Grace (The Family Simon 5)

“But he’s in Nashville right now and he’s leaving tomorrow.”

“What do you want me to do?” she snapped. “Walk up to him, push that set of boobs out of the way and stick my tongue down his throat?”

“That would be a good start.” Her friend wiggled her tongue suggestively. “Maybe this time you’d graduate to naked kissing.”

Grace couldn’t help but smile. “You’re a nut bar.”

“And you need to get laid.”

Grace made a face. “Is that your answer for everything?”

Nicola’s eyes lit up and she giggled. “Damn right it is. Good sex can fix all kinds of problems.” She bit her lip and tilted her head suggestively. “I’m going to the washroom and then I’m going to”—she pointed toward the bar, at a tall man dressed in an expensive suit—“buy that guy a drink. I don’t plan on going home alone tonight and neither should you.”

“It’s not going to happen, Nic.”

Nicola shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that.” She leaned forward and kissed Grace on the cheek before whispering. “He’s on his way over.”

Grace whirled around and, sure enough, Matt Hawkins was pushing his way through the crowd. It wasn’t hard to spot him—he was at least six foot four, and built to match his height.

Their eyes met above the crowd and she didn’t look away. Neither did he. By the time he got to her, Grace’s heart was beating so fast and hard she felt light headed. Her skin was damp and her hair stuck to her neck. The white linen dress she wore clung to her body and she tugged at the neckline, inhaling sharply when his dark gaze followed her fingers, lingering on her chest for a few seconds longer than was polite. She didn’t care. She liked it.

How the hell could one man do this to her?

Matt’s generous mouth curved upward, and with his hands loose at his sides he smiled, his teeth flashing white in the dim room.

“I seem to have lost my date.”

Grace glanced behind him and spied the back of Candy’s head as she exited the bar with the guy Matt had been talking to earlier.

“What happened?” Did she care? His eyes were intense and suddenly it felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room.

“Candy said I was staring at you. She didn’t like that.”

Mouth dry, Grace took an extra heartbeat. “You were.” Was he remembering the kissing?

“I know.”

For that one moment, everything but the two of them faded away. There was no music. No jostling patrons. No men trying to get her attention. There was nothing but Matt and his eyes. Eyes that were so intense she felt his gaze like a heated touch.

Two years gone and it was still there.

It was a heavy moment and she knew he felt whatever this was between them. How could he not? It was hot and thick and full of something she was afraid to name. Was it just lust? Maybe. Or was it something more?

At that moment, Grace could have done one of two things. She could have said goodbye, have a nice life, and left the bar alone. Or she could have…

“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked, her voice husky and barely above a whisper.

She saw the hesitation. It was in the way his shoulders suddenly tensed. But she also saw the want. That fire was definitely in his eyes. Grace exhaled slowly and held out her hand. She watched his fist ball up into his side before he slowly released it.

A heartbeat passed. And then his long fingers slid over hers.

2

It was still there. The pull. He felt it as soon as he laid eyes on Grace, and bastard that he was, he was acting on it. Matt should have walked away. Normally he would have, and yet here he was alone with a woman he shouldn’t be alone with.

Grace Simon.

He shook his head. Shit.