The Griffin's Mate (Hideaway Cove 1)

The pale gray eyes of the wedding planner scowled at him from behind her tortoiseshell glasses. “You’re out of line. Wait back here with the maid of honor until it’s your turn to walk through.”

“What? But I … Oh. Right.” Mark obediently shuffled into place. The maid of honor, a black woman in her twenties with a wide smile and hazel eyes, laughed at him good-naturedly.

“It’s a good thing she’s here to tell us what to do, right? Who knows what might happen if we were left to walk in to dinner in the wrong order.”

“The sky would fall,” Kes intoned from behind them. “And, lo, all of my aunties would leave the poor wedding planner terrible Yelp reviews for insulting tradition. God, I’m hungry, though.”

“Is it an insult to tradition if the bride passes out from hunger before the meal?” Tom suggested, putting his arm around his new wife.

“Probably,” she replied glumly. “Oh, we’re moving, go go go!”

Dinner went smoothly. Mark didn’t even notice what he ate, but he managed to pull his head in long enough to remember his best man’s speech, and the embarrassing-but-not-too-naughty stories from Tom’s youth. At last the bride and groom stood up for their first dance.

The dining room was alongside the ballroom, where the ceremony had been held. As Kes and Tom stood up and made their way hand-in-hand between the tables, the wall between the two rooms folded back like paper.

A gasp along the table to Mark’s left made him turn his head. All through dinner, he’d been craning his neck trying to see where the redheaded bridesmaid was seated, and now, here she was, laughing in delight at the concertina wall.

Her eyes were a sparkling blue-gray, like glacier meltwater, ringed by delicate lashes. The freckles he had noticed on her arms were sprinkled across her face, as well, not quite hidden under her makeup. Entranced, he followed them down her neck, where they grew thinner and then exploded in a constellation across her shoulders.

After that, they disappeared beneath her dress. Mark shifted in his seat, suddenly aware that his body was very aware of the woman sitting less than ten feet away from him. He was half hard already.

Mark flexed his thigh muscles, willing his erection to go down. When he felt he could trust his body not to betray him, he leaped to his feet.

The music was playing. Kes and Tom were having their first dance. Everyone else was expected to start dancing, too, and he couldn’t bear the thought of anyone but him dancing with the gorgeous redhead.

He half-stumbled into several chairs on his way over to her. Eyes turned his way, but he ignored them. His eyes, his whole being, was focused on just one woman. Just her.

He barreled to a stop by her chair and she looked up at him, a question in her bright eyes. He cleared his throat.

“Do you—would you like to dance?” he stammered, his tongue suddenly tied in knots.