Page 78 of Recipe for Temptation

As she’d wafted through the moonlit garden looking like a heavenly creature, more than a few men craned their necks to stare and lust after her. Michael had been on edge all night, dreading the inevitable moment when some asshole would make a move on her.

Little did he know it would be his best friend.

Michael glared as Quentin and Reese swayed to the soft, dreamy music. When Quentin leaned down to murmur something in her ear, Michael felt a snarl curling up the corners of his mouth. When Reese tossed back her head and laughed, a red haze settled over his vision. He told himself that Marcus must’ve forgotten to pass along his warning to Quentin to stay away from Reese. Why else would Q risk life and limb by holding her in his arms, putting his hands on her bare back and?—

Michael cut Andrea off midsentence. “Excuse me.”

He must have resembled a charging bull as he bore down on the dancing couple. He reached them in a matter of seconds and ground out tersely, “Mind if I cut in?”

They glanced around in surprise. Well, Reese looked surprised. Quentin looked smug, the bastard.

He slid a lazy glance at Reese. “What do you say, beautiful?” he drawled, his eyes glinting with wicked mischief. “Can my boy have this dance?”

Reese hesitated, biting her lip. When she nodded, Michael felt as relieved as a death row inmate who’d been granted an eleventh-hour gubernatorial pardon.

Quentin grinned, slow and knowing. “I’m gonna go find Lexi. You kids have fun.” Winking at them, he strolled off.

Holding Reese’s gaze, Michael drew her into his embrace. After a slight hesitation, she rested her head on his shoulder and wreathed her arms around his neck. A shudder rippled through him at the feel of her soft breasts pressed against his chest, her belly to his groin. She was a perfect fit, her body molded to his as if she’d been expressly created for him. The way he felt about her, he wasn’t so sure she hadn’t been.

They began moving together, flowing into an easy rhythm that seemed innate. Like their lovemaking.

Michael tightened his hands around her waist, tilting her closer to him. Her round, curvy ass tempted him beneath the clinging silk of her dress.

“You look breathtaking,” he said huskily.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “I’m wearing one of Asha’s designs.”

God bless that woman, Michael thought. “It’s incredible.”

“I think so, too.” Reese paused. “At first I was afraid it might be too?—”

“Revealing?”

She chuckled softly. “Yes.”

“Now that you mention it, you have been getting one too many lewd stares for my liking.”

She lifted her head from his shoulder, her eyes glittering with accusation in the silvery moonlight. “You haven’t glanced my way all night. How would you know how many stares I’ve been getting?”

He held her gaze. “Sweetheart, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you. If you don’t believe me, just ask anyone who’s tried to hold a conversation with me tonight.”

He could tell that pleased her. She smiled softly, her lush lips glistening like moist, ripe cherries.

Michael wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t trust himself to stop there. Not when he was dying to peel off her dress and feast on her sublime body, starting with the plump tits rubbing against his chest.

Before he succumbed to temptation, he cupped her nape and gently urged her head back to his shoulder. As they continued swaying together, he slanted his head and nuzzled his face against the warm skin of her neck, savoring the light, exotic scent of her perfume. When his hands slid over the silky curve of her back, she shivered.

But he didn’t try to do more. Closing his eyes, he simply basked in the rightness of holding her in his arms, where she belonged.

They danced under the stars, so absorbed in each other that time ceased to have meaning.

It was only when Reese whispered, “The music’s stopped,” that Michael remembered where they were, remembered that they weren’t alone.

With obvious reluctance he released her and stepped back.

Lifting his head, he met the knowing gazes of his family and friends, who’d gathered at the edge of the dance floor to watch them. The quiet, intuitive smiles on their faces told Michael they’d figured out his secret.

Now only one question remained: What was he going to do about it?

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