Uncle Stuart didn’t give Sean a chance to answer. “No, that’s what I thought. When are you going to get your head into gear and go back and finish that accounting degree so you can join Paterson Associates?” His tone was jocular, but there was no missing the fact that Uncle Stuart wasn’t joking.
A flash of something crossed Sean’s face, too quick for Jess to really analyze it, but if she’d had to guess she’d call it anger. And it was totally understandable. Uncle Stuart was being incredibly rude.
But then Sean was smiling that carefree, easy smile again. “How’s Auntie Laura?” he asked pleasantly.
“She’s good, good. And you are?” Uncle Stuart leered at Jess, sending a puff of foul breath over her along with his lecherous gaze.
“I’m Jess, Jessica Alexander.” She introduced herself for the second time in as many minutes.
“Jess is Hailey’s boss. She’s a vet,” Sean added.
Jess started with surprise. He knew who she was? Why had he asked her name?
“Well, you just be careful with this one then, Sean.” Uncle Stuart gave a wink that made Jess want to cringe, and she saw that dangerous flash pass through Sean’s eyes again. “Don’t need Hailey to find she doesn’t have a job when she gets back from her honeymoon!” Uncle Stuart chuckled as if he was the most amusing man in the room before stumbling off to share his halitosis with others.
Sean blinked a couple of times, as if mentally erasing the incident from his memory. “Where were we?” he asked.
Jess found herself tilting forward. She told herself it was just to move away from the pungent aroma Uncle Stuart had left behind, but that wasn’t true. She felt as if Sean was somehow magnetic, and like an iron filing she couldn’t help but draw close to him.
It wasn’t as if anything was going to happen, so taking a deeper whiff of him couldn’t hurt.
“I think we were talking about cars.”
“Really? I’d much rather talk about you.”
Again with the cheesy line. Somehow, he managed to carry it off. Maybe it was his seemingly unshakable confidence.
“I’m not that interesting,” Jess said, as flippantly as she could manage. She was enjoying flirting with him. It felt fun and kind of dangerous. Things she hadn’t let herself feel in far too long.
“Now, I think that’s a lie.”
“Really?” She raised an eyebrow and twisted in her seat to echo his posture. Like exercising a long-atrophied muscle, something inside her began to warm up.
“Really. You’re certainly the most interesting woman in this room.”
Jess managed to stop herself rolling her eyes. But only just. “And what makes you so sure of that?”
“Because you’re the only person here I want to talk to.”
He managed to sound so sincere when he said it that it didn’t even sound like a line. Jess was rapidly realizing Sean deserved the reputation Hailey had reported. He clearly worked hard for it. The polar opposite to his responsible, down-to-earth younger brother, who’d joined the family accounting firm and married his high school sweetheart. Sean had a woman in every town—in every suburb, if Hailey was to be believed.
He’d be good in bed, then.
The thought sent a wave of heat through her body. It had been a while. Too long, really.
She shook it away. “And why’s that?” she countered.
“Everyone else is incredibly dull. I know. I’ve pretty much worked the entire room. Not an original thought to be found.”
“So I’m just the best of a bad lot? Hmm, that’s very flattering.” Jess stroked a lock of hair behind her ear before she realized what she was doing.
The side of his mouth quirked and she watched his eyes follow the movement of her hair before returning to meet her gaze. “You could see it that way, I suppose.” He leaned back languidly, one hand toying with a crumpled menu card on the table. “Or you could see it as an opportunity.”
Jess gave him an exaggerated quizzical look. “An opportunity? An opportunity for what?” She ran her fingers around the misty stem of the glass of champagne on the table. Oh, how easily the old moves came back!
“To get to know me better.”
That was too much; Jess couldn’t hold in her laughter.
Sean pouted, faking a hurt look. “My lady, you wound me.” He clapped one palm to his chest, over his heart.
His chest would be firm, she’d bet. Hairy or not? His high collar and bow tie allowed for no hints, and the shirt was fastened with those special tuxedo studs that matched his cuff links. Jess had never played with those before. A wicked impulse came from nowhere. It made her fingers itch to undo that tie and open the shirt, button by button, to reveal his skin and satisfy her curiosity.
She raised her eyes to his and realized some of her thoughts must have been painted on her face. The green of his eyes had turned forest-at-dusk dark, and his body was poised with a careful stillness.
The stillness of a predator about to strike.
A sudden jolt of nerves shot through her belly. Be careful, Jess. It was all very well to play games, but when you had no intentions of following through, the line in the sand had to be very clear. “I, uh,” Jess began, not entirely sure what she was going to say.
He leaned forward, a fraction, and his hand reached for hers, peeling her grip from the stem of the wineglass and taking her hand lightly. He didn’t clasp it tightly, just let her fingers loosely sit in his palm. His own fingers moved almost imperceptibly to stroke the inside of her wrist.
Jess felt the touch echo throughout her body, resonating loudest in the parts that had been empty for too long. Her breath caught and a slow burn of arousal lit deep inside her.
Oh, it had definitely been far too long. A thrill of anxiety went through her—nerves and excitement all wound up together. Was it time to remedy that? Could she possibly let something like that happen?
From everything Jess had heard from Hailey, Sean was the epitome of the love-’em-and-leave-’em type. No permanent address, he’d been dragged to town for the wedding and would be disappearing again as soon as he could—much to Hailey’s relief.
If a girl wanted some casual, no-strings-attached sex, Sean Paterson was probably the perfect choice. But he was Hailey’s brother-in-law, and Jess didn’t want her sex life—or lack thereof—to be workplace gossip.
Excuses, excuses, the wicked impulse from within tutted. You want to be alone the rest of your life? You really want to be defined by failure forever? You’ve got to start somewhere....
Jess took a quick glance at the dance floor where Hailey and Rob were drunkenly clutching each other as they swayed to the music. It wasn’t as if they would notice. And she doubted Sean was the kiss-and-tell kind.
But there was one more thing. Sean was Rob’s older brother, she knew that, but he still had to be significantly younger than her. It just wasn’t...proper.
The fact that all this thinking was required had to be a sign, too.
She managed a strangled-sounding laugh as she extracted her hand from his, feeling her cheeks heat and hoping her flush wasn’t too obvious.
“If I only wounded you, clearly my sword isn’t as sharp as it used to be,” she said.
“Perhaps you just need more practice.” He didn’t seem deterred in the slightest.
“At fighting?”
“If that’s what’s on offer, I’ll take it.” He gave her a lopsided