Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
When she finally spotted me, she did the introductions, and I stayed out in the hall with her and her man toy for another ten minutes before they left—presumably to the room she rented for the night.
So here I was, standing in front of the closed doors to the reception hall, nervous, because all I wanted was to see Carter again.
I was now regretting not getting a room at the hotel for the night.
When I finally entered, I saw a crowd of wedding guests in the center of the room, dancing to some upbeat song. I spotted Amber and my father in the thick of it, and the genuine smile on his face as she danced in front of him had me smiling in response.
A server passed, and I grabbed another glass of liquid courage as I watched everyone bouncing around with their arms in the air.
Seemed like I wasn’t the only one who had a little too much to drink, as I saw my usually uptight aunt and uncle acting way out of character as they moved together… suggestively.
I leaned against the wall and just people-watched, but in reality, I was searching for one person in particular.
“Funny meeting you here.”
That deep voice was an electrical spark right to my core, and I actually tensed.
I turned and watched as Carter leaned against the wall, his focus trained right on me.
“Looks like you survived telling the bride and groom you couldn’t attend the ceremony but still came to crash the reception,” I teased as I smiled at him.
He narrowed his eyes, but I saw the way the corner of his mouth twitched with his amusement. “Brat,” he murmured and brought his glass of alcohol to his lips.
I shouldn’t have gotten wet hearing him call me a brat, and it really shouldn’t have turned me on watching him take lazy sips of his whisky. I was just so attracted to the way his big hand was curled around that glass. My body tingled at how I could see the prominent veins running under his tan skin.
Or maybe it was the way the lights caught the glass of his wristwatch as he finished his drink, confusing my brain somehow?
I glanced away, my cheeks heating all over again. I was really getting sick of having a hot face around this man.
I sipped my champagne, nursing it, but I felt his gaze on me. It was cliché to say it felt like a physical touch, but it actually did.
I swore I could feel the parts of my body he was looking at. The side of my face. My bare shoulder. The mounds of my breasts. My nipples tingled in response.
And I was pretty sure if I glanced down, I’d be able to see how hard they were, visibly protruding through the material. It wasn’t as if I was wearing a bra.
Strapless bras don’t really work for boobs as big as mine, so I let the girls be free, but I was now regretting that for as obscene as it all probably looked.
“Stuck in traffic?” I could have cursed myself as I gripped the stem of my champagne flute at the word-vomit that just spewed out of me.
“Pardon?”
I closed my eyes and exhaled before looking at Carter. He had one silver eyebrow arched as he watched me curiously. For a moment, I was awestruck by how handsome he was, how his maturity was an aphrodisiac.
“Were you stuck in traffic?” I drank the rest of my champagne to occupy my mouth so I wouldn’t say anything else stupid.
“Was I stuck in traffic?” He said those words so slowly, as if he thought maybe I was drunk and he didn’t know what I was talking about.
I cleared my throat and straightened from the wall. “Was that why you were late? Were you stuck in traffic?” I didn’t even know why I asked him in the first place, let alone repeating my question… twice.
I knew nothing aside from his first name and literally just met him in the hallway like twenty minutes ago.
He was silent for a few seconds as he stared at me. But there was no judgment on his face. In fact, he wore a little smirk that had those butterflies in my belly moving as if it were rush hour traffic.
“My company requires me to do a lot of business trips. Most of the time, I can rearrange things, but I had an emergency meeting last night. As soon as I got off the jet, I came here.” He glanced back out at the dance floor, and I followed his gaze to where it centered.
On Amber.
For a moment, I wondered if they were former lovers. But I shot that down. No way would someone invite their ex to their wedding, right?
Maybe he was an uncle? A much-older cousin? A professor from college?