He grinned at her, confident and hopeful.
Maybe she wouldn’t pummel her brother after all.
The heat in the look Drake gave her melted all of her attempts at freezing him out. It was super hard to be grumpy when Drake and his charms were handed to her on a silver testicle platter.
He was totally lickable—like one of those Tootsie Pop suckers. How many licks to get to his center? She’d tried for an entire month and still hadn’t gotten to the center of him. She’d run her tongue along the column of his throat, around the back to his earlobe. Uh-huh, yes, she’d done that.
Drake got closer. Not close enough for Anna to see the subtle brown flecks she’d memorized in his green eyes, but closer all the same.
Each movement toward her made her pulse thud faster.
When he was on the football field, the guy had an arm unlike any the league had ever seen before. When he whipped off his helmet on the sidelines for a post-game interview?Mmmmmm. Yum. Let’s just say the girls were ready to put all their milkshakes in the yard with the hopes of attracting him to their property.
Phew, was it hot in the ballroom?
Suddenly lightheaded, Anna succumbed to the memory of being held in Drake’s embrace. Blond cropped hair, strong jaw, green eyes the color of her favorite absinthe cocktail from Union Lodge No. 1—he was the whole package. Everything she thought she’d been waiting for in a man.
Yes. Oh my, my, my.
But oh no, no, no.
She wanted to turn and walk away, even tried to get her feet to move, but the soles of her shoes stayed rooted to the ballroom carpet. Her lungs constricted and the room started to spin. Not in a dangerous way like she’d pass out or anything. But in the dangerous way like she might make a really stupid mistake…again.
Chapter 2
Anna
Anna ran through several scenarios of how the evening could play out.
In the first option, she’d bolt for the door, run to the valet, get her car, getinher car, and get the hell out of there.
In the second, she’d stay, give Drake the cold shoulder, and wait out the night.
In the third (and she already knew this was the way it would go), she’d stay, be unable to give Drake the cold shoulder, and fall back into the land of love and dreams—all the while knowing, deep down, that it wasn’t meant to be.
Option three sucked the most.
She willed her body to go numb so that she could choose option one or two instead. Her body betrayed her, warming and tingling and craving Drake’s touch.
He continued walking toward her, stopping several times along the way to shake hands and pose for selfies with fans. He never said no to a fan.
Maybe that’s where she’d messed up. She should’ve made it clear she was a fan first and a girlfriend second, and then maybe he’d have agreed to let her move to Miami with him. This is what Drake’s appearance did to her—it made her question everything.
Even with his starts and stops, Drake somehow managed to keep his intention of where he was headed clear.
To her.
Therefore, Anna decided not to go chase down her brother.
With a few reassuring glances pointed in her direction, he sometimes stared straight at her while still making it clear he was listening to the person chatting him up.
“I think I’m going to murder your fiancé,” Anna whispered to Sadie.
“Please don’t.” Sadie let out a long sigh.
Anna sighed, resigned, her body already buzzing at the idea of breathing the same air as Drake again.
Sadie gave a meaningful look to Heather, then to Anna. “His methods are suspect, I know, but he means well.”
