and he smiled when he noticed her in the corner, helping refill a few guests’ drinks.
She’d worn her long dark wavy hair down for the party. Today’s outfit consisted of a cream-colored top with black dress pants and sensible heeled boots.
He always looked forward to the fancier parties when she wore a dress so he could get a look at those sexy legs of hers. They were the sexiest legs he’d ever had the pleasure of looking at. He wondered if they were as smooth as they looked, which got him wondering about the rest of her.
“You aren’t paying attention.” His sister stabbed him in the ribs with her finger.
“Ouch.” He winced, then wrapped his arm around Lilly’s shoulder. In the past few weeks,’ he’d noticed her baby bump growing bigger. “What?”
His sister smiled up at him. “We want you to video.” She motioned to his phone on the table. “When we release the balloons.”
“Why me?”
“You have the steadiest hands,” his mother joked.
“Besides, you’ve been hanging around for a few weeks now. You’ve got to know all the ins and outs of this place.”
He shrugged as his eyes moved back to where Robin had been. Yeah, he knew all the ins and outs of this place. It wasn’t a difficult business to follow. People paid the sisters a lot of money to organize and host parties. There were flowers, desserts, food, and decorations.
It seemed simple enough to him.
Lilly nudged him again. “You know, for the best location and angle to video from. We’re going to be standing in the center. Just there.” His sister pointed to the middle of the dance floor. “Each couple will pull one of those strings.” She motioned to the two white strings that had been tied to the banister on the second-floor balcony. “When we pull those, the balloons will come down and fill the dance floor, so you’ll want to be somewhere you can see all four of our expressions clearly as well as get the balloons and the crowd’s reaction.”
Grabbing his phone, he stood up. “I’ll walk around and see where the best location is.”
“You have half an hour before the reveal,” Lilly warned.
“I’ll be ready,” he promised and started walking towards the dance floor. He’d had every intention of finding the best place to record from, but then he spotted Robin heading up to the balcony and, without thinking, he followed her up the stairs.
All of the guests were down on the main level of the barn where more than a dozen large circular tables had been rolled into position, covered with pink and blue tablecloths and filled with decorations. Long tables sat along the side of the room, holding all of the food and drinks for the guests. Two massive tables with plaques marked with each couple’s names were piled high with gifts.
He had just come up behind Robin when she suddenly turned and bumped solidly into his chest.
“Oh!” She gasped as his arms wrapped around her to keep her from toppling over. When she recognized it was him, she pasted on one of her hostess smiles he’d seen so many times before.
He’d seen it every time she’d worked a party or event. He’d been wondering what her real smile looked like. The one she used when she was truly enjoying something. That made think about what she looked like laughing or even what her laughter sounded like. He’d heard her giggle politely several times in the past, but he had yet to hear her real laugh.
His eyes ran over her flawless skin, her soft brown eyes, her perfect mouth. She had the kind of lips that begged to be kissed.
“Did you need something?” she asked, getting his attention. Her eyes bored into his and, for a moment, he completely lost his train of thought.
She slowly crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head at him as if she were waiting for him to talk.
“Videos.” He pulled out his phone from his pocket. “My sister put me in charge of finding the best spot to record from.”
Her smile slipped slightly when his eyes moved down to her lips again. It was as if a magnet kept pulling his eyes down there and his mind kept thinking about what it would be like to taste them.
“The best place to video from is just…” She placed her hands on his shoulders and, for a moment, he noticed something change in her eyes. Then, before he could figure out what it was,