Page 10 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“You have flaws?”Tori teased.

“Two, according to Liz,” he said with a nod.“I don’t like ginger beer—which is one of our specialties here—and I do like brunettes, maybe a little too much.”

Jealousy stabbed Tori in the chest before she realizedthatwas ridiculous.She was brunette, after all.And she’d just met him.She was expecting…what?Him to have never been with another woman?Him to swear off all other women now that he’d met her?That was crazy.She smiled.“Liz isn’t brunette?”

He laughed.“She is.”He paused.“So’s her daughter.Who is the one I hit on before I knew she was my boss’s daughter.”

Tori couldn’t help her grin.“You work for a woman who doesn’t like you?”

“She gets…exasperated with me,” he said.“But I’m fantastic at what I do, so she keeps me around.And I stay because she runs an awesome business and treats her employees very well.”He paused.“And I kind of like exasperating her.”

Tori shook her head, still grinning.“You need someone to exasperate?”

“Oh, I’ve got plenty of those—a mom, three grandmas, a sister, aunts, a whole town full of girls I went to school with—it’s just that I’m really good at it and Liz needs someone to keep her on her toes.”

Tori nodded.“Got it.”He had three grandmas and a sister.And an affectionate look on his face when he talked about exasperating them.That made her like him even more.“I’m sure Liz agrees.”

“You can ask her.”

“You really think I should ask your co-workers and boss about you?”

He sobered a bit.“You should definitely not take me back to your hotel without asking some people about me.”

The idea of taking him back to her hotel room made her heart thump hard against her sternum and she had to take a quick breath.“How do I know they’re not going to lie just to help you get lucky?”

“Good girl,” he said.“Always assume guys are lying to get you into bed.”

She laughed.“Well, I can assure you that most of the guys I spent time with are not trying to get me into bed.”

He studied her face, then shook his head slowly.“Not true.I promise you.”

Her heart did a little stutter.He was wrong.But that was really nice.

“Taking you back to my hotel isn’t a good idea then, huh?”

He shrugged.“It is.But you have no way of knowing that.So you shouldn’t do it.”

Now it was her turn to study his face.He was gorgeous.But there was more than that.He had an air of mischief and, dare she say, sweetness about him.She had no doubt that he charmed women out of their panties on a regular basis, but she also had a feeling that he enjoyed the flirting and serving them their first Ramos Gin Fizz as much as he enjoyed getting them naked.Okay,almostas much as he enjoyed getting them naked.

He has three grandmas that he clearly loves and loves to tease.

He could be completely lying about that.

You could talk to his boss though.

Really?What am I going to say?Hi, I’m Tori, do you think sleeping with Josh is a good idea?

You could just take a chance for once.

I could also end up hacked into little pieces and shoved into the ice bucket in my hotel room.

Don’t be ridiculous.He couldn’t getallof you into the ice bucket.

She blew out a breath.She couldn’t take a total stranger that she’d met in a bar on Bourbon Street back to her hotel room.

But she wanted to.

Josh was different.She didn’t have to know him well for there to be somethingveryappealing about him.Namely, that she didn’t know him well.And he hadn’t known her all her life.

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