My Friend's Dirty Uncle

But I couldn’t stop myself. The curvy brunette was insanely gorgeous, and I had to have her.

When I’d put my luggage in the guest room at my sister’s house, I’d thought about just turning in for the night. After all, I was tired and I knew I had to make some calls in the morning. Earplugs would keep the pounding noise out, and I could ignore the shaking of the walls. But as I sat there, all I could think about was her. I had to know who she was.

I needed to know her name.

And before I knew what I was doing, I was walking down the stairs, surveying everyone for a glimpse of my mystery woman. No such luck. It was like she had evaporated into thin air. My eyes scoured every room, and before I knew it, Kristi had appeared, grabbing my arm and dragging me into her mother’s home office.

“Uncle Hunter, what are you doing?” she hissed, setting her red cup down on the large desk in the back of the room and looking at me like I was crazy. “People keep coming up to me and asking me who you are!”

“I’m just looking for something. Why?” I asked, crossing my arms. In the back of my head, I could already hear the timer counting down. The longer I was in here with my niece, the less time I had to find my mystery girl.

“You know it’s my annual first day of summer party! I have a reputation to keep,” she said, smiling. Unlike her brother, who was pretty much a male airhead, Kristi was always thinking about her social status. She was constantly worrying about maintaining her status as queen bee among a bunch of teenage girls.

And frankly, Kristi’s annual parties had been going on for years now. I hated to admit it, but the first one had actually been my idea. That was probably another reason Kristi and Aaron knew I’d never bust them. After all, the year after my father had given me sole ownership of Maddox Media, I’d spent the summer setting up various meetings to discuss the future of the company while babysitting my sister’s kids.

One day, Kristi had been lounging by the pool while her brother was doing laps. She was whining about the kids at her school. “No one invites me to parties. How am I supposed to climb the social ladder is no one is going to give me a step up?”

Because I was sick of listening to her complain and overwhelmed with my new business responsibilities, I’d done something irresponsible.

“Why don’t you just throw a party? That’s what I would do.”

I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but the following night I was shocked to see that the house had been invaded by schoolkids.

I cornered the twins. “Kristi, this isn’t what I had in mind,” I said sternly.

“I need this Uncle Hunter. Please?” Kristi had made puppy eyes at me and batted her lashes until I’d agreed.

And the annual party had been going strong since then. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but I always pretended to look the other way as Kristi and Aaron lived the life with their friends. At least I could always be the fun uncle.

But now, I was going to work my mistake to my advantage.

“Kristi,” I said. “You’re the queen of this place, and I need your help.” As I spoke. I looked around the room. Pictures adorned the walls. Family photos mostly, but there was one of Kristi with a group of friends that caught my eye. One of the girls was familiar, and my stomach lurched to the side when I realized she had been standing with my mystery girl.

“Sure,” Kristi said lazily. “Happy to help, Uncle Hunter. What is it?”

“Who is this?”

Kristi grabbed her red cup and walked over to look at the picture on the wall. “Oh, Justine?”

“Yes, I just saw her downstairs.”

Kristi’s eyebrow went up in surprise. “She’s one of my good friends. You’ve met her last summer. She’s here with her cousin.”

“Her cousin?” I inquired.

Kristi shrugged her shoulders. “Her cousin is down here for the summer. Justine says she’s been pretty sheltered her whole life. You can tell, kinda. The girl just seems really self-conscious.”

“That’s her,” I said. It had to be her – the gorgeous goddess I’d seen downstairs obviously wasn’t used to big parties like this. She’d stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Well, whatever, I’m going back downstairs,” Kristi said, her manner disinterested.

I turned around to follow her out the door. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Kristi laughed. “That isn’t much.” She laughed as she drained the rest of her drink. “Are you okay? You look kinda tired,” she added.

I needed to get a grip. I didn’t want my niece to know I was lusting after her friend’s young cousin. “Like I said, just a little tired. I think I’m going to go outside to get some fresh air.”