Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 57407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Too bad that would only happen in her mind. Because she couldn’t forget that Drew had walked away from her and the possibility of something more. And she wasn’t the kind of woman who chased a man who didn’t want her in return.
Chapter Four
“Where did Tripp disappear to?” Drew asked, glancing around the crowded ballroom for his brother at the Future Fast Track charity event. “The bachelor auction is about to start.”
“He probably slipped out the nearest exit,” his younger brother, Beck, said with a smirk. “I know that’s where I would have gone by now.”
His beautiful wife, Chloe—dressed in a stunning gold-hued gown—lightly jabbed Beck in the side with her elbow. “Stop trying to cause trouble,” she said, pursing her lips at her husband. “It was hard enough to wrangle your brothers into agreeing to this bachelor auction without you provoking them right before they need to get up on the stage.”
Beck put his arm around her waist, pulled her close to his side, and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Sorry,” he said, not sounding contrite at all.
Drew finished off the last of his bourbon and set the empty glass on a passing tray, his narrowed gaze still searching the area for his wayward brother. “I swear, I will kick his ass all the way to New Jersey if he somehow managed to get out of this while I’m being sold off like a prime piece of cattle.”
Beck chuckled, then quickly cleared his throat when Chloe shot him a chastising look before glancing back at Drew. “Don’t worry. I saw him at the bar talking to Skye.” She pointed toward the corner of the room.
“Skye?” Drew craned his neck in that direction, and sure enough, he spotted Tripp standing with a pretty blonde woman that he didn’t recognize, but Chloe clearly knew. “Do I know her?”
His sister-in-law shook her head. “She’s a fairly new event coordinator for the Meridian Hotel and works with Jade and Lauren. I’ve seen him speaking to her a few times tonight.”
Huh. Drew found that bit of information interesting. Especially since he could see Tripp’s charming grin and knew that he was flirting with the other woman. First, a hookup with an old flame, and now trying to win over another female before being auctioned off to someone else. His brother was a very busy man with the ladies, lately.
He meant to return his attention back to Chloe and Beck, but a different blonde caught his gaze, and not for the first time that evening. Georgia seemed to always be on the opposite side of the room. Granted, he knew she was busy helping to make sure the event ran smoothly, but it was as though she was strategically trying to avoid him. Not that he could blame her. He’d given her no reason to seek him out after the abrupt way he’d ended things the last time he’d seen her.
But that didn’t stop him from watching her work the room, along with Aurora and a pink-haired woman, all three smiling and talking to various guests and networking for the non-profit. Tonight, Georgia had worn her hair down in soft, loose curls, and was wearing a beaded black gown that shimmered in the light and accentuated her curves every time she moved.
He felt that familiar stirring of desire and had to resist the urge to approach her and apologize for his behavior that night at the banquet. To just say screw it and fucking kiss her like he wanted to do, then and now. But it really wasn’t the time or the place, and it wouldn’t change the fact that she was off-limits.
He forced his gaze back to his brother and Chloe, who was texting on her cell phone with an intent look on her face.
“Is everything okay?” Drew asked.
Beck nodded. “Yeah, she’s just checking in with the sitter to see how Whitney is doing.”
Whitney…their three-year-old daughter, named after their sister, and Tripp’s twin. At one time, her name would have made Drew’s chest tighten with grief as it had for years after she’d died of leukemia at the age of sixteen. Everyone in the family had dealt with her illness and subsequent death in different ways, all of them devastated by the loss. But it had been Beck who’d bonded the tightest with her during those last few months of her life and had held her hand when she’d taken her last breath.
Naming his firstborn daughter after Whitney had been his way of honoring their sister. Now, the name no longer brought sorrow, but happiness and joy to their family.
“How’s my favorite niece?” Drew asked.
Beck rolled his eyes. “She’s your only niece, dumbass.”
He shrugged. “Which makes her my favorite.”
“God, she’s a handful,” Beck said, shaking his head. “I don’t know why they call them the terrible twos when that stubborn, sassy behavior lasts right through the threes.”