Broken Wings (Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

a Monday night or any day for that matter; at the very least, the car park was only ever half full and that was on a busy day. Suddenly she felt apprehensive as she was not used to going out too much these days. She checked her face in the mirror before heading into the pub, her eyes searching frantically for Lucy. The place was heaving and the bar was five-deep. Lucy suddenly came into view, waving her hand in the air. “Angelina, over here! “Hey you made it then, I did wonder if you would change your mind,” teased Lucy.
    “ Oh ye have little faith! Hey Richard, good to see you. So you’re responsible for this chin-dig then?”
    “ Oh yeah, I sure am. Come over here, there is someone I’d like you to meet.” “Richard weaved Lucy in and out of the crowd with Angelina trailing behind until they came to an abrupt stop. “Angelina, I would like you to meet Joshua, one of my oldest friends and a hero no less.”
    Joshua looked up in surprise. “I would hardly call myself a hero, Richard!” Joshua's eyes met with Angelina’s; they were both surprised to see each other at the party. Angelina smiled up at Joshua, who stood just over six foot tall. She felt her stomach turn and suddenly felt self-conscious, wishing she'd made more of an effort.
    “ Lovely to see you again. So you’re a soldier?”
    There was a brief silence between them before Joshua answered; he found himself mesmerized by her. “Yes, I'm a soldier, and don’t listen to Richard. I am no hero! He's always had a tendency to exaggerate.”
    Angelina smiled shyly. “Okay, I think I get the message, Joshua, you’re no hero! Now we have established that, I need to get myself a drink.” Angelina headed off to the bar, leaving Joshua standing with his mouth agape, before he could even offer to buy her one. She turned around and threw him a cheeky smile, pleased he was still looking her way. She felt a strong connection with him, one she was finding increasingly harder to deny by the minute.
    At the bar, while she waited for her J20, Lucy snuck up behind her. “Well then, come on fill me in,” she said curiously.
    “ Okay, okay, I have met him a couple of times; he kind of rescued me Sunday morning when I slipped while I was out running. He just appeared from nowhere, Lucy. And prior to that, my car broke down just after we left the pub the other Saturday, and he stopped after I flagged him down like a crazy woman and drove me home.”
    Lucy could not believe what she was hearing. “And you did not think to mention all this to me? Angelina, for goodness sake, how could you not tell me?” she screamed with childish excitement.
    “ Sorry Lucy, you know me. It was no big deal, and besides I know what you’re like! You would have tracked the poor guy down yourself and gotten his number, just to get me dating again,” Angelina said, laughing.
    “ True, very true, God, am I that bad? I guess I am, but it’s only because I care about you. Anyway, do you like him? He’s pretty gorgeous, don’t you think? The only problem is he thinks pretty much like you; not interested in getting involved with anyone right now, too focused on his Army career by all accounts, so Richard tells me. Believe me, Richard has tried to fix him up once or twice and he just wasn't interested.”
    They headed back towards Richard and Joshua; as Angelina approached them, she caught Joshua looking intently at her and she felt her stomach flip flop. She almost stumbled over a rogue handbag! Richard and Lucy sloped off, leaving them alone to get to know each other.
    “Let’s head over there towards the back, I see a booth has miraculously become empty.” Joshua grabbed Angelina’s hand and weaved her in and out of the bustling crowd as quickly as he could before the booth was snapped up again. Angelina felt her heart beating through her chest; his hand felt strong entwined in hers and it felt good, right somehow. As they squeezed into the booth and sat down, they fell silent;