All Your Loving (Bachelors & Bridesmaids) Read Online Free Page A

importantly that she'd somehow been talked into giving him a cooking lesson at his home. What a crazy turn of events. She hadn't thought she'd ever see him again after the way things had ended in the parking lot, but Matt had surprised her with an apology.
    She almost wished he hadn't come to find her, because seeing him tonight had sent some ridiculous nervous shivers down her spine, and while he'd been talking to her, she'd found herself thinking about his mouth, his lips, and the way his tongue had slid against the seam of her lips during their unexpected kiss.
    He was a ballplayer, and she hated ballplayers, she reminded herself.
    But Matt was turning out to be not that easy to hate. He was charming her, and she was letting his good looks and sexy smile get to her. That was just part of the game, she told herself. Of course, he knew how to get a woman to like him. Charm was part of the celebrity sports star package. But she knew what happened after all that. She'd seen her mother go through it, and the last thing she needed to do was follow her mother down that same path.
    So she'd give Matt a cooking lesson and that would be that. He'd honor his commitment, and in a few weeks, she'd never have to see him again.
    She made her way back to her office and had barely sat back down at her desk when her phone buzzed. Despite her very recent mental pep talk, her stomach turned over at the sight of Matt's name in her text messages.
    "Looking forward to tomorrow," he said, his address following the brief message.
    Yeah, he was definitely working the attentive angle. She leaned back in her chair with a sigh, feeling way too distracted and restless to keep working.
    Picking up her phone again, she texted her friend Liz to see if she wanted to grab dinner. Liz sent back an immediate yes. She was looking at wedding venues with Kate so they'd both meet her in thirty minutes.
    She sighed again. Liz's words reminded her that Liz was her third friend to get engaged in the last year, and soon she would be adding another bridesmaid's dress to her closet. Liz hadn't set a date for her wedding yet, but Julie had a feeling it would be soon. Liz's father was sick, and while he was holding his own at the moment, Liz very much wanted her dad to walk her down the aisle, so she would not go for a long engagement. Hopefully, her dad's health would remain stable and he would be by Liz's side on her wedding day. Liz's relationship with her father had always been so close, and Julie had sometimes been a little jealous of that.
    She would have loved to have her father in her life. But even before the divorce, he'd rarely been around and afterward he'd disappeared. He'd moved on, and she doubted he'd ever looked back. Her father surrounded himself with people who adored him—people like Matt Kingsley. She'd seen Matt's face when she mentioned her father was the infamous Jack Michaels, and Matt had sat up a little straighter, obviously impressed. And it wasn't just that Matt knew of Jack but they'd played together. Jack had been Matt's mentor, so of course, Matt idolized her father. Jack Michaels was everyone's hero—but hers.
    She needed to get Matt out of her life as fast as possible, because he was already bringing up way too many memories. Ten days, she told herself. Ten days and then she would never have to see him again. But she had a feeling those ten days were going to prove to be more than a little interesting and challenging.
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
    Liz Palmer was a brown-eyed blonde who'd been friends with Julie since middle school and Kate Marlowe was a pretty brunette Julie had met her first week in college. They'd been friends ever since. Liz worked in public relations and had just changed firms while Kate ran her own wedding planning business, which was actually picking up steam with so many of their friends getting married.
    Drinks were followed by dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant in the Ferry Building where Julie listened to lots