“Happy Birthday,” I murmured, keeping my eyes averted as I followed Bunny. It was no use, I couldn’t keep from admiring Maggie’s spectacular ass. Tomorrow. She would be eighteen tomorrow. Midnight. Eighteen. My body started to burn as images of our naked bodies passionately entwined filled my mind. Those legs wrapped around me as I pumped my hips, burying myself inside her over and over. Making her mine.
I shook my head, trying to dispel the fantasies, but they wouldn’t go away completely. Neither would one other thought.
At midnight, she’s mine.
Chapter 2
Maggie
Oh.
My.
Hotness.
When I’d started down the stairs at my mom’s yell, I’d been excited to meet my soon-to-be step-dad’s brother. It had been just Mom and me for so long, but not anymore. Her marriage to Stanley meant we had a family. Having family meant my mom had other people she could depend on when I left home, although, I wasn’t sure how much help my new uncle was going to be since he spent so much time traveling the world. The lucky jerk. I’d never even managed to make it to Miami and it was only a couple of hours away from the small town where I’d been raised.
My best friend, Lilah, and I had always talked about taking off to see the world after graduation. But, she had moved to New York when we were fourteen so her mom could undergo cancer treatments. We still dreamed about it from time to time, but I think we’d also accepted that it would never be more than that. I was envious of this guy who’d seen the world.
All thoughts of Lilah, my mom, Stanley, and travel were wiped from my brain the moment I laid eyes on Harrison Butler. My heart started pounding in my chest. My stomach felt like a swarm of butterflies had taken flight inside it. And my panties? I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that they’d spontaneously combusted at the sight of him. But in my defense, I hadn’t been prepared for the reality of him, not when I’d been thinking of him as my uncle.
At six foot two, with a lean frame and sinewy muscles, he seemed to vibrate with an inner energy. His hair was as dark as the sky at midnight, and long enough that there was a hint of curl to it. His whiskey-brown eyes were surrounded by thick lashes that any woman would kill to have. His skin was golden brown, probably from spending lots of time outside. The only lines in his face were from laughter, and judging by the looks of them, he laughed a lot.
He was male, all male, and nothing like the boys at school. For the first time in my life, I responded like a woman. I’d never desired any of the boys at my school, but I’d read and heard enough to know that was exactly what I was feeling for Harrison. I wanted him. Badly.
If the heated look in his light brown eyes for the brief moment they’d met mine was any indication, he wanted me right back. As I followed everyone into the kitchen, my cheeks heated as I remembered how he’d yanked his bag in front of his body after his gaze had scanned mine—like he’d been trying to hide something. Only he wasn’t going to be able to hide it from me forever because I fully intended to use the next couple of weeks to their full advantage.
I chuckled under my breath as I sat down, thinking about how much I’d argued against the idea of having my new uncle stay with me while Mom and Stanley went on their honeymoon. I’d been so pissed off that they thought I needed a babysitter after all the years I’d taken care of my mom, but Stanley refused to hear any of it. Not even when my mom tried explaining to him that I’d be eighteen by then and fine on my own.
“What’s so funny, Magnolia?” my mom asked as she set the lasagna on the table.
“Oh, I was just thinking how funny it is, the way things turn out sometimes.” As in, it was a lucky thing Stanley was a bit of a stick in the mud, or else I wouldn’t have Harrison all to myself soon. Which was quite ironic when you thought about it because the odds were high that he’d throw a fit when he found out about Harrison and me.
Harrison and me. Yeah, I might have been jumping the gun a bit picturing us as a couple already, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care. It didn’t matter to me that he was thirty to my soon-to-be eighteen. Or that I wasn’t even out of high school yet for another few months, and he was a renowned photo-journalist for a fancy magazine. Or even that he was the brother of the man my mom was going to marry this weekend. The only thing I cared about was the bone-deep knowledge that this man was meant to be mine.
She dropped a kiss on the top of my head as she placed a basket of garlic bread on the table before sitting down with us. “How so, my flower girl?”
I looked across the table, my eyes locking with Harrison’s while my mom dished food out onto everyone’s plates. “Just think about it. Harrison’s a world traveler, but he’s going to stay here with me in this sleepy town while you and Stanley head off on your honeymoon adventure. It’s like they’re trading places.”