Tangled Up in You by Rachel Gibson Page A

going to pass out from pleasure.
    He let go of her and she fell back against the doorframe. Thats how I know, he said.
    My God, youre like a tornado, she gasped. She placed her fingers on her bottom lip. Her mouth felt numb. Sucking up everything around you.
    Not everything. He stepped out onto the porch and into the sunlight. And not yet.

Chapter 6
    M addie stood with her hands sticking straight out from her shoulders as Nan, the seamstress, pinned peach satin beneath her armpits. The other two bridesmaids stood on either side of her in various degrees of undress while being pinned and poked.
    You owe me, she said to her friend Clare, the blushing bride-to-be. Shed driven down from Truly that morning and planned to go out with her friends before driving back the next day.
    Look at it this way, Clare said from her position on the couch inside of Nans Bridal. At least the dresses arent all froufrou like the dresses Lucy made us wear for her wedding.
    Hey. Those were beautiful, Lucy protested, defending her choice of froufrou while a second seamstress pinned her hem.
    We looked like prom escapees, Adele argued. Adele held up her thick curly hair as a woman pinned the back of her dress. But Ive seen worse. My cousin Jolene made her bridesmaids wear purple and white toile de Jouy.
    Clare, the arbiter of exquisite taste, gasped.
    Toile like the pastoral prints you see on chairs and wallpaper? Maddie asked.
    Yep. They looked like sofas. Especially Jolenes friend who was a little roomier than the other girls.
    Thats sad. Lucy turned so the seamstress could work on the back of the hem.
    Criminal, Adele added. Some things should just be against the law. Or if not, there should be some reparation for putting a person through emotional stress.
    What did Dwayne do now? Clare asked, referring to Adeles old boyfriend.
    For two years Adele had dated Dwayne Larkin and had thought she just might end up as Mrs. Larkin. Shed overlooked his more undesirable habits, like smelling the armpits of his shirts before he put them on because hed been buff and very hot. Shed put up with his beer-swilling, Star Wars obsessed ways, because not everyone was perfect. But the moment hed told her she was getting a fat ass like her mother, shed kicked him out of her life. No one used the f -word in relation to her behind or insulted her deceased mama. But Dwayne wouldnt go completely. Every few weeks, Adele would find on her porch one or two of the presents shed given to him or things shed left at his house. The stuff would just be lying there. No note. No Dwayne. Just random-as-hell items.
    For his birthday, I gave him a limited-edition Darth Vader. Adele dropped her hands and her thick blond hair fell down her back. I found it on my porch with the head cut off.
    Maddie could understand Dwaynes issue with the gift, but for different reasons. If she opened a birthday present and found a Darth Vader, limited edition or not, shed get fairly pissed off. But still, any sort of violence should never be taken lightly. You need to get an alarm system. Do you still have the stun gun I got you?
    Adele held still as the seamstress measured the circumference of her arm. Somewhere.
    You need to find it and zap him with it. Nan moved to Maddies bodice and she dropped her arms to her sides. Or better yet, let me get you a Cobra like I have, and you can Taser his ass with fifty thousand volts.
    Without moving her body, Adele turned her head and looked at Maddie like she was the crazy one. Wont that kill him?
    Maddie thought a moment. Does he have a heart condition?
    I dont think so.
    Then no, Maddie answered. Nan took a step back to eye her progress. Hell convulse like youre killing him, though.
    Adeles and Clares mouths fell open in shock, as if shed lost what little mind she had left, but Lucy nodded. Shed fought for her life against a serial killer and knew firsthand the importance of personal safety devices. And when you have him on the ground, douse him with pepper