Page 66 of Miss Understood

“No, ma’am,” Miles says with a wink before sweeping Kennedy head to toe with his gaze.

“She’s taken.” I point a finger at him, but he just smiles. “And what do you mean, bridal games?”

“You’ll see.” Kennedy winks, tugging me behind her.

What the fuck have I gotten myself into?

24

Jesse

Thethoughtsgoingthroughmy head as Luce dances with her friends are not the kinds of thoughts I should have standing next to her father. Thankfully, he heads to the table where her brothers are sitting, and I’m finally able to relax.

If I had any question where Luce’s stone-cold defenses come from, it was made abundantly clear tonight after meeting the men in her life. With the exception of Miles, they’re a quiet bunch. One look tells you everything you need to know about what they’re thinking—which is something like,Stay the fuck away from me unless you’ve got something to say that I might actually want to hear.

I’m glad I at least had the foresight to call her father before they made this trip. I’ve got a feeling that’s all that kept him from showing up strapped and telling me exactly what he thought about me marrying his daughter without permission, no matter how outdated that tradition is.

In the past, there’s no way I would have worked this hard for a woman, trying to charm and impress her family. I never cared if I had approval or not.

I’d take women on a couple dates, maybe.

Some flowers, rarely.

Meeting the family? No fucking way.

But I don’t feel that way with Luce. I want to know everything about her. Do everything I can for her.

And it’s the scariest feeling rising up in my chest.

“Someone’s smitten,” Mateo says with a wink. He hands me a whiskey and tips his own glass toward Luce and her friends.

Luce’s eyes find mine across the room, and that blush that I love crawls up her neck. If it wasn’t for her family at a table ten feet away, I would have dragged her home thirty minutes ago.

The things I’m going to do to that flexible little body of hers tonight.

“Would you like some privacy?” Mateo says with lifted eyebrows. “Your eyeballs are doing acrobatics in your head with all that eye-fucking.”

I give him a heated glare, but he just shakes his head and says, “You’re welcome, by the way. I think you officially owe me.”

“For what?”

“Her.” Mateo grins with his eyes set on Luce.

“No.” I shake my head. “You do not get to sneak in and try to take credit. That was a fucking mess, you outing us like you did. You’re lucky I didn’t fire you.”

“Someone had to help you see it!” He shrugs. “You might think this is new and exciting, but sparks have been flying between you two for years. You were both just too dense to see it.”

Two years of irritation, maybe. Power struggle, definitely. But sparks?

I hate the thought that we wasted so much time arguing, not seeing the possibility of what was there.

A speaker crackles, cutting through the noise in the room.

“All right, friends.” Kennedy walks across the stage in a floor-length black dress. “We’re going to clear the dance floor for a moment, if you all don’t mind.”

People shuffle off, finding seats. Luce finds her way to me, and I wrap my arm around her waist on pure instinct, like that’s where it belongs at all times.

She leans in and lifts up onto her toes, her lips inches from my ear. “Is this a little much when we just started dating?”

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