Boston Avant-Garde: Impetuous Read Online Free PDF Page B

bag.
    “It’s no problem. I need to run a few errands and get some air.”
    “You remember when I first brought Talia in here?”
    Aw, hell.
    “That was the first night I’d met her. She was supposed to be a onetime thing, but I think I knew my life would never be the same.”
    Nicolai didn’t bother trying to explain to Erik that he had nothing to offer a girl like that. He’d already given her everything he had. Even if the two of them had forged some kind of strange connection, there was nothing there to sustain it. He had nothing but the bar, and that was if he could ever manage to get it back.

Chapter Four
    “It’s dinner out. Couldn’t you have at least made yourself a little more presentable?” Her mother leaned down and air-kissed Desiree’s cheek. “Harmon is here. You should’ve worn that new dress I picked up for you last week.”
    “Thanks, but I’m not that desperate for a walk down the aisle.”
    “Delia Desiree Aasen, I just want what’s best for you.” Mother brushed her fingers across Desiree’s cheek before taking her seat.
    As always, hearing her full name reduced Desiree to a little girl. She’d spent most of her life trying to be the woman her mother wanted her to be. Mama did want what was best—she just couldn’t understand why they couldn’t agree on what best was. Desiree wanted to belong, to make her mother happy. But to Annaline Aasen, happiness was marriage to the right man and a good review on the society page. And tonight the right man was Harmon Wilhelm, the last guy Desiree would ever want to spend her life with.
    Pasting a warm smile on her face, Desiree bit back half a dozen sarcastic responses to her mother’s prodding. It would do no good to start an argument right there in the restaurant. Across the table, Selena and her fiancé were having their center-stage moment. Jackson’s family and several close business associates sat in clusters around the table.
    Her mother had reserved a private dining room for, what seemed to Desiree, another in an endless parade of engagement parties. An elegant crystal chandelier hung from the vaulted ceiling. The windows were draped in lengths of richly brocaded red fabric. Their table was set with enough ornate silverware and expensive courses to service a royal feast.
    Ignoring the boring array of table conversation, she entertained thoughts of what would happen if the chandelier suddenly fell in the middle of the table. One had to imagine Selena might not be too upset if she became the tragic, star-crossed heroine. As long as the story appeared beside a full-color photograph in the Herald , she would wind up pretty happy with the results.
    “You look stunning this evening, Desiree.”
    She had to take a quick swallow from her water glass to remove the lump that had suddenly lodged itself in her throat. The smug smile on her younger sister’s face indicated that she’d most definitely encouraged cousin Harmon to swap seats and plant himself beside Desiree.
    “So what have you been up to since we chatted back in April?”
    April? They’d talked in April? Desiree could vaguely remember seeing him for all of two minutes at one of Selena’s parties. “Nothing interesting. How about yourself?”
    It was the right thing to say. Harmon waxed poetic about some new merger he was spearheading at the family firm. Desiree had never been interested in business. That was her brother’s thing. Even when Erik hadn’t wanted to run Aasen International, he’d been good at it. Besides, she wasn’t supposed to be interested in the business. Her job was to look pretty, plan social events, and eventually breed heirs for whatever man she managed to attract. Given that, it was really no wonder she’d wound up in bed with Nicolai. One night with him was better than a lifetime of conventional sex.
    As far as men went, Harmon was pretty well exactly what Desiree was supposed to be trying to attract. Too bad the idea of living with him for the