Everything in Between Read Online Free PDF Page A

military dress, cutting his hair in a near buzz.
    Chip had trimmed the blond locks that typically ran as wild as jungle vines, but there were plenty of butter-gold curls left to tease someone’s fingers. The dark blue jacket complemented Chip’s deep blue eyes, intensifying the gaze he kept on Zae. He gave her a subtle wink that drove away her blues, and she answered with a merry smirk.
    Chip made everything seem so easy, so simple. They tormented the hell out of each other when he instructed her at Sheng Li, Gian’s dojo, but outside karate class, they had become friends. Zae hadn’t seen much of him in the months following Gian’s recovery from the gunshot wounds inflicted by Cinder’s ex. Chip had stepped up and practically run Sheng Li on his own. Zae had looked forward to the wedding, not just because of her enthusiasm for Cinder and Gian’s marriage, but also because she knew she’d see Chip.
    Prior to Gian’s shooting, Chip had been her near-constant companion. They saw each other at the dojo four nights a week, they spent time at Cinder and Gian’s. They’d even had a handful of lunch and dinner dates. Appointments, Zae hastily corrected. Not dates.
    At thirty-five, Chip was too young for her to date, and that was only one of the major differences between them. Or so she kept reminding herself.
    Why am I even thinking about this? she asked herself, still unable to swing her gaze from his.
    He’s so beautiful, she sighed inwardly. His one flaw, if it could be called that, was the leg he had nearly lost on a special ops mission helmed by Gian, who’d saved his life. Thick blond curls, sinfully adorable dimples and the sparkle in his eyes gave him a youthful appearance that belied his true age. Ordinarily, he dressed like an Abercrombie & Fitch model, and he had the looks to match. Tall and athletic, Chip possessed the casual confidence of a man unaware of or unconcerned with the effect his looks had on women.
    It was his most annoying quality.
    Zae stood at an angle beside the dais where Gian awaited Cinder. She eyed the guests, recognizing the members of Gian’s family. His sister, Lucia, was the only woman in the place whose beauty rivaled the bride’s. She wore a pale rose sheath that beautifully complemented her olive skin and black hair. Zae had met Lucia only a few times over the decade she had known Gian, and she’d always been unusually withdrawn. Lucia had grown attached to Cinder in the past year, and perhaps it had been Cinder’s influence that had drawn Gian’s sister from her shell.
    Beside Lucia, Gian’s mother saturated a lace-edged handkerchief with tears. Smiling through the waterworks, “Mama” Piasanti clutched her daughter’s hand and that of her oldest son, Pio, who quietly knuckled away a tear of his own.
    Cinder’s parents held hands, smiling as they gazed upon their daughter. Cinder’s mother, with her silver hair and deep brown complexion, looked every bit the physician she was. Cinder’s father, his balding dome catching the light from the chandeliers, hooked a finger in his collar and loosened his tie. A retired shop teacher, Cinder’s father was known for his hatred of dressing in anything fancier than jeans and flannel shirts. In spite of his discomfort in his snazzy suit, he looked pleased to see his daughter getting married, this time to a man who had already proved that he would love her and protect her with his very life.
    Next to Cinder’s mother stood one of Cinder’s graphic design clients, the owner of a local spa. The woman was her own best advertising for the health and fitness benefits offered by her establishment. When Cinder took her place next to Gian, the woman narrowed her eyes, fixing her hungry feline gaze to Gian’s right.
    She’s eyeballing Chip! An alarm sounded in Zae’s skull.
    Zae watched the woman daintily pull at the lemon yellow skirt of her natty ensemble. One more hitch, honey, and we’ll know all your secrets, she thought