Page 2 of A Little Harmless Pleasure

Chris Dupree watched Max tie his bowtie as he grinned like a fool.

“You sure you want to do this?” Chris asked, eyeing him with speculation. Max’s grin grew wider.

“You’ve met Anna.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Chris, causing Chris to laugh. “And besides, you’re looking at a fool in love.” Max turned to check out his tux in the full-length mirror. There wasn’t much room for anything else in the church’s groom’s room other than Max and himself.

Chris snorted. “I understand the fool part.”

Max flashed a smile at him in the mirror but said nothing. Chris had been surprised, to say the least, when he’d met Anna. Bold, beautiful, and exactly what Max needed, in Chris’s opinion. Just the opposite from what he’d expected Max to choose.

As rigid as Chris was laid back, Max needed someone who wouldn’t put up with his heavy-handedness. Because Chris wasn’t one to suffer fools, the two of them had hit it off almost immediately when they’d met in college. They’d made an odd couple for a friendship, especially on the campus of conservative University of Georgia. Max, the white son of landed Southern aristocracy; and Chris, middle-class kid, the product of a Creole mother and white father, had somehow clicked when they met in their first macroeconomics class. They were sharing an apartment by the end of that semester, both graduated with honors the same semester, and even after Chris relocated to Honolulu, they tended to talk on a regular basis.

“So, is it true your ex-fiancée is going to be here today?”

“Yeah. Anna insisted. Which is amazing, because—well, if you hadn’t guessed, she has a bit of a temper.” He faced Chris. “But Cynthia smoothed things over at the country club up in Valdosta for Anna. You remember Freddy, don’t you?”

Chris nodded, remembering Anna’s ex-boyfriend and how their fist fight with him landed both Chris and Max in jail.

“He tried to cause problems for Anna and me. Mainly Anna. He used some of his influence to try and keep her from booking the place for our reception. Cynthia took care of it. She’s gone out of her way to make sure everything runs perfectly for the wedding.” He paused, and his smile faded. “I just worry about Cynthia a bit.”

Max grabbed up the ring box and tossed it to Chris.

“Worry about her?”

For the first time since Chris had arrived, Max frowned. “You know her father, Justin Myers. He’s a jackass, thinks women are in two categories—slut and Madonna. And he doesn’t think women have any brains. She’s been raised to make a good marriage, that’s it. So, now that she has defied her father, she’s probably close to getting disinherited. And she’s…a little fragile.”

“Hmm.”

A sharp knock sounded at the door. Without waiting for an answer, a petite blonde dressed in a conservative suit walked into the room.

“Cynthia, you could have waited for me to say come in. I could have been undressed,” Max said with a smile.

She looked him up and down. “Not like I haven’t seen it before, Max.”

Max’s jaw went slack, then he laughed. “You’ve been spending too much time with Anna.”

She shook her head, freezing when her gaze made contact with Chris’. His pulse skipped a beat as they stared at each other. The first thing that struck him was that this woman was so different from Anna. With her smooth blonde hair, her cornflower-blue eyes and her beige, nondescript clothes, she was almost the antithesis of Max’s vibrant fiancée. She studied Chris, no expression on her face other than a polite smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Cynthia, this is my friend Chris Dupree. You remember I mentioned him.”

“Of course, Mr. Dupree, you’re the best man. So nice to meet you.”

Did he imagine it, or did her voice just dip lower? Ithaddeepened, along with that upper-crust Georgia accent. A flash of heat licked through his blood. Even after all his years in Hawaii, Chris was still a sucker for Southern women.

He stood and offered her his hand. “Nice to meet you too, but please, call me Chris.”

Her smile turned real, reaching her eyes. A dimple appeared on either side of her mouth, and her face came alive. She took his hand. The moment they touched, her face flushed pink. He’d never been one for petite blondes, especially ones who blushed, but for some reason, he felt a spark of interest.

For a moment, she seemed to hold her breath, her mouth partially open. She looked down at their joined hands and her face turned a brighter shade of pink. She released his hand and stepped back. But she still stared at him, as if he were a forbidden treat she wanted to take a bite out of. His body warmed, even though the A/C was cranked up high. She licked her bottom lip. Chris couldn’t help it, his attention snagged on that plump, pink tongue swiping across her lower lip.

“Did you come here for a reason, Cynthia?” Max’s voice seemed to break the spell.

She blinked, and looked at Max, dismissing Chris. Which annoyed him, for some unknown reason.

“Yes. Your mother and Anna are driving me insane. Anna’s mother, thank the good Lord, is the only calm one of the bunch. Your mother asked me three times if you had the ring. Anna said you’d better be ready the moment it’s time to walk down that aisle. She threatened certain appendages.”

“Tell her I promise. And remind her she’s the one who’s usually late. Is there anything else?”

She shook her head and turned to leave. When she reached the door, she glanced back over her shoulder. “It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Dupree.” Her voice was soft and lyrical, reminding him why he’d missed Southern women. When their accent deepened like that, it made it sound as if they’d just had great sex. She slipped out without another word. Chris had to tear his gaze from the closed door back to his host.

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