of questions when he faced her again.
    Nash didn’t care.
    He pushed his way through the crowds to get to the front door, wondering when the hell life would cut him some slack. He’d just spent a sleepless night going over Dare’s point that he didn’t need Tess’s permission to see her sister. He’d come to the conclusion that Kelly affected him too deeply to just ignore the attraction.
    Now she ran at the sight of him.
    He went after her. There was no way he’d let a little thing like his ex-wife come between them.
    Annie stared after her ex-husband, dizzy from his sudden turnaround from concern about her to worry for Kelly. Nash was interested in another woman. The first one he’d shown serious interest in since their split two years ago, Annie thought, a sudden riot of emotions coursing through her.
    She stood alone and attempted to process her feelings. She’d have thought that when Nash finally turned his attention to another woman she’d be completely relieved. And she was. She didn’t want him hanging around, insisting she needed him when she didn’t. But they’d been inseparable since they’d met when they were sixteen, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel a tug of possessiveness now. But that didn’t mean she was still in love with him. And she definitely didn’t want him back.
    She’d divorced him so she could be free. Lately she wondered… free to do what? She never thought to leave town. She was too tied to family and too much of a home-and-hearth-type girl for that. She’d just sensed something was missing with Nash. Something she was still looking for now.
    Nash’s interest in Kelly meant Annie could finally have the freedom and independence she’d craved. She’d just have to get used to the new reality.
    She breathed in deep and rotated back toward the bar only to find Joe directly in her line of vision. He provided a welcome distraction from her thoughts of her past, and she drank him in like she would a sweet piña colada—if her illness didn’t stop her from drinking.
    He’d changed a lot from when they were kids. He’d grown up and filled out, and the man was a vision, his light brown hair straggly like he’d come from the beach, his body so muscular beneath his bar shirt.
    She placed her glass on the counter and smiled, hoping to make up for her rudeness earlier. “I’ll have a refill.”
    “I aim to please.” He pulled out the soda dispenser and filled her glass.
    “How are you with forgiveness? I shouldn’t have shut you down like that earlier.”
    “Really.” He sounded skeptical.
    “Yes. I’m sorry.”
    “Because you mean it or because your ex ran after another woman and I can soothe your bruised ego?” Joe asked.
    Annie winced and placed her hand over her heart. “Ouch.”
    “I just call ’em like I see ’em, sweetheart.”
    “I know.” He didn’t pull any punches, something Annie had always liked about him. Actually there was a lot she liked about him. She braced her elbows on the bar and leaned over. “I said I’m sorry because I am. As for Nash, I divorced him, remember? I’m over him.”
    “Then prove it,” he said, a sparkle of a challenge in his gaze.
    “How?”
    He also rested his elbow on the bar, his face inches from hers. “Go out with me.”
    Adrenaline began flowing through her veins and Annie exhaled hard. She hadn’t been out with anyone since her divorce. Saying yes to a confident, sexy man like Joe would be like jumping into the deep end of the pool without wading first.
    She wanted to dive in so badly. After all, wasn’t that why she’d ended her marriage in the first place?