“Your sister sure likes to dance,” Heidi said.
The brunette girl’s lips thinned, and she stared down into her champagne.
Okay, different tactic.
“Well, I’m glad you could make it. Who is your friend?” I asked pointedly, turning my attention to the brunette.
She glanced up from her champagne. Her eyes were wide open and as vivid green as I had ever seen. Her mouth opened slightly, and that vision was more intoxicating than my whiskey.
“Heidi,” she groaned, “what did you do to my face?”
“This is…Em,” Heidi said over Em’s widened eyes of disapproval.
I wasn’t sure what that was all about. She seemed particularly affronted that I was asking about her. I was sure I’d never seen her before. I definitely would have remembered.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jensen,” I said, trying to smooth over her concerns.
“Uh-huh,” Em murmured. She took a long sip of her champagne, as if she were looking for liquid courage.
I couldn’t get a read on her. I didn’t know if she was actually uncomfortable around me or if she was just nervous. But she seemed like she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to be acting right now.
“Head of Wright Construction, Em,” Heidi said, nudging her with her hip.
Em shot her a withering stare. “I know who he is.”
“I promise, whatever you’ve heard is a lie,” I said with a laugh.
“I didn’t say I’d heard anything bad,” she countered. She downed the rest of the champagne in one quick drink and then winced. “Seriously…what is it with you Wright brothers?”
“Excuse me?” I asked with a furrowed brow.
“Ignore her,” Heidi said. “She’s an old friend, and she just needs another glass of champagne.” Heidi leaned over and hissed in Em’s ear, but I could still hear her say, “Give. Him. A. Chance.”
Em sighed, as if resigning herself to the task. But, when she turned back to face me, she did have a half-smile on her face. It seemed a little forced, like she wasn’t used to smiling for strangers.
“I’m just…” She held up her champagne glass and motioned to the bar.
“Mind if I join you?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said.
We weren’t that far from the bar, but even that short distance, I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of her. And she seemed to be looking everywhere but at me. She chanced one look at me, and a blush crept into her cheeks. So, she wasn’t completely unaffected by me.
I’d said that I wanted a challenge after all. She was gorgeous and probably had guys hitting on her all the time, but I hadn’t expected her not to even give me the time of day. Something about that only made me want to try harder.
Why is she so closed off?
She retrieved another glass of champagne, but I stopped her before letting her walk back to her friends. I was not relinquishing this opportunity.
“I noticed you at the ceremony,” I said, my voice low and gravelly.
Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. And, fuck, that face. Those intense green eyes and bright red lips. The way her dark hair tumbled over her features, as if it were used to being unruly and was having trouble with staying tamed. Just like her. Something in her expression, in those sharp cheekbones and angled jawline, said she was wild and reckless. No amount of makeup and pretty clothes could remove the girl underneath.
“Yes. That was…” She trailed off. Her eyes darted to my mouth, as if she were distracted. Then, she sighed this short breathy thing that went straight to my dick. “I noticed.”
“Are you in town, visiting?” I prompted.
She slowly shook her head and then glanced away from me, as if she needed a breather. “Look, whatever this is, it’s not going to work.”
I arched an eyebrow. “And what do you think this is?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“I’m just talking to you,” I said.
“I’m not fooled by that notion, Jensen.”
The way she dragged out my name was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard. I was going to have to make her say it over and over again.
But I was so distracted by the way her mouth moved around the syllables of my name, I hadn’t processed what she had said. She wasn’t fooled by me. I wasn’t trying to fool her. I thought my intentions were perfectly clear now that we were standing together. So very close together.
I wasn’t even sure she realized that she had drawn closer toward me, the longer we talked. But, as I stared down at her, we were mere inches apart. I could feel the heat of her body, and it was turning my brain fuzzy.
Why didn’t she want this? Her body was saying something else entirely. I could think of only one explanation.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
She stepped back from me, as if my question were insulting. “I don’t need a reason to say no to you.”
She tried to brush past me, but I reached out and grabbed her hand. She didn’t need a reason. Of course not. But her refusal made no sense with the way her body was responding to me.
“I know you don’t need a reason. But it feels like you have one,” I said, instinctively pulling her toward to me.
“Yes, I have a reason. And, when you figure it out, you’ll no longer be interested in me.”
“I highly doubt that,” I said with blustering confidence.
“I swore off the Wright family a long time ago. So, you’ll have better luck somewhere else.”
She extracted her hand from mine, gave me one last sad smile, and then retreated back to Heidi and Julia. Both girls were frantically waving their hands, trying to figure out what had happened. And that was exactly what I wanted to know.
Six
Jensen
I had just struck out.
Majorly struck out.
I was sure that I’d had girls who weren’t interested in me before but certainly not any like this.
I couldn’t remember having this sort of visceral reaction to anyone in a long-ass time. But even women I had been mildly interested in were eager to get to know me.
Biblically.