Leveling The Field (Gamers #4)(8)

After the crash, when he finally gained consciousness, she wasn’t alive, and his skin refused to let him forget it.

Forget that he’d driven the car that caused the death of the beautiful, charming, full-of-light Samantha Talley.

Fuck, he was getting somber again. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, only to stare into the warm brown ones of Lissa Kingsman.

She stood alongside the chairs, wearing a long black dress, her camera clutched in her hand with a zoom lens.

Her gaze on him was like a shot of whiskey, a searing heat that spread out to all his limbs, warming him to the core. Her lips parted slightly, and her full lashes fluttered. Then she dipped her chin once in acknowledgement, quirking her lips in a half smile, and then turned away, raising her camera up to her eye to take pictures of the ceremony.

Ethan focused on his breathing—namely, making sure he was breathing—and trying not to read too much into that small smile.

It wasn’t even a full one. Get a fucking grip.

He hated that she stirred these…feelings in him. That she made him give a shit that she smiled rather than sneered after the way he’d treated her.

That she made him a little hard.

He spent the rest of the ceremony watching her as discretely as he could, admiring the fluidity of her movements, the way her tongue snuck out the corner of her mouth when she concentrated, and the way her large hoop earrings caught the light of the sun setting behind them.

When the ceremony was over, he was one of the first out of his seats, striding toward the parking lot where he could spend some time alone in his car before having to face everyone at the reception.

Except he heard his name being called. By the very woman he never said no to. So he checked his expression to make sure he didn’t look stressed or panicked and turned around to face his sister.

Chloe was jogging toward him, her heels sinking a little in the grass. He held out a hand. “Slow down. You’re going to trip.”

She laughed as she wobbled. “The ground’s soft.”

“It just rained. Now walk, please, before I carry you.”

She rolled her eyes and came to a stop in front of him. Running a hand down his tie, she gazed up. “You look so nice.”

“And you look beautiful, Chloe.” She wore a slim-fitting dark blue dress that came down to just below her knee.

With a smirk, she jutted a hip out. “You think.”

“I know.”

She smiled and slipped her arm in his. “I need a ride to the reception. Grant’s going in the limo. They said I could come, but I told them I wanted to go with you.”

He bristled. That was just like Chloe to think her poor, scarred brother needed a companion. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

She frowned. “I didn’t say you did. I want to ride with you.”

Well, now he felt stupid. “Oh.”

When they reached his car, he opened the door for her and she stepped inside. He shut it behind her, and as he walked around the front of his car, jingling his keys, he spotted Lissa standing near a tree, studying the back of her camera. Her head was bent down, hair framing her face.

There was a knocking sound, and he turned around to see Chloe looking at him with her hands out to the sides. Shit, he’d stopped walking and stared at Lissa like a weirdo. Chloe probably thought he was crazy. He ducked his head and resumed his way around his car. When he settled himself in the driver’s seat, Chloe was craning her neck to peer through the windshield. “What were you looking at?”

“Uh, just a squirrel.”

She turned her head slowly. “A squirrel.”

“Ah, yup.”

“You were not looking at a squirrel. You were frozen in place, captivated by something, and it sure as hell wasn’t a squirrel. You hate squirrels!”

That was true. He did hate squirrels. They threw acorns. “Okay, fine, I was looking at the photographer.”

He was pulling out of the parking lot now, but that didn’t stop Chloe from twisting in her seat to stare out the back window. “The photographer? Why? Did you know him?”

Him? There must have been two photographers. Well, that sure helped him. “Uh, I thought he looked familiar is all.”

“Oh,” Chloe said, clearly disappointed there wasn’t something juicy to the whole thing.

He snorted. “Sorry it wasn’t more exciting.”

“I’m living with Grant. I have enough excitement in my life.”

Ethan chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Save a dance for me at the reception, okay?”

He patted her knee. “’Course.”



Three hours later, Ethan took a swallow of bourbon and tried not to scowl at all the happy couples at the wedding reception.