Unravel Me by Christie Ridgway Page A

happy, too, right? The fact was, he’d been glad for this further opportunity to study Juliet’s sisters—a claim that he really couldn’t harbor a doubt about any longer—and now he knew he liked Cassandra and Nikki. They were smart and pretty and the men they’d brought with them tonight were the kind he didn’t mind having beers with.
    He particularly liked the engaged one, Jay.
    Regarding Gabe—well, the jury was still out there, to be honest. Not that he triggered Noah’s streetwise sixth sense, but he couldn’t forget how Gabe had held Juliet’s hand a beat too long upon meeting her.
    “So damn attractive,” he’d told her. Well, damn him. He shot the guy a dark look as Gabe leaned over to murmur something for Juliet’s ears only.
    The intimacy of their positions led Noah’s mind straight back to the kiss he’d shared with her in her kitchen. The truth is, Noah, what I felt when I kissed you was horny. She’d said that. Elegant Juliet Weston had said “horny” with a little laugh in her voice that he suspected was her small payback for the audacity he’d shown by turning her friendly hug into a fiery interlude.
    But now he wondered . . . Was she really horny? And would Gabe try to take advantage of that?
    But Noah was distracted from the sour thought as someone else asked him a question and the conversation moved to old surf movies and the part Malibu had played in their making. From there conversation turned to books. After that, Noah helped Juliet clear the dessert plates then serve more coffee. His tension eased away as she sent him a private smile in thanks and resettled in the seat beside his.
    With a clack, Jay Buchanan placed his coffee cup on its saucer, and then caught everyone’s attention by clearing his throat. “Juliet, there’s another book I’d like to discuss,” he said. “Your late husband’s autobiography.”
    Her eyes widened and Noah’s tension returned. Oh, hell. Not once had the general come up in conversation and he’d thought that omission had been good for Juliet, too. She needed to be more than a widow. He wanted her to think of herself as more than a widow.
    “What about it?” Juliet asked. Her fingers started toying with the cloth napkin in her lap. Not paper this time, so there wouldn’t be any impromptu jewelry, but that didn’t stop her from worrying the fabric. “It’s coming out next month.”
    “I know. I saw an advanced reader’s copy bouncing around my magazine’s offices.”
    Juliet’s gaze dashed around the table. “No one mentioned . . . I wasn’t completely certain any of you knew . . .”
    Cassandra smiled. “Those cursed tubes of the Internet. Nobody has privacy anymore.”
    Nikki’s voice was soft. “We’re very sorry for your loss.”
    Across the table from Noah, Gabe shifted in his chair. “Uh, fill me in?”
    “Oh.” Cassandra squirmed in hers. “I guess I didn’t tell you.”
    “I guess not. Tell me what?”
    “Well, uh . . .” Cassandra looked to Nikki in mute appeal, and then gave a little shrug. “Juliet’s husband died about a year ago, and, um . . .”
    An awkward silence descended over the table. Cassandra tried again. “And, um, it must have been an especially tough time for Juliet because . . .” She glanced at her newfound sister and then back at Gabe, obviously uncomfortable with the subject matter. “Uh, because the press got involved and, they, um . . .”
    Juliet jumped to her feet, bumping the table to set the cups rattling against their saucers. “They called me the Happy Widow,” she said, her voice tight.
    Cassandra reached across the table. “Juliet—”
    “And before that,” she told Gabe, ignoring the other woman, “the press called me the Deal Breaker. So you can take your pick. Or use both. I really couldn’t care less.”
    Noah stared at her in surprise, noting the bright color in her cheeks and the telltale tension in her posture. Until this moment, she’d kept her feelings about