Your Forever Love (The Bennett Family 3)

“Thank you for offering to help her….”

“I sense a but coming.” I smile, folding my arms over my chest.

Eric returns the smile and shrugs. “No offense, but I don’t allow my daughter to spend time with people I don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t, but you’ve met my brothers. You know me by extension. As to me, what you see is what you get.”

“Who knows what you might be hiding under that pretty smile and elegant dress.”

His gaze travels down my body with amusement, as if looking for any secrets. Yet somewhere along the way, the amusement turns to heat. He zeroes in on my hips, and I swear his nostrils flare. When he looks back up, surprise flickers in his eyes as if he’s taken aback by his own reaction to me.

“It’ll boost her confidence if I show her a few tricks,” I say.

“Are you sure it’s okay if Julie comes to your office?” he asks.

Is it my imagination, or is his voice a notch huskier? Imagination or not, it sends tendrils of warmth down my spine.

“It’ll be my pleasure. I love children. I can’t wait for Sebastian and Ava to give me some nieces and nephews. I will spoil them rotten.”

He laughs softly at my words. The sound fills me with joy. “You are the first person to find it perfectly acceptable to spoil kids. Everyone else is up my ass for doing so with Julie.” He accompanies the last word with a wink. “I can’t help spoiling her.”

“As you should. You’ll bring her to my office, then. It’s settled. She said she has two weeks until summer school starts. I can teach her a lot in that time.”

“You’re stubborn,” he remarks. There is a spark of a challenge in his tone, which riles me up.

“You have no idea.” God, his eyes are too blue, and his lips too full. The combo should be illegal. Eric Callahan is six feet of sexiness.

“All right. Enjoy your brother’s wedding now. I’ll call you tomorrow, and we can talk about the details.”

“You don’t have my number.”

“I’m a resourceful man.” He gives me a crooked smile before taking off.

***

The wedding goes on without a hitch. The dance floor is full all the time, and the whole room buzzes with life thanks to the permanent chatter and laughter of the guests. I leave the dance floor when I can’t feel my feet anymore, slumping in my seat and kicking off my shoes under the table. My sister Alice drops in the seat next to me a couple of minutes later, panting.

“The band is incredible,” she says, fanning her heated cheeks. A waiter asks if there is anything he can do for us, and we both order a cocktail. After he leaves, Alice chuckles while glancing at my bare feet, then follows my lead and kicks off her shoes. Thank God we’re alone at our table.

The waiter returns with the cocktails, and Alice smiles smugly as we clink our glasses. Uh-oh. That smile means trouble.

“Spill the beans,” she says.

I sip from my glass, taking my time before answering. “What are you talking about?”

“What’s up with you and Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?” Alice presses.

“His daughter is an aspiring designer. I talked to him about meeting with her to teach her some stuff. Nothing else.” I try to downplay the meeting even though my skin still simmers from the way he looked at me.

She leans in to me, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “So, why did he give you a hot look?”

“Alice! I’m not sure it was a hot look.”

“It was. I was across the dance floor, and even I could feel the heat.”

Sighing, I lean forward, pulling the platter of sweets from the center of the table toward us. This conversation requires sugar.

“I asked Max about him. Did you know they call him ‘the shark?