floor. Watching Brandon sway with closed eyes, I felt a spark of envy for his ability to lose himself in the music.
Tapping my fingers on my leg in time to the song, my gaze strayed to the far side of the room. Forest-green eyes stared at me with familiar intensity.
I inhaled to steady my suddenly jangling nerves. The boy from the beach sprawled in a chair, with his long denim-covered legs stretched out under the table. In the dim light his disheveled brown hair looked black. The shadow had disappeared from his wide jaw, but he didn’t look any less dangerous. Even with the stage between us, I could see the scar cutting through his right eyebrow. His broad shoulders slouched as he played with the wrapper from a straw.
I hadn’t realized how perfect his posture was at the beach until seeing him relaxed like this. Relaxed didn’t look . . . right on him. Despite his lazy demeanor, his potent gaze had the power to make my pulse sprint. He watched me with a curiosity that mirrored my own, and I couldn’t look away.
Lucy sounded anxious when she appeared next to me. “Oh, no, you don’t. Don’t even think about it.”
Her words enabled me to break the spell cast by those wicked green eyes. One song had faded into another while I’d been staring at the boy, and I hadn’t even realized it. I turned to her in confusion. “What?”
She nodded her head in the boy’s direction. “Asher Blackwell. He’s your classic bad boy, black motorcycle and all.” She leaned close to shout over the music. “Dad would have a frickin’ heart attack.”
Asher Blackwell, I thought, glad to have a name to go with the face.
I forced a smile for Lucy’s benefit, trying to appear normal. “Ooh, a motorcycle. That’s bad, right?”
An impish playfulness colored her grin. “It’s our job to worry Dad, not kill him.”
Asher no longer studied me when I turned, but spoke to a boy and girl I hadn’t noticed sitting at his table.
“Is that Blackwell as in Blackwell Falls?” I asked.
“Got it in one. His ancestors founded the town in the 1800s. That group is the latest descendents and heir to the estate.”
I set aside the pictures that the word “estate” brought to mind. “Who’s that with him?”
Lucy tossed a glance at the table, but she needn’t have worried about being surreptitious. None of the table’s occupants paid us any attention. “The girl is his sister, Charlotte, and the really hot one is Gabriel Blackwell, their brother. He’s their guardian. Their parents died last year in a car accident right before they moved to town. Apparently, they didn’t know they owned property in town until they read the will.”
The Blackwells shared the same angled bone structure and dark brown hair; although Gabriel wore his cropped shorter than Asher’s. Charlotte shouldn’t have been pretty with the sharp features of the two boys, but somehow it worked on her. Her scarlet lips and bobbed hair made her look like some 1920s gangster’s jailbait girlfriend.
Gabriel appeared a couple years older than Asher. He seemed larger and more muscular than Asher and was breathtaking. Gabriel’s eyes flicked up as if he sensed my stare. They were the same green as his brother’s, and I couldn’t help being awestruck by his beauty. The air in my lungs disappeared until Gabriel dismissed me by looking away.
I glanced sideways, and Asher glared at me as if he knew my thoughts. As if he wasn’t happy his brother’s appearance impressed me. His arrogance irritated me, and I raised an eyebrow. A scowl darkened his features, and fear skittered up my spine. Just in case, I strengthened my mental brick wall.
He looked away first, and I smiled, feeling I’d won my first skirmish with him. A silly idea since we weren’t at war.
Lucy breathed, “Whoa.”
“What?”
She shook her head with a grimace. “Remy, Asher is the worst kind of player. When he targets a girl, she can kiss her brain good-bye. And every girl who’s gotten
Tapping my fingers on my leg in time to the song, my gaze strayed to the far side of the room. Forest-green eyes stared at me with familiar intensity.
I inhaled to steady my suddenly jangling nerves. The boy from the beach sprawled in a chair, with his long denim-covered legs stretched out under the table. In the dim light his disheveled brown hair looked black. The shadow had disappeared from his wide jaw, but he didn’t look any less dangerous. Even with the stage between us, I could see the scar cutting through his right eyebrow. His broad shoulders slouched as he played with the wrapper from a straw.
I hadn’t realized how perfect his posture was at the beach until seeing him relaxed like this. Relaxed didn’t look . . . right on him. Despite his lazy demeanor, his potent gaze had the power to make my pulse sprint. He watched me with a curiosity that mirrored my own, and I couldn’t look away.
Lucy sounded anxious when she appeared next to me. “Oh, no, you don’t. Don’t even think about it.”
Her words enabled me to break the spell cast by those wicked green eyes. One song had faded into another while I’d been staring at the boy, and I hadn’t even realized it. I turned to her in confusion. “What?”
She nodded her head in the boy’s direction. “Asher Blackwell. He’s your classic bad boy, black motorcycle and all.” She leaned close to shout over the music. “Dad would have a frickin’ heart attack.”
Asher Blackwell, I thought, glad to have a name to go with the face.
I forced a smile for Lucy’s benefit, trying to appear normal. “Ooh, a motorcycle. That’s bad, right?”
An impish playfulness colored her grin. “It’s our job to worry Dad, not kill him.”
Asher no longer studied me when I turned, but spoke to a boy and girl I hadn’t noticed sitting at his table.
“Is that Blackwell as in Blackwell Falls?” I asked.
“Got it in one. His ancestors founded the town in the 1800s. That group is the latest descendents and heir to the estate.”
I set aside the pictures that the word “estate” brought to mind. “Who’s that with him?”
Lucy tossed a glance at the table, but she needn’t have worried about being surreptitious. None of the table’s occupants paid us any attention. “The girl is his sister, Charlotte, and the really hot one is Gabriel Blackwell, their brother. He’s their guardian. Their parents died last year in a car accident right before they moved to town. Apparently, they didn’t know they owned property in town until they read the will.”
The Blackwells shared the same angled bone structure and dark brown hair; although Gabriel wore his cropped shorter than Asher’s. Charlotte shouldn’t have been pretty with the sharp features of the two boys, but somehow it worked on her. Her scarlet lips and bobbed hair made her look like some 1920s gangster’s jailbait girlfriend.
Gabriel appeared a couple years older than Asher. He seemed larger and more muscular than Asher and was breathtaking. Gabriel’s eyes flicked up as if he sensed my stare. They were the same green as his brother’s, and I couldn’t help being awestruck by his beauty. The air in my lungs disappeared until Gabriel dismissed me by looking away.
I glanced sideways, and Asher glared at me as if he knew my thoughts. As if he wasn’t happy his brother’s appearance impressed me. His arrogance irritated me, and I raised an eyebrow. A scowl darkened his features, and fear skittered up my spine. Just in case, I strengthened my mental brick wall.
He looked away first, and I smiled, feeling I’d won my first skirmish with him. A silly idea since we weren’t at war.
Lucy breathed, “Whoa.”
“What?”
She shook her head with a grimace. “Remy, Asher is the worst kind of player. When he targets a girl, she can kiss her brain good-bye. And every girl who’s gotten
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