I knew he was Anthony without needing an introduction. He just looked like a politician — all navy suit, complete with tie and pocket square, dress shoes shined to perfection, hair styled in an immaculate wave like one you’d see on the red carpet at a Hollywood award show. He carried himself with a mixture of arrogance and confidence, a balance not many men could pull off. He was both welcoming and threatening all at once, and I found myself hating him before I even had reason to.
Maybe it was because of the girl he held by the waist.
A small crew of cameras and microphones followed them around, staying back just enough to give them space while capturing every interaction they had. I assumed it was something he was doing while running for office, some sort of propaganda. Anthony seemed to shine with those cameras on him.
Ruby Grace seemed to want to disappear.
She didn’t even notice me, not with Anthony toting her around from group to group, a politician’s smile on his face while she wore a more subdued smile of her own. I watched her for a long while, and I noticed she did nothing more than shake the hand of whomever they were talking to before Anthony would take over, commanding all the attention, leading the conversation.
She was a sidekick, a wallflower, and it made absolutely no sense to me.
If he would let her speak, she’d steal the show. It would be her everyone wanted to know. It would be Ruby Grace who would light up the room with her smile, knock men on their asses with the modest yet somehow classically sexy emerald dress she wore. The collar was high, the sleeves covering her shoulders and upper arms, but the hem of the skirt cut just above her knees, showing her deadliest weapons — those killer legs.
But it wasn’t just the way she dressed, or her body, or her smile or her fire-red hair. It was her passionate and giving heart, her quick and witty banter, her intelligence that made her stand out.
No one would know that, though. Not if he never let her speak.
I tore my eyes away from her long enough to toast a glass of whiskey with two buyers I’d met in the winter. They had traveled all the way from California to pick up their barrel and spend a week in Tennessee. The barrel they’d selected had high notes of vanilla and nutmeg, giving it a holiday feel that captured their hearts since they had visited during Christmas break when they bought it. The whiskey warmed its way down my throat, settling in my stomach along with the dozen other ounces of whiskey I’d tried when welcoming our guests.
It was a perk of the job, and right now, it was also the liquid courage I needed.
“Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeland. I’ll be around if you need anything at all.” I shook their hands, offering a tip of my hat before I excused myself.
And then I made a beeline for Ruby Grace.
Her eyes were distant, a little glossed as she listened to the woman Anthony had engaged in conversation with. She stood with her husband, too, both of their gazes fixed on Anthony while Ruby Grace stood there like his shadow.
Those hazel eyes popped to life when they saw me.
At first, she didn’t register me. But on a double take, her eyes widened, brows rising just marginally as I made my way toward her. I was confident in my walk, slow and purposeful, letting her drink me in as I crossed the space between us. She’d never seen me dressed up like this, and the flush of her cheeks told me she was affected. I wondered if she was thinking about us standing together on my porch, of my hands in her hair, my lips grazing hers before my brother forced us to tear apart.
The way her ruby lips parted, I would have bet money that she was.
It shouldn’t have brought me satisfaction, not with my intention of apologizing to her and setting everything straight between us. I knew I needed to fall into the friend zone, that that was all we could be.
But damnit if seeing her there with him didn’t light the other fire inside of me, the one that said a feverous mine, over and over and over again.
Her eyes shifted from something between desire and shock to warning