GRANT (yes, you read that correctly)

My brother was actually getting married. I knew it would happen the first time I saw him go ape-shit crazy over Blaire but damn, actually seeing them rehearse it had been real. Too damn real. I felt like I was losing him a little. It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy for him because I was. It was just that he’d been my partner in crime for as long as I could remember. Now he would be Blaire’s.

I took a glass of champagne from the tray as a server walked by me. I might as well take the bubbly shit until I could get something real at the bar in a few minutes. Scanning the crowd I thought about Nan and how fucked up I’d let shit get. I needed something to help me forget her. Not that I wasn’t over her because I was. She’d made sure of it. Crazy bitch.

A pair of the sexiest eyes I’d ever seen locked with mine and I froze and studied her. I hadn’t seen her before. Ever. I’d never forget those fucking eyes. It wasn’t the color that drew me in because from here I couldn’t tell what the color was. It was the slant to them and the heavy eyelashes that fanned over them. Women paid good money for false eyelashes that could never look that good. I trailed my eyes down her face until I landed on one big ass mouth. SHIT. My cock stirred to life. It was wide and her lips were so damn full. A girl with a mouth like that was every man’s fantasy.

I was almost afraid to let my gaze travel any further. If it kept getting better I was going to fucking unload in my damn pants. I didn’t have time to think about it though because she turned and like a wisp of air she was gone. Long brown hair swayed as she moved, brushing just above of her waist. Holy mother of Jesus her hair was all the way to her perfect little ass. I took off after her. I didn’t know who the hell she was but she wasn’t getting away from me. I needed to have a taste of that mouth and see her eyes light up with pleasure as I pulled that long hair back and pounded into her.

Talk about a fucking distraction. She was the only damn distraction any man needed for anything. Hell, she could make me forget my own damn name. She slipped out of the ballroom and into the hall. She walked quickly but so quietly that no one around her seemed to notice. How did people not notice her? Was I hallucinating? What man with a cock didn’t lock eyes on her and not drink her every move in?

I stepped into the hall seconds after her and glanced around. At first I thought I’d lost her but then I noticed movement to the right and the long brown hair was peeking around the corner. She didn’t see me but I sure as hell saw that hair. I walked as quietly as I could in her direction.

“Calm down. It was just a guy. A really, really hot one but just a guy,” I heard her voice saying softly as I got closer to her. What the fuck?

“Deep breaths. You’re a big girl. You can handle a guy looking at you,” she said in the same whisper.

I stopped before I got close enough for her to see me. She was talking to herself. I’d made her nervous. How? When a female looked like that she had to be used to guys eye fucking her from across the room. She started chanting that I was just a guy again and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. That was just all kinds of adorable.

“He could be an alien from Krypton. Then you’d need to be worried. Maybe we should go check him out and make sure,” I said casually. Her entire body tensed and she didn’t move a muscle. Nor did she turn around and look at me. She kept her back pressed against the wall she’d been hiding behind. The only thing that moved was her hand. It looked like she’d used it to cover her mouth. She just kept getting cuter.

“Probably safe. Rush and Blaire don’t much care for the alien sort. They’re prejudiced that way,” I continued, hoping my ridiculous conversation would make her smile and relax. Because I wanted her relaxed. At least enough so that I could get a taste.

She still didn’t move. Her hand remained firmly over her mouth and she was frozen in place. I stepped around the corner and into the small cubbyhole she’d found between two pillars in the wall. Even with my back pressed against the other wall our bodies were almost touching. Her eyes went wide with surprise as I slipped into her hiding spot with her.

“I’m guessing you can’t talk much with your hand over your mouth like that. How exactly do you plan on talking to me?” I asked and smiled encouragingly. I didn’t want her to think I was dangerous.

She slowly moved her hand away and let it fall to her side but she remained plastered against the other wall as if to get as far away from me as possible.

“That’s better. I like looking at that mouth of yours. You were hindering the view,” I said then winked. She flattened herself further against the wall. This had to be the oddest experience I’d ever had with a female. Most of them threw themselves at me and it was easy. I liked it. Less work. But damned if I wasn’t enjoying this one and her skittish behavior. It was refreshing and unique.

“I’m Grant. Brother of the groom,” I explained, hoping that would calm her a little. It worked. She frowned and a wrinkle between her eyebrows appeared, making her perfect face more human. More accessible. I liked it. A lot. Maybe I could make her frown more.

“Rush doesn’t have a brother,” she replied matter of factly.

So she knew Rush. Interesting. I’d never seen her or I sure as hell would have remembered. I’d assumed she was with a guest or knew Blaire somehow. There were a few people here I didn’t know. “Well, that’s where you’re wrong, beautiful. Rush and I became stepbrothers when we were kids. Just because our parents didn’t make it doesn’t mean we didn’t.”

Her eyes flickered with recognition. She knew who I was. Time for fair play. I wanted to know who she was.

“Want to tell me who you are? Since you’ve obviously figured out who I am.”

Her eyes dropped from my gaze to study the floor. “I think I need to go back inside,” she whispered. Her already soft voice was even softer when she whispered. I wondered if she was so quiet and mannerly when she was coming. At the moment that was all I could think about. All I wanted to know.

“You can’t leave me now. If you go back in there I’m going to stalk you all night,” I warned, hoping it didn’t make me sound like a psycho.

That mouth of hers made an “O” shape and my imagination went wild. I wasn’t one to be attracted to the uptight female but this prim and proper attitude coming from a walking sexual fantasy was working for me.

“Why?” she asked. The musical sound of her voice reminded me of the tinkling bells often overlooked in songs because of their simple beauty.

“You want the truth?” I asked, leaning closer to her and invading the personal space she was trying so hard to protect.

“Please,” she replied, so softly I almost didn’t hear her.

“Because all I can think about is the way those eyes of yours would look flashing with need and the way your fucking amazing mouth would look as you cry out from pleasure. And this hair,” I replied slipping my hands into it and tugging gently. “Fuck me baby, this hair should be illegal.” I’d gotten too close and her breathing was short and quick. And damn it all to hell, she smelled amazing. Like strawberries and cream.

“Oh,” she replied, looking up at me with eyes that I could now tell were a clear hazel. Just as unique as she was. There was also not one drop of mascara on her lashes. This was natural. Completely natural.

“Who are you?” I asked in awe at the vision of perfection pressed against me.

She blinked several times as if she couldn’t understand my words. I was almost prepared to pick her up and drag her outside to my truck with or without a name. “Harlow,” she replied.

Slowly realization ran down over me like a bucket of ice-cold water. FUCK ME! This was Nan’s sister.