She stepped back from me, as if my question were insulting. “I don’t need a reason to say no to you.”
She tried to brush past me, but I reached out and grabbed her hand. She didn’t need a reason. Of course not. But her refusal made no sense with the way her body was responding to me.
“I know you don’t need a reason. But it feels like you have one,” I said, instinctively pulling her toward to me.
“Yes, I have a reason. And, when you figure it out, you’ll no longer be interested in me.”
“I highly doubt that,” I said with blustering confidence.
“I swore off the Wright family a long time ago. So, you’ll have better luck somewhere else.”
She extracted her hand from mine, gave me one last sad smile, and then retreated back to Heidi and Julia. Both girls were frantically waving their hands, trying to figure out what had happened. And that was exactly what I wanted to know.
Six
Jensen
I had just struck out.
Majorly struck out.
I was sure that I’d had girls who weren’t interested in me before but certainly not any like this.
I couldn’t remember having this sort of visceral reaction to anyone in a long-ass time. But even women I had been mildly interested in were eager to get to know me.
Biblically.
Yet Em seemed unfazed. She wanted me. I could tell that from looking into her bright green eyes. She definitely wanted me. Still, she’d held back. And I had no idea why.
What could she know about the Wright family that would cause this reaction?
Sure, we had more baggage than most families, but nothing that made sense in this situation. Well…okay, that was a lie. There were plenty of reasons for her to stay away from me. My reputation with women, for one. And my ex-wife, for another. But she couldn’t have known anything else beyond that.
Her reaction flabbergasted me.
She didn’t seem the type to play hard to get either. She had actually walked away and not looked back.
Mostly, I wasn’t used to getting rejected.
Actually, I couldn’t think of a time when I had been rejected. Not that it mattered. First time for everything. But it only made me want her more. I wanted to go back over there, pull her aside, and kiss the breath out of her. I wished that I knew where it had all gone wrong.
Seriously, what the fuck?
With an unfamiliar feeling of rejection, I retreated back to where I’d stashed my whiskey. I poured myself another glass as I contemplated my next move.
She obviously knew me, but I didn’t know how. Nothing popped into my head. I had no clue how I could know her. And, now, I wanted to get to know her. It was an interesting woman who could turn me down…no matter how egotistical that made me. Just a healthy dose of self-confidence.
Morgan stumbled over to me a few minutes later as I was contemplating the dilemma.
“Fuck!” she said. “Gimme that.”
She took my glass of whiskey and downed it like a shot. I glared at her and poured another glass. I was going to need that.
“Trouble with Landon?” I asked, passing her a glass.
“With Miranda, of course.” She eagerly grabbed for the glass and took a large gulp.
“What happened this time?”
“Get this,” she said with a shake of her head. She glanced back over to where she had abandoned Landon. “Miranda was pissed because Landon’s ex-girlfriend is here!”
“Why would she care if his ex was here? He’s married to her, for Christ’s sake.”
“Well, that’s Miranda.” Morgan shrugged.
“Yes, it is,” I grumbled. I took another sip of my drink. “She drives me batshit crazy. I don’t know why they’re together.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
I nodded, but my eyes had locked back on Em, who was laughing at something Heidi or Julia had said. They each grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out to the dance floor. She shook her head, but they gave her pleading looks and started dancing to the hip-hop music that Sutton had requested for the night. It was as if she thought we were in a club or something, not a wedding.
Heidi was dancing all over Em while Em just stood there. She was saying something to Heidi and Julia, but they ignored her. And, after a few minutes, Em relaxed, and they were all dancing like they were having the time of their lives. Or they had just had an exorbitant amount of alcohol. Either way, I loved watching her move.
Once she got into it, it was intoxicating. The way her hips slid from side to side. The way she tilted her head back and laughed unabashedly with her friends. The way she lifted her arms over her head and sank low and then came back up to her full height. The way she tossed her hair and swung her hips in mouthwatering circles. It was hypnotic.