Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
My heart stuttered. “Fuck,” I whispered.
Whitt patted me twice on the back. “Good luck with that.”
“What?” Harley asked. She looked between us all. “What are you talking about?”
Nora Abbey glided into the barn. She’d changed out of the floral dress she’d worn to work the ceremony and into a floor-length gold dress that made her look like a goddess. The dress plummeted between her breasts and left her arms bare, but the material swished delicately around her legs as she maneuvered the room, saying hello to everyone who knew her. She might be shy around guys, but she was in her element here.
“Oh,” Harley whispered. “Is that Nora?”
“Yeah,” I said, entranced.
“Well, she’s a bit out of your league, isn’t she?”
Whitt nudged Harley. “Seriously?”
“Look at her,” Harley said with a laugh. “She’s gorgeous.”
“She is,” I admitted out loud.
I was glad that Campbell and Hollin were on the other side of the room. That they hadn’t seen that I was eye-fucking their sister from a distance.
A few minutes later, after she made her rounds, she walked toward me with Eve on her arm. Eve wore an emerald dress that matched her eyes, and her black hair was down in waves. But I barely noticed her. I couldn’t say the same for my brother, who gripped the table tighter as she approached.
“Hey, handsome,” Eve said, looking at Whitt.
“Eve,” he said with a charming smile.
“You look…” I said, gesturing to Nora.
She ran her hands down the sides of her dress, accentuating her hips. “You think?”
“Stunning.”
Harley huffed at all the hormones flying. “I’m going to go get a drink.”
“No, you are not!” Whitt said at the same time I said, “Harley!”
She laughed. “Can’t stop me.”
Then, she disappeared. I ground my teeth together, and Whitt looked like he was about to follow her.
“Let her go,” Eve said. “This is a safe place. She won’t get into any trouble.”
“You don’t know my sister,” Whitt said.
I couldn’t disagree. “Harley finds trouble wherever it is.”
Eve laughed. “I know all about that.”
“Tessi will keep an eye on her,” Nora said. “I gave her a list of minors ahead of time. There are a few of them.”
Whitt still looked like he wanted to go off after her, but Eve was still standing there, admiring him up and down.
She touched the sleeve of his suit. “Mind if I steal you for a minute?”
Whitt’s eyes shot back to Eve. The gentle touch, the familiar flirting. He nodded. “After you.”
Eve shot him a simpering smile. She winked at Nora and then headed off with my brother, leaving us all alone.
“Well, they’re unexpected,” I admitted.
Nora shrugged. “Eve is the kind of girl who goes after what she wants.” Her eyes flicked up to mine. A small, knowing smile came to her lips.
I should resist that smile. The look from under her lashes. The way she leaned in toward me. Yep, I should definitely walk away from this.
“The wedding turned out amazing.”
“Thank you,” she said brightly. “I was pleased.”
“You have a talent.”
Her eyes moved around the room and then back to me. “I was told not to talk about weddings right away, but hey, we’re at a wedding, right?”
I blinked at her. “Nora…I…this…”
She laughed softly. “Oh man, am I that bad at this?”
“That bad at…what?”
“Flirting,” she said, biting her lip.
“You’re flirting with me?”
“I mean, apparently, I am not good at it.”
“No,” I said quickly. “You’re not bad at it.”
“Okay. I’ll keep practicing then,” she said with a wink.
I clenched my hands on the table to keep from reaching for her. She was playing me at my own game. And it was working.
“Did you practice while I was gone?”
Her eyes were guileless. “Why would I do that?”
“Because you said that you wanted to move on. You wanted to flirt and date and all that.”
“I did. I do,” she said firmly. “And I can’t say that everything is perfect, but I have moved on. And I want to flirt and date and all that.”
“But you didn’t while I was out of town?”
“I didn’t,” she confirmed. “Did you…see anyone when you were out of town?”
I shook my head automatically. “We went out, but I wasn’t interested.”
She bit her lip, and it looked like she wanted to ask why. But of course, I couldn’t explain why.
“LA was sort of a lot anyway.”
She took the segue for what it was. She put another step of distance between us. “What happened in LA? You didn’t mention that things were different when we were texting. Did something happen?”
“I don’t know. It’s probably nothing, but I got a bad feeling that the Cosmere manager doesn’t like me.”
“Bobby? What did he do to make you think that?”
“Nothing. He made some offhand comments about bringing Michael back, about letting another keyboardist record the new song. That sort of thing. Nothing concrete, but it makes me think he’s going to try to get me cut.”