Page 9 of A Crane Family New Year

“Is that so,” he said, repeating Reese’s words from earlier. Chloe had stolen more than Zander’s drink—his attention had been on her ever since. After Emily had passed, he hadn’t been trying not to notice other women. He just…hadn’t. And while he’d decided long before he’d arrived that he would kiss a woman at midnight tonight, he hadn’t begun to assess his options when Chloe Andrews entered the picture.

At that moment, she turned her head and caught him watching her. Even from this distance, he could see her lips flinch into a tight smile as a tinge of red stole up her neck to her cheeks. She surprised him by holding up the glass she’d taken from him in a silent cheers.

“No need for a polite glass of champagne when I have aged scotch,” Reese said.

“Scotch,” Zander said. “And then you’ll introduce us.”

“Of course.” Reese clapped Zander on the shoulder.

As they made their way to the bar, Zander kept Chloe in his periphery. He knew, in some unseen part of him, that she was the woman he was destined to kiss at midnight.

Now to figure out how to convince her.

“I could die,” Chloe said after she’d turned her attention away from the hot guy in the tuxedo. “No doubt he’s telling his date about the ditzy red-haired girl who stole his champagne. Hopefully, Merina made up an excuse that didn’t make me sound like a stunted idiot.”

“That’s not his date. That’s his sister,” Isa said. “The way he was looking over here at you doesn’t suggest that he thinks you’re a stunted anything. He was watching you like he wanted to?—”

“Make out with you,” Rachel finished.

“I was going to say like he wanted to meet her.” Then Isa added on an afterthought, “But you’re not wrong. He was checking Chloe out.”

“Who is he?” Chloe was dying to know. The man had an air of regality to him that was undeniable. She’d probably insulted him down to his expensive leather shoes by mistaking him for a waiter.

“Eli’s cousin,” Isa said at the same time Rachel answered, “Tag’s cousin.”

“Zander Crane,” Rachel elaborated.

“Zander… Crane?” Chloe repeated. When Isa and Eli had gotten engaged, she’d teased Isa about digging up a Crane brother for her. It only seemed fair, she’d said, for each of them to have a billionaire of their own. They’d laughed it off, but Isa had never mentioned a cousin.

“Alex’s brother has four kids,” Isa answered conversationally. “They have lived all over but only recently became reacquainted with our branch of the Crane family. Zander is Eli’s age, but that is where the similarities end.”

From looks alone, they were opposite. Eli was dark-haired with a muscular build and a broody demeanor. Zander was fairer, his hair a brownish shade of blond, and while he was in amazing shape, his body was more lean and long than bulky.

“He’s tall,” Chloe muttered, remembering how she’d had to tip her chin to find his eyes. Those blue, blue eyes… “I assumed the other woman was his date, but you said that’s his sister? They don’t look alike.”

“Jaylyn is his half-sister. Zander, his sister, and his brothers have different mothers. Their father is unorthodox,” Rachel whispered. Then she grabbed Chloe’s arm. “He’s heading this way. Get ready.”

“What?” The glass in Chloe’s hand began to shake. She wasn’t ready to officially meet him. In fact, she had toyed with the idea of hiding behind the bass player in the neighboring room until the party was over.

“Isa, Rachel,” came Reese Crane’s smooth greeting.

“Hi, Reese,” Isa and Rachel chimed.

“Chloe. Good to see you.” Reese gave her a formal nod.

Aware her cheeks were still warm, Chloe didn’t dare make eye contact with the man to Reese’s left. “Hi.”

“Good to see you again, Zander.” Rachel’s grin was cat-got-the-cream.

“Hello, Rachel.”

That voice again. Chloe could listen to it all night. It was like silk. That had been dipped in chocolate. And then wrapped in velvet.

“I saw Tag at the bar,” Zander said.

“That sounds right.” Rachel cocked her head. Tag was in charge of Crane Hotel’s Restaurant Services. He was the party guy, so the title fit him perfectly. Rachel had been bartending when she’d met Tag. She’d wound up advising him on one of the Crane Hotel bars in Hawaii. That was where she and Tag, whom Rachel had affectionately nicknamed “Tarzan,” had fallen in love.

Merina and Reese. Rachel and Tag. Isa and Eli. Each of them had settled down with a Crane man. What were the odds of lightning striking a fourth time, and that bungled drink mix-up being Chloe and Zander’s meet-cute?

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