“There.” A hint of a smile plays on his lips, and all I can think about is kissing them. Samuel has never engaged in a food battle, let alone in a public place. I wonder if he’s forgotten where we are. Yet, even though I know all eyes are on us, I can’t look away from his gaze. I’m trapped, like a moth to a flame.
“That wasn’t nice, Sammy.” I sound breathless, excited.
“Tit for tat, Freedom,” he replies, still not making a move to grab the napkin at his lap.
The juvenile in me giggles. “You said tit.”
He rolls his eyes dramatically. “It’s an expression.”
“A funny one,” I tell him, snaking my tongue out to lick my cheek.
His eyes darken and follow my movement as my tongue tastes a piece of cheesecake. Samuel’s throat bobs heavily and his mouth forms the slightest O. With him distracted and looking like he wants to eat me for dessert, I touch a single finger to the end of my fork and graze it along his bottom lip.
Dark, hungry orbs slam into mine as I run my finger along his skin. My body burns, and those pretty blue and pink panties I’m wearing are rendered useless. I’m so turned on suddenly, I’m afraid my nipples are standing up and saluting. Actually, I’m sure they are. Everything is so…tingly.
“Hot damn, Sam.” Orval’s words are like a cold glass of water being thrown on us.
Samuel blinks, his eyes clear, and he pulls back, dislodging my touch from his skin. I glance to my side and find all eyes—every single pair—focused on us. Most of them are full of question, but there are a few packed with humor too. Like they can’t believe they just witnessed stiff ol’ Samuel Grayson play with food.
I feel slightly victorious in the moment.
He looks like he’d rather be anywhere else than right here at the moment. Samuel’s so uncomfortable he doesn’t even correct his uncle when he uses the shortened version of his name. The tips of his ears match his cheeks as he wipes away the cheesecake and clears his throat, completely averting his eyes from everyone at the table. Including me.
“Well, then, if you’ll excuse me,” Emma announces and dramatically stands up. “I’m going to go smoke after that.”
Me too, Emma.
Me too.
Chapter Nine
Samuel
“Come on, big brother. You owe me a dance,” Harper says, as she grabs my hand and pulls me onto the dance floor.
“I’m not so sure, Harper,” I argue, as she leads me to the dance floor.
“I’m sure. We’re doing a different take on the father/daughter dance, Samuel. Come dance with me,” she insists, as she places her hands on my shoulders and slowly sways to the music.
The moment our dessert dishes were collected, our dinner party moved to the dance club attached to the hotel. Harper and Latham were able to have their first dance as husband and wife, and now he’s dancing with his mom, while I’m trying to spin my sister around the packed dance floor. It’s a seductive number. Couples are practically making out like teenagers as they sway—err, grind—inappropriately to the music.
And here I am, dancing with my sister.
“You and Free seemed awfully cozy at dinner,” she says, a knowing smile on her face.
“It was nothing,” I insist, hating how my heart starts to gallop wildly in my chest when I recall the whole cheesecake incident after dinner. Usually, I’d be appalled by her actions, the concept of dirty fingers in my food making me gag, but for some crazy reason, it was a bit…arousing.
“Mmhmm. Sure didn’t look like nothing.”
I reach up and pull on my tie. “You know how Freedom is.” I’m deflecting, sure, but honestly, I don’t know what to say. The entire situation is so very foreign to me, let alone the fact I seemed to actually enjoy our playful banter.
“I do. She’s the best,” Harper says as the song comes to an end. “Listen, Samuel, I don’t know what happened last night and I don’t really need the details, but I want you to know we’d all support you. You know, if you were to actually tell everyone that you two. Got. Married.”
Again, my heart is starting a little freak-out in my chest. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
She stops moving and just looks up at me. “Probably not, but it did. And that’s okay. You two are actually great together.”
I can’t help but gape at my sister. Great together? We’re not even…together.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m being serious. She might be just what you need,” she says with a shrug.
“Need for what?” I ask, unsure where she’s going with this.
“Need in life.”
Now I know I’m just staring at my sister. I know she just got married and thinks everyone should be as happy as she is right now, but the concept of Freedom and myself being…well, that, is a little farfetched. “I think you’re just deliriously happy right now and not thinking straight.”
She lifts a single shoulder. “I am deliriously happy, but I’m not blind. You two have been dancing around this for years.”
“We’ve been dancing around nothing,” I insist, hating the tightening in my gut that calls out my lie.
Harper just smiles. “Whatever, big brother. I just want you to be happy, okay? And if that’s with Free, then I’m even more ecstatic because she’s amazing.”
I swallow over the large lump in my throat and start to move to the music again. When the song ends, she leans up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “She brings out something different in you, Samuel. Don’t ignore that.” Then she steps back and turns, finding her husband on the dance floor.
I’m left dumbfounded by her comments. Sure, she brings out
