KNOT: A Wake Family Novel by M. Mabie Read Free Book Online Page A

she quickly fired back, “Don’t play that shit with me. I’ve seen you staring. What the hell is that all about?”
    I’d watched her saccharine smiles all night. Heard her laugh from across the room. We were a group of business people talking shop. Informative? Interesting? Maybe . Funny? The odds of that many things being funny in that room were slim.
    Her tone was completely indifferent with me though, and it took me back. I sat down my drink.
    “Whoa, I don’t know what just happened. I was making small talk,” I said defensively before I had a chance to work up an offense instead.
    “Small talk? You’ve been watching me like a maniac all night. I’m not interested. I’m here working, and if that’s not good enough. I’m here with friends.”
    Working? Friends? Maybe she was there with someone after all.
    “So you’re with InformaTrade, then?”
    I was eager to garner as much data as I could about the fair Nora, who had been commanding my full attention all night when I should have been concentrating on industry people. I wasn’t a misogynist; I was well aware she might be one of the industry people. Only, I was optimistic she wasn’t.
    Business and pleasure mix like instant cocoa and lukewarm water. They’ll eventually go together, but you have to invest a hell of a lot more time, and it’s always a mess you wish you wouldn’t have gotten into.
    “I’m the event planner for tonight. I work for Harbor Hotels, but I am not here alone.”
    She held my gaze almost like she anticipated my reaction. Her smoky eyes tempted me to make a move more than her words did, but I couldn’t for a variety of reasons.
    She was there with someone. Shut it down.
    Mixing business with someone else’s pleasure was far worse than shitty hot chocolate.
    “Well, it was nice to meet you, Nora. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn’t realize…” I wasn’t about to play this dangerous game.
    Then, she tucked a thick lock of hair behind one ear and smiled sheepishly, changing her approach. This time, she grinned with little more than half her mouth. It was friendly and yielding. Her annoyed expression relaxed showing how truly beautiful she was. Even more than she had been all night.
    There you are. Hello, Nora.
    She shook her head and then spoke. “No. I’m sorry. It’s just, you’ve been watching me. It drove me crazy. I don’t appreciate attention like that. I’m not interested in that.” Though her voice had softened, she was still rejecting some unspoken invitation she thought I’d given her.
    She’s not here alone.
    I couldn’t stand there making small talk while I was finding—one-by-one—things I liked about her.
    She’d said she wasn’t interested, but I only half believed her.
    Either way, so be it. There were too many red flags as it was, and I’d made her uncomfortable. I needed to cut my losses. That was the prudent move.
    Pursuing her wasn’t fair to myself.
    It wasn’t fair to her.
    Most of all, it wasn’t fair to the woman in my future who would, in fact, meet everything on my grocery list of fantasies. That was going to be my new approach to dating moving forward. There would be a single woman out there who was both attractive and interested in me. A woman who wouldn’t be with someone .
    Possession was nine tenths of the law and one hundred percent required in a relationship with me. I want to possess—and be possessed by—a woman who was all mine. I wasn’t ashamed of that.
    I allowed myself a few more seconds, which weren’t really enough by a long shot, to appraise her. Nora appeared flawless, and damn if I didn’t want her, but obviously she wasn’t for me.
    I was wasting my time, something only fools did.
    “Enjoy your night, Nora.” My feet, hesitant as they were, began to leave her there.
    “Wait, Reagan. Don’t you want to chat a while after all the lurking?” There it was again, that grin. She lowered her voice and continued, “This party is a little