Grace (The Family Simon #5)- Juliana Stone Page 0,2

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.

The cab ride out to Belle Meade hadn’t been a long one, maybe twenty minutes, and Matt watched the taillights disappear until the night swallowed them whole. It was late September and the air was chilled. He hunched his shoulders and shoved his hands into his front pockets—it was either that or put them on the woman who stood watching him silently. And that was something he was still deciding on.

“Nice place,” he murmured, eyes on Grace.

Her eyes skittered from his, and she tugged on a long piece of hair that blew in the wind. “It’s a little over the top.”

Matt’s eyebrow shot up at that. A little? Even in the dark he could see that the Tudor style mansion was impressive. Surrounded by a large circular drive, a separate four car garage, and gardens that would make Home & Garden subscribers salivate, it was more than just ‘over the top’. It reeked of money—and a lot of it.

“It belongs to Donovan but she and Jack are in Florida so…”

Right. Donovan James, the country singer. She was married to Grace’s brother Jack Simon.

Matt rolled his neck and studied the girl for a few moments. Her face was more angular than he remembered, framed by long dark hair that fell past her shoulders, but those lips were still luscious and soft. Next to his six-four frame, it was easy to think of her as small, yet her athletic build and confident stance screamed anything but. She had lean lines and killer legs. And damn if that tight fitting dress didn’t show off every inch of her.

She cocked her chin a bit and he hid a smile. She was a fireball and his blood heated just thinking of all the things he wanted to do to her. Hell, if she were anyone else, he wouldn’t be hesitating—he’d have had her underwear off in the cab. But the fact that her brother Beau was married to his best friend Betty Jo made things a whole lot complicated. And Matt Hawkins didn’t do complicated. He just wasn’t that guy. She needed to know that.

He cleared his throat. “So what are we doing here, Gracie?”

Her breath caught and her chest fell rapidly as she ran fingers through