Taste of Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

tensed as her father’s condescending tone hit its mark, and the joy on her sister’s
     face began to fade.
    “We love each other, and I know Jake’s right for me,” Andi said, lifting her chin.
    “Like the last one? Your deadbeat ex who ran off with his secretary to Vegas and left
     you and Mia high and dry?”
    “Dad!” Kim protested, but he waved a hand for her to stay silent and uninvolved.
    “Jake’s different,” Andi said, visibly struggling to keep her emotions intact. “I
     thought you liked Jake.”
    “He’s a likable fellow. But you are always rushing into things and getting yourself
     into trouble.” He shook his head. “Some things never change.”
    “And some things do,” Andi argued, her tone now matching their father’s and her face
     mirroring his cold, callous bitterness.
    Kim had watched similar scenes unfold between the two of them in the past but never
     with this much clarity. Her heart felt the sting of his words as if he’d spoken them
     to her, and she couldn’t keep silent, couldn’t bear to see her sister’s happiness
     crushed. She needed help.
    “Dad, Jake is a great guy and will take care of Andi and Mia and make them very happy.”
    “Was I talking to you?” her father demanded.
    Kim shrank back. “No, sir.”
    Andi shot her a look of gratitude for trying, but, like their father said, some things
     never changed. Least of all him.
    “Well, let’s hope everything works out,” he muttered. “Glad Kim here isn’t so crazy
     as to get involved with someone at the drop of a hat. She’s career focused, an achiever,
     like all the other Burkes in our family.”
    Kim swallowed hard. She didn’t want to be a super-achiever. And she certainly didn’t
     want him to use her as an example for her older sister to follow. Like Andi and Rachel,
     she’d love to have a handsome guy claim she was the one for him and get down on one
     knee and propose.
    She glanced at her bouquets of roses. While she wasn’t sure if she’d ever get a proposal
     of her own, she wished she had at least a taste of romance.
    Heather called out to her, “Hey, Kim!” Kim turned her head to see what the teenager
     wanted. And then she saw him: tall, blond, blue-eyed Nathaniel Sjölander. He stood
     at the counter opposite Heather, who motioned her toward him.
    Excusing herself from her “happy” family reunion, she met Nathaniel in front of the
     cupcake display.
    “Hello, Kimberly,” he greeted. “Busy today, I see.”
    “Yes,” she said, her nerves dancing beneath her skin. “Very busy.”
    “I was busy this week, too,” Nathaniel told her. “I had to stay in Portland after
     the Rose Festival, and when I got back yesterday, my future sister-in-law insisted
     I go with her and my brother for the bridal party tuxedo fittings. But I enjoyed hearing
     your voice on my messages each night.”
    Kim shrugged and gave him a shy smile. “All I did was say thank you.”
    “Five different ways each time,” he teased.
    Heat surged into her cheeks. She’d tried to talk sensibly, but her words were always
     more fluent inside her head than when they came out of her mouth. And it didn’t help
     now that Andi and Rachel were staring. She saw them give Nathaniel a long, appreciative
     perusal.
    Andi gasped. “Is that Nathaniel?”
    In a hushed voice, Rachel whispered back, “Ooh! Must be. He has an accent.”
    Even Heather, Theresa, and Meredith stopped what they were doing to take notice.
    “I was wondering if you aren’t too busy this evening, if you might want to—”
    A high-pitched alarm drowned out Nathaniel and all other sounds in the shop. The double
     doors to the kitchen burst open, and Eric fell through, his white pants and shirt
     outlined by the cloud of thick black smoke behind him. With his eyes wide and his
     face drained of color, he shouted only one word:
    “Fire!”
    For a moment no one moved. Then all at once, the customers rushed for the door. Andi
     shouted for Mia and