BLAIRE
Rush had set the date for our wedding. He’d given me one week. I didn’t even try to argue. The determination in his eyes had told me there was no point. I was more than ready to marry the man but I got the feeling he was worried that I would back out. Especially after what happened at his dad’s with Nan.
We would be getting married twelve days before Christmas. The plan was to spend Christmas and New Year’s at home together then leave New Year’s day to go on an extended honeymoon. He had been torn between wanting to take me all over the world and not wanting to make me travel too much. He was worried about keeping me rested. Which was also making wedding preparations difficult. In the end, I had convinced him that staying in his penthouse in Manhattan was what I wanted to do. I had never been to New York so it would be an adventure for me. We would also have the comfort of his home there and my obstetrician was going to set me up with one there to check on me while I was away.
Luckily, Rush had the money to make this wedding happen fast and still be beautiful. I’d wanted things simple and I’d wanted to get married here at our house. Surprisingly, simple took a lot of preparation too. I wouldn’t have been able to pull any of it off without Bethy’s help. Jimmy had been a lot of help too but he and Bethy had almost killed each other more than once. They were fighting for who was in control.
Rush had hired Henrietta to come stay with us for the entire week before the wedding. Seeing Henrietta go into the pantry each night to go to her room under the stairs always made me smile. I had fond memories of that room.
When the doorbell rang after breakfast I had jumped up and hurried to get it. I was expecting my dad and Captain today. Tonight was the wedding rehearsal and I needed Dad here to practice walking me down the aisle. Jerking the door open I was surprised to find Dean and Harlow instead. I hadn’t expected them until tomorrow.
“Surprise, we’re here a day early. I didn’t want to miss any festivities,” Dean said with a smirk and walked inside the house carrying his bag and letting Harlow carry hers as she walked in quietly behind him. “Where’s my boy?” Dean asked looking around.
“Rush left this morning to pick up tuxes with Grant,” I explained. “They’ll be back soon. Come on up and I’ll show you to your room, Harlow. Dean, I assume you know where yours is.”
“Yeah, I’ll go up to mine in a few. I need a drink and some sunshine.”
I smiled over at Harlow. “I picked out my favorite room for you. It has the best view. Used to be my room,” I told her.
“Thank you. I hate to take up one of the best rooms though. I’ll gladly take the smallest one. I know you have family coming in too,” she said and paused on the top step.
“My dad and my... um... my brother live on old fishing boats. Trust me when I tell you that the smallest room we have here will be all they desire. I want you to enjoy this room. It’s farther away from everyone too. So you’ll have more privacy.”
Harlow smiled shyly and nodded. I led her back to the room I’d stayed in very briefly before I’d moved up stairs.
“Was the flight good?” I asked when I really wanted to ask how things were at home.
“It was nice. I watched Pride and Prejudice again. Made the trip go by quicker.”
“I love that movie,” I admitted. “So, how are things at home? With Nan gone?” Rush hadn’t brought up Nan once since we’d been home. I knew she wasn’t invited to the wedding and it made me feel so guilty. But the fear that she would make a scene and ruin our wedding was real.
“Quiet again. Dad does his thing. I do mine. Dean does his. They’ll be going on tour in a couple of months and it will be really quiet.”
I felt sad for her. She didn’t have anyone really. Living in that big house with a father like Kiro had to be lonely. Then with him gone just her being there. That was no life at all. Money couldn’t buy you everything. Harlow was proof of that.
“Why don’t you have Kiro buy you a house here? It’s beautiful here and there are people our age everywhere. Cute guys,” I flashed her a teasing smile. As perfect as Harlow looked appearance-wise I couldn’t imagine her with a guy. She was so shy. How would she ever open up to one and get to know him?
“I can’t ask Dad that. I’m at UCLA on a full ride scholarship. He would have to pay for my tuition if I went somewhere else. And I do get out and go to my classes,” she trailed off. I knew from being there that although she went to her classes she had no friends.
“I think he can afford it,” I assured her.
She shrugged but didn’t reply. I wasn’t going to badger her now. Maybe later. “I need to go get dressed. I have a salon appointment for a manicure and pedicure in an hour. You wanna come?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. I think I’ll just take a nap. We left so early and I didn’t sleep any on the plane.”
Nodding, I took that as my cue to leave her alone.
***
It was late in the afternoon when my dad and Captain arrived. I was just finishing up getting ready for the rehearsal and the party that followed. We were having a wedding party in the ballroom at the Club. I hadn’t wanted a bachelorette party and Rush hadn’t wanted me to have one either. He’d been worried about where Bethy might take me. Then when Grant had brought up the bachelor party he had quickly shot that idea down. This was our alternative. We decided to party together with all of our friends. Woods had gladly supplied the ballroom for us and had his kitchen staff catering it.
The rehearsal was in thirty minutes and people would start arriving soon. Rush walked down the stairs in a pair of tan slacks and a white linen shirt and my heart missed more than one beat. He was beautiful. His hair was styled in a messy look. The white shirt made his silver eyes look brighter and his skin darker.
“You’re gorgeous,” I breathed as he came to a stop at the bottom of the steps.
“Hey, that’s my line,” he teased pulling me to him and pressing a kiss to my lips. “You’re breathtaking,” he replied.
“Mmmm, so are you,” I murmured against his lips.
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 f*cked 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 f*cking 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 f*cking 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 f*cking 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 f*ck?
“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 f*cking 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 f*cking amazing mouth would look as you cry out from pleasure. And this hair,” I replied slipping my hands into it and tugging gently. “F*ck 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. F*ck ME! This was Nan’s sister.