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“No,” I said, shrugging off her touch. “I want to meet my new stepmommy’s brother.”
The beer she’d just pushed into my hands was promptly taken away. “Yeah, okay. I think you’ve reached your limit. Let’s go.”
“I’ll go when I’m ready,” I bit out, and I stood there, arms crossed as I glared my father down.
“You’re just like your mother,” Scott said with amusement in his eyes, but his lips were still pressed in a grim line.
Pain kicked me squarely in the chest at the mention of my mom, and suddenly all the anger drained out of me. Tears burned my eyes, and I turned away…
Only to walk into a mountain of hard muscles.
Gasping, I blinked back my tears to look up at the man whose hands were suddenly on my elbows, keeping me from bouncing back and falling onto the floor. He was beautiful, in a Greek god kind of way. Olive skin, muscles sculpted by Zeus himself, and the most amazing face I’d ever set eyes on. Gray dress slacks were tight over his hard thighs, his baby-blue button-up clinging to his chest and thick arms.
Just looking at him, I couldn’t tell if he was twenty-five or thirty-five, but he could easily have been anywhere in between.
Gulping, I met dark eyes.
“Okay?” he asked in a voice that didn’t go with his body. It was soft, with just a hint of kindness. His eyes latched on to my mouth for a moment, hunger flashing in his gaze and making my stomach tighten, before those dark orbs moved on to the rest of my face.
There was absolutely nothing soft on his body, however. His jaw was sculpted, his cheekbones high and sharp. And I could tell by the set of his shoulders, the rest of his body was like steel. His fingers bit into my flesh, and I felt oddly safe even though I didn’t sense a drop of danger in the air. Concern darkened his handsome face, his eyes scanning over mine and taking in the glassiness from the tears and my tipsiness.
When was the last time someone looked at me like that? I couldn’t remember the last time Jace had, and I realized it was something else our relationship had been missing. Jace knew I could take care of myself, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t wanted him to step in from time to time so I didn’t fucking have to.
Pushing back thoughts of my ex, I opened my mouth but was suddenly tongue-tied and could do nothing more than nod.
“Is Montez bothering you?” he demanded, shooting my dad a glare over the top of my head.
I liked the way he seemed to growl at my dad. It soothed something deep inside me to know someone disliked the man just as much as I did. “No,” I choked out. “I was just leaving.”
“Derrick,” Shannon said, and it took me a second to realize she was speaking to the man still holding me protectively. “This is Scott’s daughter, Mc…er, Kin.”
Realization hit me in the face, and I jerked back. “You’re her brother?”
Oh dear Lord. I had the hots for my future stepuncle.
Gross. Gross. Gross.
But he was so fucking hot.
“You’re his daughter?” he said at the same time, his hands falling to his sides and balling into fists.
“Awkward,” Jenna muttered beside me, and I was thankful she hadn’t abandoned me. “You ready to go now?”
“Definitely,” I assured her, but as we walked away to rejoin Lucy and Angie, I couldn’t help looking back.
And I was rewarded by seeing Derrick’s gaze locked on me, hunger still darkening his chocolate eyes.
Chapter 11
Jace
Getting out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and grabbed another to dry off. After leaving Kin at the studio that morning, I went straight to the gym and worked out until I was nearly puking. My body was now physically exhausted, but I still knew sleep would be almost impossible.
She wasn’t on my bed, rubbing lotion into her legs, making my room smell like vanilla and roses. There weren’t long, red strands of her hair sticking to every surface in the bathroom and littering the floor. Her bra wasn’t hanging from the hand towel rail beside the sink, and there wasn’t a damn box of girl products beside the toilet.
Even though all of that shit would annoy me, make me gripe at her, it was only after she was gone that I realized I needed all of those things in place before I could relax. I didn’t care that her box of tampons was just sitting there or that her hair was everywhere or that my room smelled all girly. It was all proof that she was present.
But she wasn’t.
