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He pulled away after a minute, and Sam made a small noise of protest. Ethan kissed the tip of her nose, his cheeks flushed, his smile sweet.
“Now you’re properly dazzled.”
And damn if the cheeky devil wasn’t right.
Sometimes it takes a couple of tries before you get love right.
Best of Three
© 2013 Erin Nicholas
Counting on Love, Book 3
Emma Dixon is known for getting in over her head—and having a great time doing it. She’s aware her shenanigans rub Nate Sullivan the wrong way, but getting a rise out of the cocky surgeon is one of her favorite pastimes. Truth be told, exasperated looks aren’t the only things she wants from the guy.
Nate has no intention of taking another trip down the falling-in-love road. Women are carefully compartmentalized—to his bedroom. Women who don’t mind his take-charge tendencies. Women very different from sassy, sexy, independent Emma.
But his usual strategy of arguing with Emma to keep from kissing her goes out the window when his son falls in love with her friend’s daughter. Emma sees a normal teenage romance. Nate sees his plans for the boy’s future ruined.
As Nate tries to derail the relationship, Emma runs interference, putting herself directly in the path of the chemistry that grows stronger every time they butt heads. And that could very well lead to the best surprise of all.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Best of Three:
He turned her so her belly was against the railing and caged her in by placing his hands on the railing on either side of her. “Look for Michael and Shannon.”
They stood like that, not moving, scanning the crowd for a few minutes. Eventually, she shifted off of her right leg, leaning onto her left.
He resisted the urge to put his hand on her hip, to rub it or…something. “You’re that sore?”
“Stiff.”
He barely heard her over the music and crowd. He put his mouth close to her ear. “What were you doing this morning that hurt it?”
She turned her face so her mouth was closer to his. “Trying some advanced yoga poses.”
“You need to be careful not to push too fast.” He had no problem with yoga. Emma’s physical condition prior to the accident and surgery had given her the potential for full recovery. But some things simply took time.
“I’d be happy to show you what I was trying and you can tell me if it’s too much.”
There was something in her voice, even with the music thumping and the crowd noise rumbling around them that made his body react. He was sure Emma demonstrating any yoga poses would be too much—of something.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Chicken.”
Very likely.
They didn’t try to talk for a couple of minutes. Then he felt compelled to say, “It’s normal, you know. To still be stiff and sore at times. And you
’re trying high level stuff.” It was normal. And it was good for him to remember that too. He hadn’t failed her. He’d put her back together and had done a hell of a job. She was healing. She was getting better. She was going to be fine.
He saw dozens of people every week in her same—and worse—condition. Their lingering aches and pains never bothered him.
But it bugged the hell out of him to think of Emma hurting.
“I know that, Nate.” She sounded frustrated. “That doesn’t make it not hurt. You say that to me all the time, and I’ll bet you say it fifty times a day to other people. And then you don’t see us for six weeks and by then it is better and you feel all great about yourself and what you did. But living with it day to day is different. So…shut up, okay?”
He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She was right, of course. So he did shut up.
