"Wow, Jocelyn, where did you get that body?"
"Shut up!" I hated it when he embarrassed me.
"No, really." He laughed. "Where have you been hiding those?" He pointed to my cleavage.
Actually, my boobs did seem a little fuller from when I bought the dress a month ago.How strange."Stop it!" I hit his shoulder.
"I'm just sayin', you're kinda hot." He winked.
"And I'm not sharing, little brother," Alex said, as he came up behind me and pulled my back against his chest. "And you," he said, as he turned me around. "I leave you for five minutes and you're flirting with my brother?"
"You shouldn't leave me alone then."
"Alex," Evan said, "I had no idea she could look this good."
"Thanks, asshat," I retorted.
"No, it's a compliment, really. You two needed each other."
"Whatever!" Alex waved him off.
"No, listen," he said. "She needed you to come out of her shell, and you needed her to calm the fuck down. You're the perfect couple, and you have me to thank."
"Are you done?" Alex asked. "Because I want to be alone with my perfection."
"You know I'm right." Evan laughed. "It’s right there for everybody to see."
Alex took my hand and led me outside to the gazebo in the back yard that overlooked the pond. He sat down on the bench and pulled me into his lap.
"Did you have fun with my mom?"
"You left me with all those people."
"Sorry," he said. "But my mom had you in her clutches, and there wasn't anything I could do about it, so I went to get a beer and got sidetracked talking to Ryan."
"And his entourage?" I asked, trying not to sound jealous.
"No, Brenna and Julia were upstairs," he said. "Doing who knows what."
"I really like your mother," I told him. "She makes me feel special."
"That's because you are special." He smiled. "And Evan was right." He stopped to take a drink from his beer, then offered a sip to me, but I shook my head. Instead, I took the bottle and placed it next to us on the bench.
"I'd rather taste it on your lips," I said as I pressed mine to his.
He ran his fingers through my hair, deepening the kiss as his other hand rested just under my skirt.
"Hmm," I moaned as I pulled away. "How do you know Evan was right?"
"From what Mom says. She's thankful that you calmed me the fuck down." He laughed. "She was getting tired of me chasing after every daughter of every woman on the board of every charity she was associated with."
"You did that?"
"Pretty much." He shot me a wicked grin. "You have no idea just what a handful I was."
"Didn't anyone ever turn you down?"
"Once." He chuckled. "But I think she liked girls."
