“First, you’re not a lady, you’re my cousin. And second, annoying the crap out of women is what I do.”
Her cousin Cole was and always had been a big pain in her ass, second only to her brothers in that department. A jock just like Mick and Gavin, Cole played in the NFL and was one of the best wide receivers currently playing for Green Bay. And he had the giant ego to go with his giant talent. But she loved Cole nearly as much as she loved her brothers, despite all the years he’d spent tormenting her when she was a kid.
Her uncle and her dad must have been a hell of a duo when they were kids, because they sure passed it on to their sons.
“Shouldn’t you be off doing shots with the guys?”
“On my best behavior tonight. I promised my mother and Aunt Kathleen.”
“And when have you ever kept a promise?”
“Never. But since they’re both here with their eagle eyes, I don’t have much of a choice.”
“Aren’t you just a boy scout?”
“Yeah, until about midnight when I ditch this shindig and head to a club. I’ve got some babes waiting for me.”
“And the media will be right behind you, waiting for you to get into a fistfight or some new scandal that’ll make headlines. The new bad boy of football.”
Cole shrugged, then grinned, the dimples in his cheeks doing nothing to diminish his rugged good looks. No wonder the media loved him.
“Hey, not my fault I’m photogenic.”
“Yeah, your mug shot was charming. I’m sure Uncle Jack and Aunt Cara were thrilled with that.”
“That was bullshit. And I’ve got great attorneys, and that was thrown out of court.”
She shook her head. “It pays to make money, I suppose, but you’re pushing thirty now, party boy. Isn’t it time to grow up?”
He laughed. “Just call me Peter Pan. It’ll never be time to grow up.”
She waved him off with a shake of her head. Cole was trouble with a capital T. Great football player, but he did like his social life. Maybe a bit too much.
She grabbed a glass of champagne and was watching Gavin and Liz and Mick and Tara dance when she felt a warm presence behind her.
“You’re not dancing.”
Tyler. She’d successfully managed to avoid him for the past couple hours. She turned to face him.
Oh, did he ever clean up nice. Dressed in a black suit and tie that fit him as if it had been tailored for him, his dark hair spilled over the collar, making her want to sift her fingers through it to see if it was as soft as it looked.
“No, not dancing.”
“Who was the guy you were hanging out with? Your date?”
She frowned, then realized he was referring to Cole. She laughed. “No, that was Cole Riley, my cousin. You might recognize him from the Green Bay team. He plays wide receiver.”
Tyler nodded. “Thought he looked familiar. You Rileys like to breed the sports players, don’t you?”
“You have no idea.”
“So where’s your date?”
Refusing to rise to the bait, she said, “Didn’t bring one tonight.”
He cocked a brow. “Oh, you have more than one?”
She didn’t answer.
“How about a dance?” he asked.
“Where’s your date?”
“Didn’t bring one tonight.”
Her lips curved at the ditto. The music was hot and she wanted to dance. She’d had more than a little champagne tonight, and she felt good. So good, in fact, she tingled all the way down to her toes. Tonight was all about magic and romance. Not that there was any romance between her and Ty. But there was chemistry and he was the hottest guy here, so she might as well dance with the devil she knew.
“Sure. Let’s do it.”
Ty hadn’t expected Jenna to say yes.
He thought the guy she was talking to was her date. He was relieved to find out it was her cousin Cole. When he found out she hadn’t brought a date tonight, he got his game plan in order to get her on the dance floor, or get her alone. One way or another, he was determined to have her in his arms tonight, figuring he’d have to do some fancy maneuvering.
For it to be this easy? Hell yeah. He took her hand and led her onto the crowded floor, then watched her groove to the beat of some seriously hot dance music.
Jenna looked beautiful tonight in a red dress that clung to every curve of her body—a body she knew how to move. He wanted to put his hands on her, to feel her move like that without clothes on. She swayed her hips and pivoted around, and his dick twitched when she shook her ass. She got into the music, raised her hands in the air, undulating her body in time to the beat.
He inched up closer to her, fit his body against her, wrapped his arm around her waist, and rocked with her to the music, expecting her to kick him back. Instead, she put her arm around his and let her head fall against his chest. He inhaled her scent and tried to keep up with her since he wasn’t much of a dancer, but hell, he was happy to let her take the lead since she obviously knew what she was doing.