Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”
He reaches toward me and slides one of his fingers down my cheek.
Nope. No spark at all.
Such a shame. I think I’d really be enjoying this—and maybe I’d even find his wellness talk interesting—if I weren’t so damned hung up on another man.
Then he leans in, brushes his full lips against mine.
I taste the lingering sweetness of the spiced peach cheesecake that we ate for dessert. Actually, I’m only tasting the peach coulis. He didn’t eat the cheesecake. Dairy and refined sugar, and all.
The kiss is pleasant, but again… No spark.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says.
“Yeah.” I clear my throat. “If you feel you’re still up for it. Tonight may have been a little out of your comfort zone.”
“No, not at all. Sage and Gina made me feel right at home.”
And I didn’t? Is that what he’s saying?
No, I’m reading into it.
He did just kiss me, after all. Not them.
“Great,” I say. “Be here around four. There will be cocktails before the wedding, which is at four thirty. And then appetizers begin at five thirty, and then dinner, dancing, all the wedding stuff.”
He smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sounds wonderful. See you then.”
He gets into his car, and I wait while he backs out and leaves.
I sigh.
If only…
If only there were a spark.
I head back to the party, which is winding down.
Sage and Gina are now sitting at a different table with Brianna and Maddie.
Angie and Jason are talking, and then a member of the band takes the mic.
“Good evening,” he says. “Is everybody enjoying themselves?”
Affirmative murmurs and applause.
“I’m Jesse Pike, this is my beautiful sister, Rory, and we are…Dragonlock!”
The drummer beats out an intro, and Jesse and Rory begin singing together.
Their voices are both incredible. Jesse has a deep baritone with some huskiness, and Rory…
I’m not sure her voice can be described.
Kind of like Joan Baez, but with the rocking rasp of Joan Jett? Two great Joans.
And even that doesn’t do Rory justice.
Brianna watches the band with googly eyes. “That’s my amazing husband,” she gushes.
“He is the hottest thing walking,” Gina says.
“That’s my brother you’re talking about.” From Maddie.
“And he’s very taken.” Brianna crosses her arms.
“Easy, Bree,” Gina says. “Jesse may be a hottie, but he’s not my type. Now that man you brought tonight…” She lifts her eyebrows at me. “I only wish I had thought to invite him before you got your claws in him.”
“He’s yours if you want him,” I say.
“Are you kidding me? He can’t take his eyes off you,” Gina says. “I doubt I’d have a chance.”
I can’t help but let out a sarcastic chuckle. “I don’t hold a candle to any other woman here,” I say. “All of you in the Steel family—and you too, Maddie—are Vogue material, and you must know it.”
“And you’re not?” Gina scoffs. “Blondes are a premium around here. You’ll notice they’re very rare. We don’t have any blond women in our family.”
“She’s right,” Sage says. “Just Henry and our cousins Dale and Donny. And my dad and Aunt Melanie, but she’s more silver now. But none of them actually descended from the Steels, so they weren’t cursed with this dark-hair stuff.”
“You can’t possibly consider it cursed,” I say.
Sage and Gina both laugh. “No,” Gina says. “Good hair is a Steel trait. But with your blond hair, you definitely stand out in the Steel crowd.”
“And surely someone has told you how amazing your eyes are,” Sage says.
I wrinkle my nose. “They’re brown. Just like yours.”
“No, they’re light brown. With gold flecks. They kind of shine, Tabitha. Plus, I don’t know. The shape of them, they just work with your face. Plus they’re deep set, and they… I can’t really describe what I mean, but there’s something special about them.”
My cheeks warm. These gorgeous women are waxing poetic about my beauty when all of them outshine me by a mile.
“I can describe it,” Gina says. “They’re warm and rich, like sunlight caught in amber. But it’s the gold flecks that stop me. Tiny bursts of brightness, like someone stirred starlight into the center just to see what would happen.”
I drop my jaw.
So does Sage. “Fucking artist’s eye. I’m a numbers girl. All I can say is that your eyes are awesome, Tabs. To put it in numbers, on a scale of one to ten, they’re a ninety-nine.”
I smile at Sage using Angie’s nickname for me.
“Thank you,” I say. “I’ve never had my eyes described so beautifully.”
“Really?” Gina widens her eyes. “I’d bet men are all over you. Your eyes are really special. I’m sitting here trying to figure out how I’d mix paint to replicate the color.” She frowns a bit. “Would you mind sitting for a portrait? For one of my grad school classes?”
My eyebrows nearly fly off my head. “You mean, like for an assignment?”