NOT ABOUT LOVE by Hilaria Alexander: Release Blitz, Teasers & Giveaway

I found a spot on the couch and sat down, listening to my friends play and sing. At some point, I must have zoned out, because I didn’t even realize Boyd had arrived. He started working the room, saying hi to everyone. It was only when he was a few feet away from me that I heard his deep voice and looked up.

He found me on the couch and when our gazes locked, his eyes were brightened by the huge smile that stretched across his face.

My heart started hammering against my rib cage, and I couldn’t stop the happy feeling spreading throughout my chest. His smile turned into a lusty, dark look when his eyes slid over me. He headed in my direction, but was stopped and greeted by a couple older ladies just a few steps away from where I was sitting. He was all smiles as they paid him compliments.

“My oh my, Jackson Rivers, aren’t you the strapping young man?” said one of the ladies.

“You sure have become quite the big boy!” said the other. I bit my lip, trying to contain my laughter, but I couldn’t stop it. Boyd kept stealing glances my way and was fighting a smile. He pointed a finger at me when the ladies weren’t looking. The mischievous look in his eyes told me he’d make me pay for laughing.

Bring it on.

He excused himself from the two ladies but they pulled him in for hugs and kisses, and even pinched his cheeks. I covered my mouth with my hand to hold back the giggles, but my eyes gave me away. He sat next to me on the armrest of the couch and acted completely nonchalant as he leaned toward me and whispered in my ear.

“I see how it is,” he said, his voice low and gruff.

“How it is? What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“You were laughing at me, Red!”

“No, I wasn’t! I was laughing with you, not at you!”

“Sure, sure.” He glanced down at me and peeked down to my neckline. Our eyes met again, and I saw in his eyes the same thing I was feeling: slow-burning desire.

Now that he was so close and my head was swimming in his musky smell, it was even harder to act like I didn’t want him. Why did we keep falling into the same patterns? We were like magnets; we couldn’t stay away from each other.

“I do have to say, this is a nice surprise.” He was staring at something in the room, but his words were for me. When I turned toward him, he gave me a knowing look. I let out a deep breath. His lips curled up in a delicious grin.

He loved the fact that just a simple compliment got me all out of sorts.

“Is it now?” I smiled, deliberately ignoring the subtext his sexy grin implied.

“Yeah, don’t act so coy, Red. It is most definitely a nice surprise. In fact, if I’d had any idea you’d be at my parents’ shindig tonight, I would have shown up waaayy earlier.” I didn’t tell him I had been there the whole day, wondering where he was. I pressed my lips together and looked into my glass of brandy. I took a sip, but the warm liquor didn’t help me relax. I pulled my shoulders back, sat up straighter, and crossed my legs. I wanted to look confident and imperturbable.

Instead, my body language betrayed me.

“Yeah, you liked that, didn’t you?” he asked, leaning his head in my direction. I could feel his eyes on me. “You like knowing I want you.” Even when he wasn’t speaking directly onto my skin, his voice felt like a caress. The deep sound of his voice alone made me shiver. I took another sip of brandy.

“Bertie, look at me or people are going to think I’m harassing you instead of having a conversation,” he joked.

I leaned back on the couch and started laughing. It was too much, too much. I was all over the place with my emotions and my reactions, and I was sort of drunk, too, which made it even harder to not look like a complete idiot.

I glanced his way, and he had the biggest, goofiest grin on his face. It stretched across his face and reached his eyes. I loved it when he smiled like that.

He looked like a completely different person, beautiful, untroubled, easygoing.

“You look beautiful, by the way. That dress…is sexy as hell.”

“Thank you,” I replied with a slight nod of my head.He gave me a once-over. “I’m particularly curious as to what you’re wearing under it.” His words made my breath hitch and I imagined his hands on me, possessing me like only he did.