Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) Read Online Free PDF

poured the water into the glass. She was looking down, so her hair was obscuring his view of the side of her face.
    He decided to just jump in. “Gracie Laurent,” he said quietly.
    • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
    Gracie was trying her hardest to ignore the guy at the end of the bar. Something about him made her nervous. She’d noticed him struggling with his crutches as he walked to the end of the bar. He’d sat down, propping his leg on the crutches where they rested against the bar.
    He looked dangerous, dressed in a tight black t-shirt , stretched over his muscular chest, and black jeans with a scary looking brace strapped around his left knee from mid-thigh to his calf. She wondered if he’d banged himself up wrecking his Harley. He probably wasn’t more than seven or eight inches taller than she was, but he seemed larger than life for some reason. He had long dark hair almost brushing his shoulders and a face that was almost too pretty—like a fallen angel. He probably hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, though. That scruff kept him from being blindingly pretty. His eyes were the color of amber and he seemed to be studying her way too closely. She wondered why. Then she heard him say her name . . .
    “Gracie Laurent.”
    And he’d pronounced it correctly too . . . the nasally French way— Law-RAW(NG) , not the wrong way most people pronounced it— Law-RINT . She jerked her head around and found herself staring into his amber eyes.
    “Yes?” She didn’t know what else to say.
    Humor glinted in his eyes. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
    She felt sure if she’d ever seen him before, she would have remembered. “Sorry. I don’t think so. When did we meet?”
    He grinned—and now he was blindingly pretty, even with the scruffy beard. “Well, now . . . the last time we saw each other, you were probably about ten years old. That would have made me fourteen.”
    It clicked then. She’d only seen eyes that color on one person—Mathias’ best childhood friend. “Holy cats! Luca Ionescu!”
    He threw his head back and laughed. “The one and only.”
    She swung back around the bar to hug him. She was laughing, relieved that he wasn’t some crazy stalker. “I can’t believe you recognized me!”
    He grunted as she bumped his injured leg.
    “Oh, gosh! I’m so sorry!” She stepped back quickly.
    “That’s okay. It’s fine.” He was sorry the hug was so short-lived and cursed his knee for the millionth time. “Well, to be honest I came here looking for you.”
    Gracie wondered if she should reconsider him being a crazy stalker after all. “Really?” She looked puzzled.
    “I was talking to your brother the other day and he mentioned you’d moved to town and were singing here. I thought I’d drop by to check out the band and say ‘hi.’”
    Halfway through that declaration, she started looking suspicious. Sonny guessed she was pretty smart and had already figured it out.
    “I see,” she said doubtfully. “You just happened to talk to Matty and he just happened to mention I was here. Huh! What a coincidence!”
    Sonny nodded, and tried to look innocent.
    “Bull,” she declared.
    He lost it then, and burst out laughing. “Matty said you’d figure it out.”
    She blushed and took a step back. “I’m so sorry, Luca. He shouldn’t have put you up to this. I’m so embarrassed.”
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s the matter? Why would you be embarrassed?”
    “Look, my family has been hovering over me for the last two years. They want to keep me wrapped in cotton and closeted away from the world. I’m trying to step out on my own and show them I can make it out here fine, and they drag you—a virtual stranger to me—in to do their protecting for them.” She took a deep breath. “I really am sorry, Luca.”
    “Well, I hope I’m more of an old friend than a ‘virtual stranger.’ I know we weren’t close as kids, but I did consider your