Heat of Passion (3 page)

Shelby just glared at him.

Fuck. Wonderful. Now everyone and their mother would think Carson objected to this union. Damn caterer and her broken bra.

He forced himself not to glance in that direction again, instead concentrating on the end of the ceremony and then applauding after Garrett and Shelby locked lips. The newly married couple walked down the sandy aisle, hand-in-hand, immediately swarmed by well-wishers and teary-eyed relatives.

Carson shoved his hands in the pockets of his crisp white Navy uniform and followed the rest of the wedding party down the aisle. As they headed for the reception area, he glanced over at the buffet and sought out the bra-challenged waitress.

There she was. Talking to a curly-haired blonde and gesturing wildly.

His eyes suddenly narrowed as she turned her head. That face…green eyes…pouty lips…Jesus, he
knew
that face.

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Elle Kennedy

He took a few steps closer, bewildered, a tad angry, still focused on the familiar pixie-esque features, the long brown hair, the round little bottom…

The brunette latched her hand on the other waitress’s arm and proceeded to drag her toward the steps leading away from the beach. A second later, the two were out of sight.

But not before Carson caught another glimpse of her face, which confirmed what he already knew.

The mysterious Jessica had made another appearance.

And this time, there was no damn way he was letting her get away from him again.

“What am I going to do?” Holly Lawson wailed, waving her ripped bra around like a matador taunting an irate bull.

Zoe Shickler grinned. “You go without, that’s what you do.”

“This shirt is white, Zoe. And it’s see-through. Vanessa will freak.”

“Vanessa will be too busy bustling around and making sure the guests are enjoying themselves to notice her assistant’s tits,” Zoe answered.

“I’ll notice! And so will all those Navy SEALS. In an hour or so they’ll all be plastered and making cracks about my nipples.”

“So? If you’re lucky, maybe one of them will offer to suckle you for a bit.” Zoe’s grin widened. “Did you see the best man?” She promptly began fanning herself.

“I’ve been too busy setting up the buffet to notice the best man, Zoe. And this isn’t a joke,” Holly grumbled. “I can’t serve drinks topless.”

“You’re wearing a shirt, for God’s sake.” Zoe rolled her eyes and rose from the cab of the pickup truck she’d been sitting on. “Come on, we should head back. I shouldn’t have let you drag me here to begin with.
That
Vanessa will freak about.” Holly sighed. “You go ahead. I need time to gather my courage.” She watched as the other waitress crossed the gravel parking lot and headed for the narrow concrete staircase that led down to the beach. The lot was crammed with cars, all belonging to the sixty or so people who would soon get a very candid eyeful of Holly Lawson’s braless breasts.

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Heat of Passion

God, this entire day had been a disaster from the second she’d opened her eyes.

She’d woken up to the shrill ringing of her telephone, answered it to hear the shrill voice of her older sister, and proceeded to spend the morning re-dyeing Caroline’s hair after her sister had
accidentally
dyed it purple the night before. Apparently there had been some sort of communication breakdown between Caroline and her Korean hairdresser, but who the hell knew. Despite the fact that she was twenty-nine—
five
years older than Holly—

Caroline always seemed to get herself in one mess after the other. Somehow Holly was the one who got stuck cleaning it.

And she didn’t even want to get started on the rest of her siblings. Twenty-five-year-old Todd was as scatterbrained as Caroline, as well as the other reason she’d had such a crappy day—he’d forgotten he had a college exam to write tomorrow morning and coerced Holly into spending the afternoon quizzing him. And after she’d left Todd’s dorm, her eldest brother Kyle called with an emergency of his own. He’d locked himself out of his car and needed her to drive over with the spare keys. Her keychain was heavier than a brick, thanks to all the spare keys she had clipped to it, all belonging to her idiot brothers and sister who couldn’t seem to do anything for themselves.

Holly was the baby of the family. She was only twenty-four, damn it! How had she been dubbed the Lawson family janitor?

Now, thanks to her siblings’ crisis, she was going to have to waitress an entire wedding without a bra. When she’d been getting dressed, she’d noticed that the bra strap was fraying a little, but she hadn’t had time to change because she’d already been running late. So she’d hightailed it out of her apartment, sped over to this wedding, and what happened twenty minutes into it? Her bra broke.

She hated her life. She really, truly did. She was sick of taking care of everyone in her family, sick of working as a waitress when what she really wanted to do was have a restaurant of her own, and sick of getting dumped.

Oh no, change brain direction now, Holly, before you think about—

Steve.

And yep, she was thinking about Steve,

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Elle Kennedy

She’d told herself she wasn’t allowed to anymore, but for the past month, thoughts of her ex had constantly floated into her head. It truly sucked when the person you were madly in love with broke your heart. She’d thought he was her soul mate, damn it! He worked as a sous-chef at an Italian restaurant, created his own recipes in his spare time, and rode a seriously sexy Harley. She’d envisioned the two of them working together, owning a restaurant, having sex on the back of his motorcycle, getting married, moving out of state so she didn’t have to see her family.

But instead, she’d gotten dumped. And why? Because Steve didn’t like the fact that she had other responsibilities that didn’t involve, well, fucking on the back of his Harley.

In no uncertain terms, he’d told her to choose—him or everything else in her life. The selfishness of his demand still grated. How could she have been so wrong about him?

Of course, one good thing had come out of the break-up, but she wasn’t allowed to think about
that
either.

Nope. Because then she’d have to accept that the highlight of her sad, pathetic little life had been wild, sweaty sex in a supply closet with a complete stranger. And if that’s all a girl had to be proud of, she seriously needed a new life.

Straightening her shoulders, Holly finally forced herself to quit sulking. She glanced ruefully at the bra in her hand before stuffing it in the wide front pocket of her black apron. Then she sighed again, pushed her hair behind her ears, and headed back to the beach.

When she stepped onto the sand, she saw the reception was already in full swing.

Tables had been set up on the beach, the chairs occupied by wedding guests digging into the seafood spread Holly had spent most of last night preparing. Since it was a buffet, the guests were in charge of getting their own food, but the catering staff was responsible for serving drinks, so Holly quickly headed for the bar area.

The sun was only a sliver of pink and yellow in the horizon, but it was still hot out, hot enough to make her white shirt cling to her skin. Great, she’d soon look like a contestant in a wet T-shirt contest. The bride and groom would be thrilled.

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Heat of Passion

“So, did you calm down?” Zoe asked, strolling up to the bar and loading her tray with glasses of champagne.

“If you mean am I happy about the fact that you can see my nipples through this shirt, then no, I haven’t calmed down,” she replied. “But I’ll deal with it, don’t worry.”

“Good.” Zoe grinned. “And you get to deal with it while bringing some beers over to the hottie table. Vanessa said I can’t serve them anymore, because apparently I spend too much time flirting.”

“Where exactly is the hottie table?”

Zoe’s blue eyes twinkled as she slanted her head to the left. Holly followed her coworker’s gaze. The hottie table
indeed
. Four ridiculously attractive men in Navy dress whites sat there, each one more handsome than the next. Like that blond one. Man, there was something unbelievably appealing about that chiseled, GQ face and broad shoulders and—

The color drained from her face.

“Oh my God,” she blurted out, nearly dropping the tray she’d just stacked with beer bottles.

Zoe giggled and tossed her curly hair over her shoulder. “I know, huh? It’s like an orgasmic feast over there!”

Holly’s cheeks went from white to red. Oh
shit
. Was it actually him or was she conjuring up the sight? Because what were the odds of running into her one-night-stand here, at a wedding she was waitressing?

Obviously pretty good, because the guy’s head suddenly swiveled in her direction as if he sensed her presence, and then those deep blue eyes were fixed on her. All doubts drained from her mind. It was him. Her hunk from the Hot Zone. The guy she’d jumped four hours after Steve had dumped her.

“Male model, my ass,” she muttered, though a part of her wasn’t surprised to see he was in the Navy. She hadn’t quite bought his model story anyway.

Zoe gave her a blank look. “Huh?”

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Elle Kennedy

“The guy. The blond.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Remember I told you about the guy I hooked up with a month ago, at the club? Well, that’s
him
.” Delight lit up Zoe’s eyes. “Seriously?”

“Yep.”

Embarrassment heated her face as she thought about that night. She’d gone to the Hot Zone with Caroline, who’d dragged Holly out after finding her in her apartment crying over Steve. Holly hadn’t wanted to go, yet somehow her sister had convinced her they’d have a good time. But ten minutes after they walked into the club, Caroline disappeared with a tall, Latin heartthrob and Holly had found herself alone.

She’d stood in the shadows, trying not to think about Steve, trying not to cry, and that’s when she’d overheard those guys talking. About sex. About needing to get laid.

Normally she thought those types of men were sleazy, but at that moment, something inside her snapped. Suddenly she’d found herself wondering, what would be so bad about sleeping with someone she didn’t know? What would be so terrible about using another man to distract herself from how much Steve had hurt her?

Never in her life had she had a one-night-stand, and if Steve hadn’t ended things so abruptly and left her so distraught, she might not have even considered it. But that night, it seemed like a good idea. So she’d walked up to the guys, asked one to dance, and before she knew it, she’d transformed into someone else. She wasn’t responsible, stressed out Holly Lawson anymore. She was
Jessica
. Jessica, who didn’t clean up her family’s messes or work too hard or get dumped. Jessica did whatever the hell she wanted,
whoever
the hell she wanted, and consequences be damned.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t Jessica, was she? Nope, she was Holly. And in Holly’s life, there were always consequences.

Case in point—the man staring at her from across the sand.

“Holly, this is awesome,” Zoe gushed, jerking her out of her thoughts. “He’s so freaking hot, I’m getting aroused just looking at him. I can’t believe the two of you hooked up! Give me details, girl!”

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Heat of Passion

Holly had no intention of revealing anything, and fortunately she didn’t have to, because Vanessa, the owner of the catering company, was signaling the two waitresses to get back to work.

Of course, getting back to work meant having to deliver the tray of beers to the hottie table, where she’d have to look into the eyes of the man she’d fucked in a closet and explain why she’d run out on him.

Which only confirmed what she’d already accepted years ago—when it came to her life, she could never catch a break.

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“Is it just me or can you totally see through that waitress’s shirt?” Ryan asked, his gaze glued to the brunette who approached their table with very reluctant steps.

Carson couldn’t tear his gaze from her either. He still couldn’t believe she was actually here. Obviously she worked for the catering company, but a part of him couldn’t help wondering if fate was responsible. Hadn’t he just decided that it was time to seek out something more meaningful when it came to women?

Well, who better to explore it with than the woman he’d had the best sex of his life with?

“Oh, I can definitely see through her shirt,” Matt agreed with a little grin. “And I most certainly like what I’m seeing.”

“Hey…” Ryan squinted. “Shit, that’s the girl from the club.” He immediately stared at Carson. “Didn’t you—” He stopped abruptly as Jessica finally reached the table.

Although she was as pretty as he remembered, she looked nothing like the sexy seductress who’d rubbed herself against him on that dance floor. This Jessica seemed shyer, more wholesome, and Carson’s curiosity instantly piqued.

“Hi,” she finally said, awkwardly standing in front of them with a tray full of beers in her hands. “Are you boys having a nice time?”

“We are now,” Ryan muttered, his eyes never leaving her chest.

Carson felt a spark of irritation. Yeah, you could see the outline of her nipples perfectly through that thin white blouse, but he didn’t like that Ryan was ogling her.

Jessica deserved more respect than that.

He locked his gaze with hers and smiled faintly. “Good to see you again, Jessica.” She swallowed, her cheeks reddening. “Um, yeah, you too…um…”

“Carson,” he filled in, bristling. She didn’t even remember his goddamn name?

Heat of Passion

“I remember,” she said, obviously reading his mind. Her hands trembled as she started lifting bottles off her tray and setting them down on the table.

Carson ignored the beer she placed in front of him, his eyes never leaving hers. Her nervousness practically radiated from her pores, and he could tell she was both embarrassed and uncomfortable. He wanted to say something, ask her why she’d hurried off that night, ask her if they could talk when the reception ended, but all of his friends were watching him curiously and he couldn’t seem to form any words.