Page 6 of Secret Crush

"The tomboy." John smiled and showed twin dimples just on each corner of his mouth. "I heard what Jennifer said to you. Don't listen to her. You fill out a dress nicely."

At least someone liked her dress. John's face showed sophistication as he scanned the room, studying all the doors and windows. Her jaw clenched as she guessed he was either a cop or a mobster. In this family, was there any difference? She had no idea what to say or how to excuse herself. She was like a groupie with a rock star. His hand settled on her back and her body melted like butter. "Will you escort me to get a drink, Alice?"

Her lips wouldn't move.Not good. John Morgan wasn't supposed to be attractive anymore. She'd thought she was over her crush on the former high school football captain. She curled her arm around his. She tried to say something intelligible but instead she blurted, "Didn't you recognize me a minute ago?"

"From Vicki's funeral, but I tried hard to forget everyone in this city after that. You were the only other person genuinely upset. The onlyrealperson there."

Alice understood. They progressed in step. "She wouldn't want you to suffer all your life."

"My father did something to her." He stopped at the bar. "I don't know what happened, but I haven't been able to forget."

Alice pointed to the Sauvignon Blanc. John tugged his ear and nodded to the waiter. She stared at him, unsure what to talk about besides the past. "There was nothing any of us could do. Vicki disappeared without a word and then she was dead."

"What do you remember about her?"

"Her kindness. And her laugh." Alice looked toward the room where a few heads of state gathered around Mitch Morgan in his practically royal casket. John's gaze contained a firestorm of emotion. She tilted her head. "You going in there?"

His expression turned hard and cold. Then he stepped backwards, but his stare never left his father's casket. The steely expression changed to fiery. "You can if you want."

She hugged her waist. She'd asked the wrong thing. Her heart fluttered near John, but she tried to act like an adult instead of a teenager. It was good to see him again. "I don't. I came out of respect for Vicki."

He placed his hand on her arm to lead her to an empty space along the wall. Her skin became alive as he said, "I came because Peter asked. He wants to pretend we're a happy family for the world to see. Look at him now. He's over there as the new king."

He leaned against the wall and let the throngs of people pass. She followed suit, standing next to him as she sipped her wine. "I assumed he was taking over. Did you want that job?"

John's entire body jumped as if she'd slapped him. "Hell no."

She gulped her sip fast. She kept saying the wrong thing. Inside his blue eyes was a kaleidoscope of emotion. Alice remembered that he used to be kind. She rubbed her lips together. "Then who cares?"

He drank his wine and scanned the room. After making the rounds with his gaze, he took in her entire figure with an intensity that made her knees weak. "What is it you do, Alice?"

"Collins Organic Farm." She brushed her brown bob behind her ear. "I work for my family. What is it you do?"

Again, his blue eyes flashed as if lightning was in his stare. She watched him, hypnotized. "I work in real estate."

"Liar." She tilted her head. He definitely didn't work in real estate. She crossed her arm around her chest. Without another word, she waited for the fallout of her remark.

His eyebrows quirked in shock. Then his dimples appeared. "What do you think I do?"

She met his smile with her own. "Professional bad boy and poker player. It's what I always thought."

He chuckled. "I played football."

She nodded. A moment of silence clung in the air as she sipped her drink. Then she said, "I went to your games in high school, but I also remember how you set up more than a few poker games. You always read people correctly."

His sexy smile lit the room and her skin melted, literally fused into itself. "I remember that. You cheered with my sister, and I played you, too."

Perhaps she shouldn't spend the funeral with John, but then again Vicki's older brother could be a good friend to have in her corner for help with the contract. "You did. I'm glad you remember more than just us talking at funerals."

His gaze went past her and flashed toward the casket. He stood straighter and it seemed as if a dark cloud passed over him. His face hardened. "I also remember how my father came to my room as I did homework, handed me a million dollars in cash, had me hold it and touch it—and then he took it away and told me to earn it myself."

She tilted her head. "So did you?"

He clenched his jaw and lifted his chin as if he expected to be hit in the face. "Absolutely not."

She reached out to his arm and squeezed his biceps. "Good. I was always attracted to bums, so you'd fit right in."

Had she just said that out loud… at a wake? Her face was hot. She must have turned beet red.

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