Mr Imperfect Read online

  © 2013 Wicked Sassy

  All rights reserved.

  Original publication: February 2013

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination, and are not to be construed as real.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, whether by graphic, visual, electronic, film, microfilm, tape recording, or any other means, without prior written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief passages embodied in reviews and articles.

  Chapter 1

  Mike’s sister was up to something. That was nothing new, really, but this time something was a little different—a little more elaborate. Elaborate enough that Mike’s mom was poking her nose in.

  “Kris heading over,” his mom said when he picked up the phone. “She just passed on a girls’ night with Jessica to golf with Caleb.”

  “The plot thickens,” Mike said, peeking out his window just in time to see his sister come into view. “I see her. Gotta go.”

  “Golf, Mike. You know how she lectures your father on how many children could be fed each year on his golf fees.”

  “Yes, Mom. I’ve caught that lecture more than once. Now if we don’t want Kris to catch me on the phone with you we need to hang up.”

  “Just find out what you can.”

  “On it.”

  “I thought this was all about Luke at first, but he’s not here to catch any of this. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” he said, watching his sister move up to the porch.” Gotta go.”

  “Love you, sweetie.”

  “You, too.”

  Hanging up, Mike quickly put on his work headphones and faced the wedding video on his computer screen. It was finished, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t convincingly move his mouse around. After all, his sister might be the one to come up with all the elaborate plots, but Mike always been the better actor. It seemed it was once again time to put his skills to use.

  Chapter 2

  Kris walked through the neighboring front door and was met with silence. It was always easy to tell when Luke wasn’t home. The guy always surrounded himself with noise—TV, radio, video games, whatever. As long as it caused percussion on the ear drums. Her brother, Mike, on the other hand, was all about silence. The only way to tell if he was home or not was to actually find him. Not that it was hard. Nine out of ten time he could be found in the exact same spot.

  Moving through the entry, Kris turned left down the hall until she reached the half-closed door to Mike’s home office. When she pushed the door open there he was, sitting in front of his precious Mac with his noise-cancelling headphones on, eyes glued to the screen.

  “Knock, knock,” she said, rapping her knuckle again the door frame of his home office. He didn’t look up. With those headphones of his meant to block out all things Luke, it could be the Fourth of July outside and Mike wouldn’t notice. Kris grabbed one of the mini foam balls that went with his toy basketball hoop and tossed it at his head. Direct hit.

  Mike moved his headphones to drape around his neck. “I’ve got to start storing those balls farther from the door.”

  Kris shrugged. “You take away the foam balls and I’ll just find something else to throw at your head.”

  “Note taken,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “And what does the riffraff want today?”

  “Golf clubs,” she said, grabbing another ball, and this time shooting at the hoop. “Caleb wants to take me to the range and impress me with how far he can hit little balls.”

  Kris watched her brother press his lips together to suppress his knee-jerk response to the mere mention of her most recent boyfriend. Caleb and Mike had history, none of it good. But Mike had promised Kris he’d play nice with the guy, and Mike was nothing if not a man of his word.

  “You hate golf,” he said, watching her closely. Kris could see the wheels in his brain turning as he tried to guess her motives. He’d understand soon enough, but for now he needed to stay in the dark.

  Kris shrugged. “Caleb escorted me to my company party and played nice with all the people who decide my pay grade. That’s a fair trade for a round of golf.”

  “Ah, so you two work on the dating barter system? Alternating unpleasant dates in the name of true love?”

  A corner of Kris’s mouth curved up before she could stop it. “Shut up. Can I borrow them or not?”

  “Guess that depends,” he hedged, still watching her. “Will you go golfing with me the next time I ask?”

  “No way,” she laughed. “You want to go golfing with a girl? Call that girl who was just draping herself on your front porch earlier and go on an actual date.”

  Mike let out a slow breath. “She was hot. Maybe if she’s around in a few months…”

  “Yeah. I’ll pray for that,” Kris drawled. “Until then, how about those clubs?”

  “Use them. You know where they are, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Perfect. Kris had her own set of clubs for the night. That gave her leverage with Caleb, which was something she was growing short on. The more money he spent on her, the more he acted like he owned her. The more she kept his wallet in his pocket, the easier it was to put him off at the end of the night. And she needed Caleb to keep his paws off for just a few more days.

  Then it would be game on.

  “Sure you don’t want to break up with him tonight?” Mike offered. “Luke’s coming home tomorrow, and we both know how well he’ll take the news of your new fling with Caleb.”

  It was pathetic that the mere mention of Mike’s best friend had Kris feeling a little jittery. Less than seventeen hours and Luke would be home. Not that she was counting down.

  “He can deal,” she said, suddenly not knowing where to look or where to put her hands. She grabbed another ball and tossed it at the hoop. Air ball. “He always has before.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve never dated his arch enemy from high school before either. We both know he’s going to be pissed that you’re kissing the enemy.”

  Kris rolled her eyes, hoping that her forced laugh sounded natural. “Whatever. It’s just kissing, bro. Luke will get over it.” Or at least that was Kris’s biggest fear—that Luke would get over it. Because after years of trying to make Luke jealous—of trying to get him to step in and take notice—Luke never had. Not once. And if he didn’t do so with Caleb, then that meant only one thing.

  He didn’t care. And if Luke didn’t care about Kris any more than the average friend, then…

  Then what?

  It wasn’t something she had time to consider at the moment. Caleb would be picking her up in fifteen minutes, and the guy was never late.

  “Thanks for the clubs.”

  “Just don’t throw them into a lake,” Mike said, pulling his headphones back up into place.

  The imagery got a smile out of her. “I’ll do my best. Have fun working into the night, weirdo.”

  Mike rolled his eyes and sent her a distracted wave before turning his focus back to the screen.

  Chapter 3

  Sensing a drop in altitude, Rori glanced out the plane window as was rewarded with the top view of mountain ranges as far as she could see. It was nice to know that her new fiancé, Luke, hadn’t lied about wilderness access when he talked her into visiting his home.

  Her fiancé.

  Rori wasn’t sure which was the bigger surprise, that Luke had asked her to marry him, or that she’d agreed. Two weeks ago, they hadn’t even known the other was alive. And now? There was a wedding to plan.

  Next to her, Luke was peering out the first-class window. “Home, sweet home.”

  Rori studied the man who had impulsively dropped to one
knee in the Chiang Mai airport. Luke Foster. The guy was pretty much an open book with the guile of a puppy and the bank account of a tycoon. A man who routinely flew business class then spent half the time on the plane peering out the window like a kid who had never flown before. Luke was a rare combination to find in a man, and very refreshing one. But that wasn’t the only reason she’d said yes when he’d proposed.

  The world Rori had been raised in was ruled by propriety and protocol, while Luke was so blessedly… unrefined. From his loud, chatty mouth down to his Nikes, Luke was a hybrid between what Rori wanted for herself and what her mother wanted for her. So of course she had to jump on the chance to see what could be between them. The fact that he had just saved her the six figures she’d been about to pay out in order to be matched up with someone just like him only sweetened the pot. Clearly their “chance” meeting in Thailand had been fate.

  Next to her, Luke turned to Rori, his smile too pure to belong to a millionaire in his mid-twenties. “You’re going to love the Cannons. They’re awesome. More like my family than my real family. They live two doors down—well, Mike is my roommate, like I said, but the rest of them live two doors down.”

  He chatted like a girl. It wasn’t something Rori was sure she liked yet, but she had to confess it was better than being silent and cold. “I look forward to meeting them.”

  His grin widened. “They’re totally going to grill you. It’s how we roll. It’s our job to make sure none of the others get into serious relationships with psychos.”

  “Ah,” Rori said wisely. “So psychos are reserved for casual relationships only?”

  Luke nodded, not hearing the sarcasm. “Totally. They can be fun for a while, but long term?” He pulled a face, shaking his head quickly. “Psychos are expensive!”

  That got a laugh out of her as she again assessed her potential future husband.

  “Anyway, just know that’s what they’re doing if you feel like they’re poking around. They’re just making sure you’re not bonkers.”

  “Got it,” she said, giving his hand a little squeeze.

  “Say it again,” he whispered in Rori’s ear, confusing her.

  “Say what?”

  Luke smiled at her, a finger coming up to toy with one of her long, spiraling curls. “Anything, really. I just love your accent.”

  Ah, yes. Americans and their love of accents. “Well, I’m glad you like it, because it’s part of the package deal.”

  “I’ll take it,” he said, just before pressing his lips to hers. The contact was light. Respectful. Maybe even a little brotherly, but Rori attributed that to the plane. The time and place certainly wasn’t appropriate for them to start exploring what kind of chemistry they would have together.

  It was all very Victorian, really, to be engaged to a man who hadn’t kissed her until after he proposed. Rori wasn’t expecting that aspect of their relationship to stay quaint for very long, though. Men were men and sex was sex. He’d want it soon enough.

  But for now, the polite pecks were pleasant.

  “Man, they’re going to freak,” Luke said, eyes glazing over and seeing something only in his mind.

  “The Cannons?” she guessed.

  “Totally,” he said, smiling. “I’ve thrown some crazy stuff their way, but this kind of takes the cake. I’ve always just dated someone and then moved on when things started getting all serious or the m-word came up.”

  Rori raised an eyebrow. “The m-word?”

  Luke laughed at himself. “I know, right? I’ve always been so phobic before. They’re going to freak when I say we’re getting married. And they’re probably going to insist that we stick it out for six months before we tie the knot, since that’s my record for my longest relationship.”

  “I’m sure we can pull that off,” Rori agreed. “If we can’t make it through six months of engagement, we certainly have no business getting married.”

  He looked relieved to hear her say that. “For sure. Man, you’re cool. Like seriously unbelievable. You just roll with things. I’m used to Kris. She’s a total control freak—always planning things and creating action items. She’d have her calendar out right now and be forcing me to pick a date before we landed.”

  “Maybe we should let her pick the date for us,” Rori teased, surprised when Luke jumped on the idea.

  “Totally! She and Mike would be the best wedding planners ever. Mike’s filmed so many proposals and weddings, I’m pretty sure he could arrange for a wedding in his sleep. And he and Kris basically read each other’s minds. Sometimes they seem more like twins or something.”

  “They sound… handy,” Rori said, still somewhat baffled with Luke’s obsession with the Cannon family. Lucky for her, she’d be meeting them all that night. Maybe then she’d see what all the rapturing was about.

  “Way handy,” Luke agreed, his mind slipping away to some happy place that had him grinning and leaning across her to see how close they were to landing. “Man, Mike is going to freak.”

  “Why just Mike?”

  “Oh, he’s picking us up,” he said excitedly. “You’ll meet him in like twenty minutes. You’re going to love him.”

  “I’m sure I will,” she said, just as the pilot came over the speakers announcing their descent into the Salt Lake City International airport.

  Chapter 4

  The only time Mike could count on Luke to be on time—ever—was if a third party stepped in and forced him to be. In this case, it was Delta Airlines that delivered Luke to his gate ten minutes ahead of schedule. Still, Mike settled himself in for a decent wait.

  Something would distract Luke in between his gate and the luggage claim—a hot girl he wanted to impress, a scent in a restaurant Luke just had to taste, a conversation that started somewhere over Kansas that he just had to finish. Whatever it was, somehow Luke would be late enough to tempt Mike into making him take a cab.

  It happened every time. And yet every time Luke needed a ride, Mike always showed up on time, just like his mom trained him, even though he knew Luke would be an hour late.

  Whatever. That’s what smart phones had been invented for.

  Leaning against the wall, Mike opened the email he’d saved for the occasion and got to work, glancing up on occasion to see if Luke had magically appeared. Within a few minutes Luke’s flight number popped up on a baggage carousel to his left. Mike drifted over to the carousel and continued catching up on his emails until a casual glance up into the crowd had him doing a double take.

  Some women were pretty. Others were beautiful, classy , voluptuous, trashy, or sleek. This woman transcended adjectives in Mike’s book. She was like a goddess trying to blend in with the mundane. For the first time in Mike’s life, the floor seemed to fall out from under him. He felt as if he were falling, even though he knew his feet were firmly set on cold tile of the airport lobby.

  So out of my league, he thought, even as his eyes locked on to the amused pucker of her lips and imagined the feel of them against his own. Where he was light, she was dark—dark hair, dark eyes, and her skin a shade that might be a tan or might be natural coloring.

  Mike’s falling sensation stopped as abruptly as it started as he spotted Luke next to the woman, talking enthusiastically while she smiled patiently. The two of them had probably sat next to each other on the flight, and since Luke was Luke, he’d probably talked her ear off the entire time.

  Well, Luke may have seen this woman first, but Mike wasn’t leaving the airport until he had her number, or she had his. Dating moratorium be damned, some women were worth breaking oaths for.

  Navigating his way through the crowd to join his friend, Mike kept his eyes on the woman. At the moment he could only see part of her profile and her hair. It would be pretty hard to miss that hair. Long, full, and rebelliously curly. Both styled and haphazard, it gave the impression that her personality might be along the same lines, structured with a wild streak.

  Mike felt his heart pick up its rhythm in his
chest and sent himself a mental cautionary note not to get too excited just yet. He didn’t know this girl—all he knew was that he wanted to know what it felt like to bury his fingers in her hair. But good hair did not equal good personality. She might be boring. Maybe she was a snob. She could be a lot of things that weren’t worth getting worked up over.

  Still, his heart pounded and he wiped his hands on his jeans before making the last few steps to the couple and punching Luke in the shoulder.

  “What’s up, man?” he asked, purposefully addressing Luke first. He had to play it cool.

  Luke turned from searching the baggage carousel and a smile cracked his face. “Hey, good to see you!”

  True to Luke’s nature, he threw his arms around Mike in a hug, giving Mike a chance to take his first close-up look at the mystery girl as she eyed their man hug with a hint of amusement.

  Stunning. There was no other word for her. Beautiful was off the mark because in Mike’s mind it drew visions of beauty mixed with vulnerability, like a flower. This girl had a sharpness behind her eyes that hinted that she was nobody’s fool. Her features were strong and looked Mediterranean or maybe Spanish. Definitely regal. She was a woman who was comfortable in her own skin. And speaking of her skin, it was perfect. Smooth and sun kissed with no make-up.

  Mike looked at her eyes last. He knew wouldn’t earn him any points with her, but what was done was done. She was looking at him funny now, indicating that Mike had surpassed the unspoken time limit for either checking her out or engaging in a man hug. Maybe both. For a moment, though, he couldn’t care. Her single cocked eyebrow had Mike studying her eyes, which he was quite sure were the darkest shade of hazel he had ever seen. He’d have to get closer to know for sure, but they looked like a emerald green shining through a tawny filter.

  “Whoa,” Luke said, pushing him away and chuckling. “It’s good to see you too, man, but save the PDA and grab that bag will you?”