My gaze drifts toward her like a fucking magnet. Her tiny dress clings to her curves in a way that's had my dick hard all night.Her usually wild hair is sleek and straight, her makeup flawless. Somehow, she looks like an angel and a siren at the same damn time.
I'm going to kill her brother for giving her vodka. She's barely old enough to drink, and that party is full of pricks who would love nothing more than to get their hands on her.
The thought alone makes me homicidal.
No one gets to touch Hattie, not even me.
Believe me, I'm not happy about it. She's starred in every one of my dreams since I saw her for the first time. And I don't just mean the dirty ones, either. She's in those deep, wistful ones, where the future plays out like some fucking movie, and I've gotten everything I ever wanted out of life.
"I'm not going to survive this wedding," she mumbles beside me, curling in on herself. I don't think she's talking to me, but I hear her anyway. Frankly, I'm not sureI'mgoing to survive this wedding. But I'm worried as hell about why she's so convinced she's going to die.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because you rejected me."
"No." My stomach clenches at the way she says it, a growl of denial rumbling on my lips. I hurt her feelings. That's the last thing I ever want to do. I just want to love her.
"You did." She turns her face up to me, her lips in a pout I'd like to kiss from her lips. I don't think she even realizes she's pouting. That's the thing about Hattie. She's completely oblivious to how captivating she is. There's this innocence—this sweetness—about her that you just want to drown in. I'm not talking about virginity but the kind of softness that can't be fucked out, like it's in her damn soul.
She's quirky as hell, marching to the beat of her own drum. But the way she does it? I've never been one to march, but yeah, amotherfucker might have thought a time or three about stepping in time to her beat. Unfortunately, that isn't in the cards.
Her brothers would kill me if I touched their baby sister. And since Tye and I are on the same team…well, let's just say I know to keep my hands to myself.
It gets a little harder by the day. Especially with her sitting beside me right now, pouting like I ruined her life. I'd kill to be the one she comes home to every night.
Until approximately fifteen minutes ago, I didn't think I had a chance in hell, however. Hattie avoids me like the plague. If she sees me coming, she goes in the opposite direction. I don't really blame her for it. I know I'm a cranky asshole, her complete opposite in every way. She's tiny and delicate, full of sugar and smiles. I'm an oversized beast, existing on a steady diet of irritation and scowls.
If I were her, I wouldn't want to be around me, either.
But every time she bolts in the opposite direction, it takes every ounce of strength I possess not to force myself into her space just to make her see me.
"I didn't reject you, butterfly," I say gently…or as gently as a man like me can. I'm not soft. I never have been. But something about her makes me want to be that man.
I avoid the hell out of women and emotions and all that shit, especially since my mother decided she wants grandkids. She's on a mission to marry me, my older brother, and our younger sister off. And we're united in our efforts to cut that shit off at the pass.
At least, we were united. Austin is currently all over the news, acting like a madman over a girl he met at a party. He swears they're getting married. I do not think she's gotten that memo.
Regardless, nothing has ever made me want to be next quite like Hattie Ward. Nothing else has ever made me want to be soft or sweet or the kind of man made for a girl like her, either.
She's dangerous. So fucking dangerous.
"Yes, you did!" she cries. "You said anyone would be stupid to date me."
What the fuck?
"I did not say that, Hattie."
"You said—"
"I said I was getting you out of there before you decided to ask anyone else to date you, and they were stupid enough to say yes," I growl. "I know what I said. Nowhere in there did I say anyone would be stupid to date you."
Anyone who dates her is going to be the luckiest motherfucker on the planet. And I'm going to choke on my own jealousy.
"I fail to see the difference."
I sigh, pulling to the side of the road. I can't have this conversation and drive. I can'tthinkwith her sitting right beside me. Christ, I can't think when I turn and see her eyes locked on my face, either. They're dilated and glossy from the vodka, and still so fucking gray my dick throbs.
"The difference is that you look like sex in that dress," I say, my hands locked tightly around the steering wheel. "And my teammates are all idiots. Any one of them would kill to get their hands on you, and then I'd have to help Tye hide bodies."
