Billionaire Protector - Alexa Hart Page 0,26

his youngest brother’s guest with an unfaltering gaze.

“Who’s this?” Pierce asked. He sounded gruff, and I worried that it would scare Anne a bit. But Pierce was always more than a little hard-shelled, and I knew people often mistook it for a coldness that he didn’t actually possess at heart.

I pulled Anne closer to me, wrapping a reassuring arm around her waist. She hadn’t noticed Pierce at first, but dear God, she noticed him now. I could see the terror building in her eyes and gave her an encouraging squeeze.

“This is Anne – my date for the evening. Anne, this is my oldest brother, Pierce.” The words came out quickly, but it still felt obnoxious to have to keep repeating this process. I momentarily wondered what it would be like to not have so many goddamn siblings.

“A pleasure to meet you, Anne. Are you enjoying yourself?” Pierce managed a tight smile.

“Oh um, yes. Yes, I’m having a great time,” Anne responded, not mentioning the fact that we’d only been at the party for about five minutes flat. Her tone was sweet but utterly unconvincing. Pierce’s smile became much more genuine after she spoke.

“I’m miserable too. Don’t worry. It’s a known side-effect of Hardick-related events.”

Even I had to laugh at that.

“Show her a good time, Penn. That might require leaving as soon as possible, but I have faith in you.” Pierce gave Anne a polite nod and then disappeared into the crowd, presumably to make his own escape.

I let out a low whistle. “Geez. You got Pay to talk and Pierce to smile. You’re battin’ a hundred.” It really was impressive, whether Anne realized it or not.

“Pierce doesn’t smile?” Anne looked up at me, genuine concern on her face.

Man, oh man, I like this girl.

“He’s been through some rough stuff. I’ll tell you about it sometime.” I had to try hard not to think of Sarah’s warm smile in that moment. Of course it had destroyed Pierce, but it was still a painful loss for all of us. I missed her.

“Okay.” Anne seemed to intuitively understand that whatever Pierce had been through – it hadn’t only affected Pierce. Her eyes were full of empathy, and she seemed to be digging straight into my mind with her earnest stare. “They look an awful lot alike.”

“Pierce and Payden? Yeah. I mean, we all look a lot alike, but those two could be twins.” They both resemble our father, while Preston and I took after our mother.

Preston almost ran over us while we stood, silently staring at each other.

“Little Buddy! Who’s this? Holy hell! Nice to meet you!” Preston grabbed Anne’s hand immediately and appeared to be attempting to shake it completely off her body.

“This is Anne, my date. Anne, this is Preston, and I promise you, he’s the last brother you’ll have to meet,” I assured her. I realized that I hadn’t even told her about my siblings. I then realized that I knew nothing about hers, either. Did she even have any to begin with? Where were they? “Out east”?

“Well, I am glad to know that you saved the best brother for last. Pay and Pierce would have been extremely disappointing after meeting me,” Preston declared, smiling widely. He was already a little drunk, I could tell.

Maybe more than a little.

I rolled my eyes and gave Anne an apologetic grin. “Preston has a bit of a god-complex.”

Preston nodded, agreeing with me openly. “He’s not wrong. I figure, why hide what you are?” His big goofy smile had somehow gotten even bigger.

I felt Anne freeze beside me. It was an almost instant recall of how she’d gone still when I asked her for her name at the hardware store.

“You alright?” I whispered near her ear. She shivered and nodded, giving me a tense smile.

“I think I’ve pin-pointed tonight’s target. You see that tall brunette over there? Goin’ for it. She’s totally my type.” Preston swung an arm around my shoulder as he shared this top-secret information at the top of his lungs.

“Pres, every girl is your type.”

He looked at me squarely, considering. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right, Little Buddy. But at least we know I’m never going to get in trouble for discrimination.”

Preston’s face was full of triumph, and I couldn’t help myself from shooting him down a couple of notches.

“Yeah. I’m guessing when you get in trouble, it’ll be for public indecency or something more along those lines.”

“When you gotta pee, you gotta pee.” He slapped me on the back and gave Anne