Sunder by Tara Brown Read Free Book Online

anything I could do to just go and see him. He wasn’t near the bathroom or the bar. I gave up on a plan and decided to just do it. I looked at the guy beside me and spoke impatiently, “I’m really sorry, but I see a friend of mine.” I got up from the table and walked directly to the hottie’s table.
     
    His grandpa looked up at me and sighed. I couldn’t understand what the old guy had against me, but I walked up to them anyway and tapped the hottie on the shoulder. “Hi.” I didn’t know what it was, but there was a driving force, pushing me onward. I wanted to talk to him. I had never been forward about anything with a guy before. I liked being chased. I hadn’t actually ever asked anyone to dance.
     
    He turned and I got lost for a second. His eyes pulled me in, just as they had from across the room. But up close he was so much better looking and his dark eyes were actually blue, very dark blue. His lashes were so thick and black , I was envious of them .
     
    He smiled at me, but it wasn’t the smile he had given me before. It was a polite, friendly smile, not the ‘I want you for dinner’ smile he had been giving me from across the room. I started to sweat, I wasn’t even sure why. I nodded at the dance floor. “Do you want to dance?” I pleaded with God for a millisecond that he would say yes, but he didn’t.
     
    His eyes scanned my face for a moment before he spoke softly, “Dance? Oh, uhm. Normally, I would love to, but I cannot. I’m sorry, perhaps another time.”
     
    Something happened. A strange something. I blurted out a sentence as if I had ignored his turning me down. “My name is Liv Daniels. What’s yours?”
     
    He smiled wider, nearly sending my heart into overload. “Liv. That’s a nice name. Is it short for something?” He stood and I craned my neck. He was quite tall. His tailored suit had made him look far slighter than he was up close. He offered me a hand, again very politely. I looked at his hand for a moment, before taking it. It was huge, and for some reason, I had the strangest feeling like I shouldn’t, I shouldn’t touch his hand. I should back away and go back to the idiot at my table.
     
    Somehow his hand became a fork in a road, and I knew myself—I knew I would take the wrong road.
     
    “Olive, but I like Liv.” I reached forward and squeezed his hand, trying desperately not to let go. There was no spark or great event, like I had imagined there might be. It was a simple handshake but my heart was beating a mile a minute.
     
    I looked back up to him, overwhelmed by the height difference between us. Maybe he wasn’t my age. He was very tall and very broad. I had to be at least five foot six in my four-inch heels, but still I craned my neck to look up into his eyes. They were midnight-blue pools that I wanted to swim in.
     
    “I’m Briton, Briton Thorlackson.”
     
    “It’s nice to meet you, Briton. I’m Liv Daniels.”
     
    He smiled, cocking his head to the side. “Yes, I believe we’ve covered that.”
     
    I laughed, but it was a strange laugh I didn’t recall ever laughing before. I nodded, feeling my face flush red. “Yes, I believe you’re correct.”
     
    I didn’t let go of his hand, but he didn’t let go of my hand either. He looked me directly in the eyes and spoke with regret in his voice, “It was very nice meeting you, Miss Daniels.”
     
    I bit my lip harder, trying desperately to hold it together and ignore the awkwardness of meeting him and the embarrassment I knew would take an hour to settle in and really make me hate myself.
     
    He dropped my hand, and I realized he was waiting for me to leave. I felt free suddenly, as his gaze went beyond me to the group of people who had come into the hall.
     
    I almost wanted to run and hide when I felt the spell of his stare break off. I didn’t know what had come over me. I didn’t understand why I was being such a ho with him. He wasn’t the first hot guy in my life. Loads