And she wanted to do a lot of things—things she’d never done before, things she’d always held herself back from.
Despite her lack of practice, she must be a pretty good liar, because Peter believed her.
His smile widened. “Good. You’ll have a better time if you’re not totally out of it.”
“I’m not out of it at all, and I want to have a good time.”
“Then that’s what you’ll have.” He was looking at her that way again, that warm way that also seemed hotter than usual, like he couldn’t get enough of looking at her.
It made her feel incredibly gorgeous, sexy, but also a little worried. She patted her hair, which was hanging loose in a way she never wore it. “I need to brush my hair.”
“No, you don’t,” he said, glancing over at the others, who’d been having their own conversations. “We need to get going soon.”
“But I don’t want to have messy hair for the wedding.” She tried to smooth down the length of it—it was straight and fine and almost reached her waist.
Peter’s face softened as he reached over to gently touch her hair. “I like it this way.”
“Okay. I’ll keep it like this, then,” she whispered, wondering why she’d never seen him looking at her this way before. Maybe she should have made herself pretty and sexy before, so Peter would have been looking at her this way the whole time.
She liked it. A lot. She didn’t want him to go back to looking at her like a friend.
She wanted him to always look at her in that particular way—like he wanted her, like she was everything to him, like he adored her.
Kelly had never been adored before, and she didn’t want it to stop.
She took his arm as they made their way out of the hotel lobby.
She had no idea why everything was so different tonight, just because she’d put on a new dress. But Peter was hers, and she was going to keep him that way.
***
A couple of hours later, Peter was feeling like all of his dreams were finally coming true.
For the first time since he’d met her, Kelly seemed to want him—in a way that was a lot more than friendly.
He knew she’d had a couple of drinks. She’d had one before they’d met up, and she’d had a glass of champagne at Gus and Veronica’s wedding. And then they’d all gotten more champagne afterwards to celebrate, but she’d been looking a little flushed so he’d ordered her water instead. She took a few sips from his glass, but it couldn’t have added up to very much.
She was a little tipsy. That much was clear. Her inhibitions were down some, and she probably felt a little buzzed.
But she hadn’t had enough to drink to really not know what she was doing.
And she was all over him, like she couldn’t stop touching him.
He’d had several drinks himself, and he couldn’t stop touching her.
At the moment, they were all in a rounded booth, eating wedding cake and drinking champagne and laughing uproariously at a joke he couldn’t even remember.
Owen was responsible for filling up glasses, so he topped them off whenever they got down even a little. Heidi had obviously drunk too much. She was singing to herself rather woozily. They’d have to make sure she got back to her room okay when they left. Gus and Veronica were making out in a way that really should have been kept to the bedroom.
And Kelly…
Kelly was leaning against him, smiling up at him sleepily. Her cleavage was on full display. Normally, he would have tried to be the gentleman his mother had raised him as, but tonight he couldn’t not stare down at her low neckline.
She had gorgeous breasts—firm and curved in a deliciously subtle way. He wanted to see more of them. He wanted to see all of her.
“Peter,” she murmured, as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear.
No one else was paying attention to them anyway.
“Yes, baby.” His voice was very hoarse. A little warning in the back of his mind told him that he’d drunk too much to make really good decisions in this, but the rest of him was roaring with desire, with affection, with such deep need.
She rubbed one hand in circles on his chest. “Why have you never come on to me?”
His breath hitched, his heartbeat accelerating until it might pound its way out of his chest. His face was hot. The whole world was hot. “I didn’t think you’d want me to.”
She blinked up at him, her green eyes wide and deep and trusting. “Did you want to?”
One of his hands was lifting, quite without volition, and cupping her cheek. “Of course, I wanted to. How could I not want you?”
She was breathing in choppy, little pants. “Even when I’m not pretty and sexy like this?”