Breaking All The Rules (Book 1 - Second Chances Series) by Rhonda McKnight Page A

should.”
    I took a deep breath before my next words. “No matter what you think your uncle did you know you need to forgive him, right?”
    The smile dropped from Ethan’s face. He finished chewing the food in his mouth before speaking. “I already have. I’m stepping into his church for the wedding. He’ll know what that means.”
    “Forgiveness, man style?” I asked, smiling.
    “Most definitely different from the way you women do it.”
    We laughed again. Our fingers were still intertwined. He turned my hand over, examining it and rubbing the fingertips and palm until he reached my wrist. “So, tell me, did my transparency earn me some cool points?”
    I slowly pulled my hand out of his. The way he touched it was so sensual that it unnerved me. I lowered my gaze and reached for bread, determined not to say the wrong thing just because everything felt right.
    “I don’t get an answer to that?” he asked.
    I stopped being coy and met his stare. The look in his eyes was more than a little serious. I wanted to tell him he was on overload on the cool points, but I couldn’t. Not in this intimate setting.
    He drummed his fingers on the table and said, “Okay.” I could tell it was not okay. He stood and gathered our salad dishes. “I’m going to take dessert out of the frig, so it can warm up a bit while we eat dinner.”
    I opened my mouth to say something to his back, but I let the protest die on my lips. He was disappointed. I didn’t know what to do about that. This wasn’t a date. It was dinner between friends. I was trying to keep it that way, but Ethan was pushing hard and I didn’t know what he wanted. Sex? Some casual fling while he was in town? He was fine, but he wasn’t fine enough for me to lose my mind and sleep with him.
    I was glad to find out he wasn’t backslidden, but he was still seven years younger than me and he was more than a little bit of a globetrotter. I wasn’t going to be a fool. Ethan Wright was not a man who could be pinned down and I was not a woman who took flight. We weren’t right for each other and I wasn’t going to let a romance in Garrison break my heart. I’d been there and done that.
     
     

Chapter 9
     
    My sleep was troubled. I tossed and turned over how I was leading Ethan on. Still I was glad to see his truck pull in the driveway, because I was two seconds from putting my hand around Janette’s throat. She was such an overly dramatic princess about everything – her cow ankles that she’d named cankles, her sore breast, her weight and her pre-wedding jitters. Terrance had no idea what he signed on for. I would have to put up with her whining and complaining for a little more than a week, Terrance for life. But----- that was his problem, not mine. He wanted to date his ex’s sister. Well, he had her. Maybe the best revenge was letting people live with their choices.
    I grabbed my bag and made my way out to the truck. Ethan was waiting next to the passenger side door for me. He opened it, I climbed in and he joined me. “You look like you’ve eaten some nails,” he said.
    “It’s Janette. I’ve had my fill of her.”
    “It’s only eight a.m.?”
    “It doesn’t take much with my sister.” I pulled my seat belt around me.
    “You want to talk about it?”
    “Not at all,” I replied. “Let’s get going.”
    I took in his look through my peripheral vision. He and I were dressed alike in jeans and tee-shirts. He also sported a crocheted skull cap patterned as a soccer ball. He looked cool and of course handsome. It sure didn’t take much for him. Sex appeal oozed from his pores.
    I caught him looking at my feet, or more aptly, he was staring at my leopard printed pony ankle boots.
    “I can walk in these for twenty hours,” I declared, raising a leg and wiggling my foot.
    “Does the red bottom guy make any shoes that don’t have ten inch heels?”
    “The red bottom guy is Christian Louboutin,” I said to be clear. “Yes, he makes flats,