Until Now. Kayla Perrin

on.

      His hand went to her upper back and urged her closer. Tamara’s cheek pressed against pecs that were rounded with muscles. And—she couldn’t help noting—a perfect place for a woman to lay her head.

      Good grief, what was wrong with her?

      The second song ended, and Tamara slid her hands down Marshall’s arms and began to step backward. “Again, thank you for the dance,” Tamara said, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

      She saw Marshall’s eyes widen with lust, and she had to inwardly smile. Yeah, she had his number. All a woman had to do was bat her eyelashes and give him a little bit of feminine charm, and he would eat it up.

      “You’re leaving me already?” Marshall asked once she had maneuvered herself out of his arms.

      “Fast song. And I have two left feet.” She smiled sweetly.

      He came to stand beside her and leaned into her. “Let’s go to my table, then...to talk.”

      “Thank you,” Tamara reiterated firmly. “The dance was nice.”

      “But I haven’t even begun to get to know you.”

      Tamara simply shrugged, then started to walk away.

      Marshall fell into step beside her. “I see. You’re going to make me chase you.”

      “Aren’t there some other attractive women here that you’d like to get to know?”

      “The only woman I’m interested in getting to know here is you. Trust me on that.”

      Tamara already knew his game. He liked a challenge. He had chased Gloria until she finally gave in, and once she had surrendered to him, that had been it. The thrill for Marshall had been gone.

      “I’ll see you around, Marshall.”

      “Oh, no, you don’t.”

      But when Marshall placed a hand on her arm, Tamara shrugged out of his touch and kept walking. Seconds later, she turned to look over her shoulder and saw him standing and staring after her with his hands placed on his hips and his bottom lip pulled between his teeth.

      Poor Marshall. He clearly had no clue how to handle rejection.

      Tamara chuckled as she made her way over to Callie.

      Chapter 3

      “Tamara,” Marshall said as he pulled out a chair and took a seat beside Nigel. “I want to know everything about her.”

      Nigel looked at him askance. “Didn’t I just see you dancing with her?”

      “Yes. But it ended too soon.”

      “Ahh, rejected,” Nigel said with a grin.

      “Feels more like a game to me,” Marshall said. Tamara had undoubtedly flirted with him. And now she wanted to see if he would chase her. “Tell me about her.”

      “She’s been Callie’s friend for years. She’s the one who Callie had to go to Florida to testify for.”

      “Ahh, that’s right. The one with the crazy ex.”

      “So I wouldn’t say she’s playing any cat-and-mouse games. I seriously doubt she’s ready for any of that.” Nigel looked him dead in the eye. “You’re interested?”

      “Can you blame me?” Marshall looked in her direction. “Look at her. She’s gorgeous.”

      “And she’s off-limits,” Nigel said.

      Marshall jerked his gaze back to Nigel, frowning. “She just ended her marriage. You telling me she’s already dating someone else?”

      “No, I mean she’s off-limits to you.”

      Marshall began to smile. “Should I be offended?”

      “What I’m trying to say is that she’s had a rough year. She’s just closed the door on her abusive ex-husband. She’s not the typical girl you like to hook up with, the kind who’s interested in having a hot fling and nothing more.”

      Marshall nodded. “So basically you’re telling me I should stay away from her because you think I’d hurt her.”

      “Not on purpose. But considering I doubt she wants what you want, yeah, I see the risk of her getting hurt.”

      “No worries, Nigel. I’m not planning to hurt her. I’d just like to get to know her a little bit better.”

      Nigel gave him a knowing look.

      “You telling me I can’t even talk to her?”

      “You’re a big boy. I’d never tell you that. But she is Callie’s friend, which means I want to look out for her. She’s got to be vulnerable right now, so I would take that into consideration.”

      “I’m your best friend, Nigel. You know I’m not some evil guy.”

      “Of course not. If you were, we wouldn’t be friends. Just...keep in mind what I said. She’s fresh out of her marriage, so I don’t imagine she’d be interested in anything. But I do know that I don’t want to see her hurt any further.”

      “Duly noted.”

      Marshall looked in her direction again and caught her looking at him. She quickly averted her eyes. He smiled, because he’d caught her looking.

      Oh, yeah, she was interested in him. At the very least, she liked what she saw. She hadn’t told him to get lost, and then there had been that whole flirtatious exchange. Marshall knew when a woman found him attractive.

      But she was vulnerable. He could deal with the fact that she’d been hurt.

      Because he wasn’t planning to cause her any more pain.

      In fact, his thoughts were far from that.

      * * *

      Half an hour later, the crowd was cheering as Eric made a production of taking the garter belt off of his bride’s thigh. With Deanna seated in a chair, Eric teased her as he slipped his hands beneath her gown, much to the crowd’s delight, and lowered the blue garter. As people whistled and clapped, he gripped the garter with his teeth once it was past her knee and dragged it down to her ankle.

      The crowd went wild.

      Deanna blushed as Eric finally pulled the garter over her toes. Then he jumped to his feet, triumphant.

      “All the single men, get ready for the garter toss,” the DJ announced.

      The eligible men went to the dance floor behind Eric and vied for the best position to catch the garter. Tamara and the guests laughed as Eric pretended he was going to throw it one way—more than once—before ultimately tossing it over his shoulder high to his far right.

      Marshall, who’d actually been standing just left of Eric about ten feet back, leaped so far to the right that he was able to snag the material with the tips of his fingers. Victorious, he secured it in his fist and did a little dance while the other men around him accepted defeat.

      “Of course,” Tamara muttered.

      “What was that?” Callie asked her.

      “Nothing.”

      “And now it’s time for the single ladies. All single ladies to the dance floor for the bouquet toss!”

      When Tamara didn’t move, Callie made a face at her. “Aren’t you getting up?”

      Tamara scoffed. “I don’t think so.”

      “Come on, Tamara. It’ll be fun.”

      Tamara shook her head. “There are plenty of single ladies getting up already.”

      “Most of whom look too young to get married. Get your butt up there.”

      “It’s