She laughed in response and my heart throbbed at the sound of it. No matter how many times I heard it, I just couldn’t get enough of her happiness.

I looked up at the stairs expectantly, waiting. As soon as I saw her, my legs felt weak. She looked stunningly beautiful, and that was exactly how I felt, stunned. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe. I’d never seen anything so perfect in my life, all she was missing was the wings and she would look like the angel that she was.

The plum coloured ball gown that had been specially made for her tonight clung to her, showing off her perfect, flat stomach and tiny waist. The top was a halter neck, so it showed off her flawless creamy-white shoulders. And the cle**age… I had no idea how I was going to keep my eyes away from it tonight. The dress showed just enough to tease and hint at what was underneath, making me feel hot and horny as hell. The skirt of the dress flowed out all the way to the floor, hiding the toned long legs that I knew were underneath. Her hair had been pulled up and was pinned in curls at the back of her head, hanging down her back.

I sucked in a ragged breath as I looked at her face. She looked radiant, her skin almost shining. Her make-up was different tonight; she had on some grey eye shadow that made her brown eyes look like they were shining with an excitement and joy, that made my world stop spinning. She always took my breath away, no matter what she was wearing, even if it was baggy sweaters or one of my T-shirts, but tonight she was almost killing me. She was walking towards me and looking me over slowly; a small, sexy smile played at the corners of her mouth.

I swallowed, wondering what I was going to say when she got to me. My mouth was so dry, I wasn’t even sure I could speak. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as I shifted from one foot to the other, trying to get my brain to form an articulate sentence so that I wouldn’t embarrass myself. The trouble was, the only word that I could think right now was: wow.

“Hi,” she greeted, smiling as she stopped in front of me.

“Hi,” I managed to choke out. I looked into her eyes and felt her pull me in. I loved this girl with all of my heart. I cleared my throat, knowing I needed to compliment her on how she looked. “You look incredible; I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.”

She blushed and smiled her sexy smile, making my insides flutter. “Thanks. And you look extremely smart in your tux,” she countered, as she ran her hand along the edge of the jacket that I was wearing, making my body yearn for her in the normal way.

Calm down, Ashton; do not get a boner in front of her parents! I swallowed the lump in my throat. I was behaving like a love-struck moron, I could feel it, but I just couldn’t help myself. Just give her the damn corsage, Ashton! “I… er… I got you this,” I muttered.

Her eyes dropped to the box and her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she looked at the little white rose corsage bracelet I was holding out like a complete and utter moron. “Ashton, that’s gorgeous,” she gushed, smiling gratefully.

I smiled awkwardly. “If I’d known you would look this beautiful tonight, I would have gone for something a little bigger and more expensive. This is gonna pale in comparison to you tonight, Anna,” I admitted, frowning at the thing that I thought was beautiful until I saw her.

“Jeez, Ashton, seriously, do you just get these lines straight from a how to make the girls melt handbook?” she teased, grinning at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. I genuinely didn’t understand how she could look the way she did but still have the greatest personality in the world. From my experience, it didn’t usually work like that. People were usually blessed with either looks or personality. Yet Anna had an abundance of both. I slipped back into our easy flirty mode as I remembered that I loved her personality even more than I loved her body.

“Yeah, is it working yet?” I joked, grinning wickedly.

“Definitely,” she giggled, nodding.

I plucked the corsage from the box. “You don’t have to wear it.” I fiddled with it, embarrassed, giving her another chance to change her mind if she didn’t like it. She stepped closer to me, and her perfume wafted around me, filling my senses and making me forget my protests.

“I love it. Thank you,” she whispered, looking into my eyes. I could see the honesty there, she really did love it. When she offered her arm to me, I slipped it on her wrist, trailing my fingers across her soft skin afterwards.

Movement from the corner of my eye snapped me out of the little fantasy I was slipping into, and I remembered that we weren’t alone in the room. Anna just had the power to make everything else disappear in an instant. Dropping her hand quickly, I stepped back, hating that her father was close enough to have heard every single word I said.

Her father stepped forward, grinning proudly. “You look beautiful, Annabelle.”

“Thanks, Dad. You look good too,” she replied, smiling warmly at him.

He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “Thank you, sweetheart.” He brushed his hand over his jacket before his easy smile faded from his face. “So, I’ve just spoken to Reginald, my publicist. Apparently word has gotten out about the party tonight, and someone has leaked the venue. There are some press and a couple of TV crews that are converging around the entrance to the hotel. It’s nothing to worry about,” he stated, smiling reassuringly. “Reginald has made a few quick adjustments, and nothing needs to change too much apart from maybe posing for a few photographs at the entrance and answering a couple of questions to placate them. He’ll guide you through everything when you get there, just remember to smile for me, alright?”