Hot Finish (Fast Track #3)(4)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“I guess that’s a no on the sex.”

Now she actually gritted her teeth and made a sound that was sort of like a snarl.

Damn. “Okay, well, this is unexpected, but it can’t be that big of a deal, right? Does it really matter?”

“Yes, it matters! It’s just . . . wrong to still be married when we’re not supposed to be married. And this is all your fault, as usual.”

Ryder bristled. “How is this my fault?” He’d heard that so many times when they were married, it was the one phrase guaranteed to make him defensive.

“It says you never showed up for your court appearance. You were supposed to give the lawyer power of attorney to appear for you or you were supposed to do it. And you never did.”

Searching his memory back two years, Ryder shifted uneasily, wishing Suzanne’s kitchen were a little wider. He suddenly felt the need to back up a little. Out of swinging distance. “I can’t say that I remember one way or the other. I seem to recall signing a lot of papers.”

But he definitely didn’t remember ever going to court. She might be right on that one. Damn it. He hated it when Suzanne was right.

“Well, you obviously didn’t sign the right papers. God!” Suzanne yanked the papers back off his chest and threw her hands up in total exasperation.

Ty’s head poked around the corner. “Is everything okay in here?”

“Yes,” Ryder said.

“No,” Suzanne said.

“Maybe you could do this another time? You’ve got a lot of women in the other room with short attention spans. The blondes are getting restless.”

Ryder said, “Thanks, we’ll be there in a second.”

Ty paused, like he wasn’t sure if leaving them alone would result in the need to call 911, but he went back into the dining room, a frown on his face.

Holding his hand out for the packet, Ryder said in as calm of a voice as he could muster, “I’ll call the lawyer and take care of it. No big deal.”

Suz held the packet tighter against her chest, the papers crumpling over her br**sts. Momentarily distracted by the way her curves were nicely displayed in her sweater, Ryder didn’t realize for a second she wasn’t handing him the packet.

“I need the stuff,” he told her, when he finally recovered from the unexpected blast of horniness.

“Like I’m stupid enough to give you the papers. You’ll lose them or forget to call and in another two years I’ll find out we’re still married! Can you imagine what this had done to my taxes?”

Nope. It had never once occurred to him. And truthfully, he didn’t care. So you filed some paperwork and had your accountant sort it out. No big deal.

But he knew Suzanne worried about money. A lot. First off, because she didn’t have much, and secondly, because she was proud. Too proud to take his help. So if he had screwed up her taxes, he was going to have to fix it, and that was going to be a fight. But that was Round Two. First was getting the damn papers away from her.

“Give me the papers. I’ll take care of it.” Ryder lunged for them, but she anticipated his move.

Suzanne shoved the packet up her sweater, giving him a flash of taut tummy flesh and the bottom of her red bra. He narrowed his eyes, suddenly very much turned on. “You think that’s going to stop me?”

She feigned indignation, but Ryder knew her well enough to know her thoughts had gone in exactly the same direction his had. The light of desire had sparked in her eyes, and he took a step toward her, intending to get those papers back one way or another, while enjoying every minute of the persuading.

But Suzanne squawked, turned tail, and ran. “This conversation is not over,” she called over her shoulder firmly, like she hadn’t just been the one to back down.

“No, it’s not,” he told her, hanging back to appreciate the way her ass looked in her narrow skirt. She had some curves, and he loved every single one.

It had been a long time since he’d seen Suzanne naked, but he remembered every inch of her body, every delicious nook and cranny.

They were still married.

Huh.

For whatever reason, he couldn’t bring himself to be all that worked up about that odd little fact.

SUZANNE was trying to hold it together. More people had shown up, cramming into her tiny condo, including her friend Tammy Briggs-Monroe, Elec’s wife, who had been sucked into this circus of a wedding herself as a bridesmaid.

“Are you okay?” Tammy asked her quietly, under the guise of leaning down to pick up a dropped bridal magazine.

“Not really,” Suzanne said. “But I’ll be okay. It’s not a big deal.”

That’s what Ryder had said, more than once. It wasn’t a big deal. So they were still legally married . . . that was just a piece of paper.

But it felt like a big deal. It felt like someone had reached into her chest and peeled out her heart with an ice cream scoop. The truth was, she wasn’t entirely over the bastard.

Which she didn’t exactly understand or appreciate and now was not the time to be reminded of it.

“If you want to talk about it later, give me a call,” Tammy told her, her expression concerned.

“Thanks.” Then knowing she needed to get her act together or potentially lose Nikki as a client and have to give back that beautiful fat check resting in her wallet already, Suzanne fixed a smile on her face.

“Nikki, are any of these bride or bridesmaid gowns appealing to you? Sometimes just seeing a dress you love can help us build your wedding around it.” At a loss as to what to do with the guys, Suzanne had Jonas writing a guest list for his family and the rest of them competing to see who could download better bridal shower games on their BlackBerrys.

Nikki’s bridesmaids were flipping through bridal magazines, their voices high-pitched and excited, silky in tone, stupid in content. If Suzanne heard one more of the twigs claim she couldn’t wear such-and-such dress because it would make her look fat, Suzanne was going to smack her with a fudge brownie.

“I think I should pick my theme first,” Nikki said, biting her bottom lip, then realizing what she was doing and caressing her lip like she could fix the damage with a little love.

“What about Star Trek?” Evan said, shooting a wink at Suzanne.

Funny.

“Eew!” was Nikki’s opinion.

“What about a race car theme?” one of the bridesmaids, whose name Suzanne would never remember, suggested.

“I can’t,” Nikki said, sniffing in irritation at the Monroes. “Elec and Tamara did that already for their wedding.”