State of Grace Read Free Page B

groaned. Earlier it had been easier to ignore him with the hectic pace of the wedding. Now that he was sitting beside her and they were seemingly alone, she fell into her familiar routine of noticing everything about him but pretending that she didn’t.
     Like the lithe grace that accompanied his large frame to his perfect mouth … a perfect mouth framed by a strong, masculine jaw with a hint of a shadow.
    That hated, familiar warmth seeped through her veins, and she panicked.
    Remember he’s an asshole, and we don’t even like each other.
    She realized she’d been staring too long, when he mockingly raised his eyebrow at her.
    He smirked. “You always complain I’m a Neanderthal.  I’m finally trying to be a gentleman and pay you a compliment. What gives with the hostility, cupcake?”  He flashed white teeth at her in a wolfish smile, enjoying her obvious discomfort. 
    “The only reason you’re sitting here is because your favorite part of a woman’s anatomy is on display, pervert,” she grumbled, the words escaping her lips before she could think to control her mouth. Cursing her alcohol-infused brain, her hormones, and man himself, she tried counting to ten while hoping he wouldn’t egg her on. 
    Although, it probably wouldn’t matter if he kept it up or not.  Just him being close, and the clean, male scent emanating from his skin made her brain scramble.
    Epic fail, idiot.
    He regarded her intently and winked at her. “’Course, Gracie. Who knew you had all this covered up underneath those ugly t-shirts?”
    She couldn’t help herself. 
    She shivered.
    His voice poured over her like warm honey, even though he spoke in his familiar teasing tone. It almost sounded like he was flirting with her more than trying to antagonize her.
    It was the nearness, she decided. She needed to get away from him. Immediately. 
    He placed his hand over her arm, and she gasped at the warm brush of flesh against flesh.
    “Do you want me to flirt with you?” he murmured lowly in her ear.
    Slowly, too slowly, it dawned on her that she’d spoken her thoughts aloud, and mortification set in. She quickly snatched her hand out from under his and scowled in no particular direction.
    “Don’t tell me you’re going to stop being blunt with me now? Never stopped you before,” he teased playfully, a corner of that perfect mouth tugging upwards. She averted her gaze from his mouth and prayed to her maker that she hadn’t let any lascivious thoughts about his perfect lips slip out.
    She tried to muster the snottiest tone she could. “Much to my misfortune sugarplum , I had a little too much to drink, and the liquor loosened my lips. And you jerk, you know I don’t like being called Gracie or cupcake .”
    Putting this ass-hat in his place had been a struggle since she’d been in pigtails. Maybe she needed to change tactics so he’d stop torturing her. She guessed she should at least try to be friendly, especially because he was sort of family, but didn’t that also mean that he probably shouldn’t be flirting with her? And he was, wasn’t he? Men like Sean Holden did not flirt with or pursue girls like her.
    Unless maybe he thought chubby chicks would do anything in bed because they were so desperate. She decided that the alcohol was talking too much. No need to be friendly to the enemy. Eyes narrowed, she pursed her lips and waited for him to respond.
    Undaunted, he flashed a wide, charming grin at her. “Don’t they call that alliteration?”
    Stupidly, she stared at him. “Huh?”
    In slow motion, his hand lifted. She took a moment to appreciate the sheer masculine beauty of that hand. 
    Strong fingers, a fine sprinkling of downy dark hair across his knuckles.
    She was so distracted in dissecting the appearance of that hand that it took her a moment to realize that it was on an agonizingly slow ascent towards her lips. Her mouth fell open as the tip of his index finger lightly landed on the center of her