“You’re not about to pass out, are you?”
I let out a startled shriek at the sound of the voice and spun around, my fists instinctively coming up in front of me—not that I had the first clue how to throw a proper punch.
The voice actually sounded amused as it asked, “What? You gonna punch me?”
“Jesus Christ,” I panted, dropping my fists and placing a hand on my pounding chest. “You scared the ever-loving shit out of me!”
In the dim light coming through from the bedroom, I was able to make out the figure of a man sitting in the corner of the balcony. I couldn’t see his face but from what I could tell, the dude washuge. Even sitting with his legs kicked up on the iron patio table in front of him, his size was unmistakable. Even his feet were big, almost the same size as the half-empty bottle of whisky sitting abandoned on the table beside them.
“Well, in my defense, Iwasout here first.”
His tone had a teasing lilt to it that helped melt some of the tension in my stomach. “I’m sorry,” I spoke, squinting to get a better look at the stranger in the corner. “I didn’t know anyone else was out here.”
“Probably because no one’s allowed upstairs during the parties.”
“Really? Huh.…” One corner of my mouth ticked up in a smirk as I said, “Might want to tell that to the people in the room down the hall, then.”
The sound of his attractive, deep chuckle carried on a breeze and flitted across my skin. “Not surprised.”
“It seems you didn’t have any problems sneaking up here.”
The wind picked up several strands of my dark brown hair and blew them in my face, somewhat obstructing my view of thestranger as he stood from his chair and slowly headed in my direction, stepping into the stream of light pouring through the opened French doors and giving me my very first unimpeded view of his face.
Holy shit.
TWO
It wasa face that took my breath away; a face that would make panties all across the country go up in flames; a face that, no doubt, made girly parts weep the whole world over.
“What can I say, I’m stealthy.” Then he smiled. And holy exploding ovaries, Batman, what a smile it was!
Blond hair hung overly long just past a chiseled, square jaw with several days’ worth of stubble dusting it. Full, plump lips surrounded straight white teeth as he smiled a perfectly dimpled smile. Yes,dimples!
And that was just the lower half of his face.
The upper half…Good Lord.
The stranger had cheekbones that most women would die for, and glassy green eyes surrounded by lashes so long and dark I was hit with a pang of envy. The man was straight-up criminally beautiful, no other way to describe it. It should have been illegal for a man to be that good-looking.
Having already been stunned stupid, I let my gaze glide down his massive frame. He had to be at least six and a half feet tall. I was tall for a woman, standing at five foot six,andI was wearing heels, yet he still stood over half a foot taller than me.
A tight gray T-shirt stretched across broad shoulders and tapered down to a trim waist. Thickly muscled, tattoo-covered arms stretched the short sleeves, practically threatening to rip the fabric. Faded, well-worn jeans covered large thighs and led down to thick-soled black motorcycle boots.
Everything about this man screameddangerous, and I’d be damned if he didn’t make every nerve ending in my body explode. The guy was nothing like the guys I normally went for—sweet, simple good old boys who didn’t appear to have a dangerous bone in their bodies—but there was just something about the guy standing in front of me that I couldn’t ignore. It was magnetic and exhilarating. My skin actually tingled as he looked at me.
He was exquisite.
“You finished checking me out, or do you need a few more minutes?”
At his amusement-laced words, my eyes jumped back up to his. Embarrassment sent fire spreading up my chest and neck, heating my cheeks until I had no doubt they glowed bright red.
“Sorry. I was….”Totally lusting after your body.“Just… sorry.”
“Nothin’ to apologize for, sweetness. Worse things in life than being checked out by a beautiful woman.”
My blush grew impossibly deeper. If the stranger kept grinning at me like that, I was at risk of spontaneously combusting.
“You not enjoying the party?” his rough voice asked, pulling me from my blatant perusal.
