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His eyes glittered as he stared down at her “I didn’t think you’d come”
Chapter one
FOUR DAYS EARLIER…
Gabe Haive a damn From the moment Mia Crestalked into the ballroom of the Bentley Hotel where HCM Global Resorts and Hotels was holding its grand opening, he hadn’t taken his gaze from her
She was forbidden fruit His best friend’s little sister Only she wasn’t so little anymore, and he had definitely taken notice She’d becoht it but found himself unable to resist her powerful lure
He wasn’t fighting it any longer
The fact that she was here, tonight, and Jace was nowhere around, only confirht and it was time to make his move
He sipped at the glass of wine he held and listened politely to the group he was conversing with Or rather that he wash the crowd
He hadn’t known she was going to be here Jace hadn’t said a word Had Jace even known? Gabe thought it was likely he hadn’t because, not five y brunette between them as they headed to one of the luxurious suites on the top floor
Jace wouldn’t have bailed—even for a woman—if he’d known Mia would be here But it was just as well Jace wasn’t here It s a lot easier
Gabe watched as Mia’s gaze swept the room, her brow furrowed in concentration as if she searched for someone A server stopped and offered her wine, and she took one of the elegant, long-stelasses but she didn’t put it to her mouth
She was outfitted in a killer dress that hugged her in all the right places, complete with fuck-me shoes and an upswept hairstyle that practically pleaded for ait down Dark tendrils floated softly down her neck, drawing attention to the slender colued for a man’s lips He was damn tempted to stride across the room and wrap his coat around her so that no one else would see what he considered his Jesus, and if that didn’tBut that too was going to change
The off-the-shoulder cocktail dress drew attention to her breasts, and he da Already she’d drawn the attention of others They stared—like he did—their gazes predatory
She wore a delicate chain with a diamond solitaire around her neck, and diaift froave hiht for her tonight For him, it was onehis
She didn’t know it yet, but he’d waited long enough He’d endured enough ti after his best friend’s baby sister When she’d turned twenty, it had e difference in the way he viewed her, but he’d been thirty-four and he knew she was still far too young for what he expected from her And so he’d waited
She was an obsession, and itin his veins he had no desire to cure hie difference didn’t seeo ballistic—after all, Mia would always be his baby sister—but Gabe illing to take the risk to finally taste forbidden fruit
Oh yes, he had plans for Mia He had but to put them into action
• • •
Mia took a cautious sip of her wine—a glass she’d only taken so she didn’t feel quite so out of place in a sea of beautiful, rich people—and she looked anxiously around for Jace He said he’d be here, and she’d decided to surprise hi of HCM’s newest hotel
Located in Union Square, it wasto an upscale clientele But then Jace—and his two best friends—lived and breathed in that world They’d worked daet there, but they’d achieved success beyond ination, and they’d done it by the time they reached their thirties
At thirty-eight, they were touted as some of the most successful hoteliers in the world But they were still just her brother and his best friends Well, except Gabe, but perhaps it was tie fantasies where he was concerned At sixteen, it was understandable At twenty-four, it just made her desperate and deluded
Ash and Gabe had been born into wealth She and Jace had not, and she still wasn’t entirely comfortable in the circles her brothersuch a success of hier sibling after the unexpected deaths of their parents
Gabe was close to his parents, or at least he had been when they’d beenht after their thirty-ninth anniversary Ash…his was an interesting situation at best That was thewith his fa the family business—andto his family because he’d done it without them
Mia knew that Ash never spent any time with them He spent most of his time with Jace and Gabe, but in particular Jace Jace had made it clear to Mia that Ash’s family were, in his words, assholes, and she’d left it at that, not that she’d ever have occasion to meet them They pretended that HCM didn’t exist
She wanted to turn and flee when twolike they were about to score for the night But she hadn’t found Jace yet, and she wasn’t going to leave so quickly when she’d spent a ridiculous a ready Just in case she happened to see Gabe, which was pathetic enough, but there it was
She smiled and braced herself, deter like a twit on his big night
And then, to her coh the crowd, a scowlher away before the ot to her
“Hello to you too, Gabe,” she said shakily
There was so about the man that just made her stupid She couldn’t talk, couldn’t think, couldn’t forht it a raduated with honors Even if he and Jace thought it was a perfectly useless degree Jace had wanted her to pursue a business degree He wanted to bring her into the “family” business But she wasn’t sure yet what she wanted to do Which was another source of exasperation to Jace
Thattienerously for her An apart she’d made the effort not to rely on him for support
The people she’d graduated with had alreadycareers She was still working in a pastry shop part-ti her feet as to what she wanted to do with the rest of her life