Free Undeniable by Lexie Davis

 
    Chapter
One

 
 
 
 
    Three months
ago…
    It
was my boss’s birthday party, and I was required to attend. Some say it’s
because my uptight boss didn’t have any friends, so the two hundred and something
people required to be there were the only ones willing to show up. I just
happened to be Cooper’s personal assistant, and the guy who had stared at me
for most of the night was his brother, Jake Taylor.
    He’d
been looking at me all evening. Carelessly, I suppose, but his eyes wandered
continuously in my direction. I occasionally smiled, catching him in the act,
although he didn’t return the gesture. He simply stared as if he had every
right to let his gaze roam the length of my body.
    I’d
met Jake before, at company dinners and such, and had always felt an attraction
to him. Tonight, the six-foot-four inches of nothing but a perfect male
specimen dressed casually at the black-tie dinner party. Faded denim jeans
covered his lower half while an equally faded tee with “Stud” splayed across
the front covered his upper. Two frayed holes marked his pants at the knees. He
looked as unhappy as everyone else who had been forced to attend.
    Except
the rest of us were dressed formally. My long, black dress fell to the ground,
my five-inch silver, strappy heels useless to keep it off the floor. I,
personally, wouldn’t have chosen this dress for this occasion, but it was the
only formal I owned. When his eyes met mine again, I decided to go for it.
    I
felt a bit self-conscious at the low-cut neck, gathering together just above my
navel to accentuate a very haughty cleavage. My back was essentially bare. The
halter-top tied around my neck, while the rest of the fabric gathered just
above the round swell of my ass. I had worn the dress, once, to my best
friend’s engagement party and had never put the thing back on. Now, looking at
Jake’s wandering gaze, I was glad that I had.
    I
crossed the ballroom, making my way towards him through the crowd of people.
Generally at these parties, most of us form cliques and stay with our group.
Ridiculously like high school, I suppose, but a way of survival, otherwise we’d
all be wasted and puking all over the place. Then again, who’s to say some of
us weren’t?
    Jake
saw me approach and his dark eyes narrowed as he leaned against the far wall,
arms crossed over his chest. I smiled to myself, applauding my effort at
finally working up enough courage to talk to him. It had been five years since
the day we’d first met, and we’d never even spoken a “hello”.
    “What
do you want?” he asked before I came to a complete stop beside him.
    Did
he really want the answer to that question? His curt response startled me for a
second. Maybe I shouldn’t have come over here. Maybe things were better left
alone. But the look in his eyes melted away my reserves. I was bold enough to
come over here. And dammit I was going to have a conversation with him. I
narrowed my eyes.
    “I
just wanted to talk to the only casually-dressed guy in the room. Didn’t you
get the memo about this being a black-tie affair?”
    “Oh,
I got the memo.” His gaze raked over me, again, stopping at my breasts. “But I
don’t give a fuck.”
    I
scoffed, “I wish some of us were so lucky.”
    The
live band started to play the B-52’s Love
Shack , and everyone gathered in the middle of the dance floor. I stared
openly at Jake as he stood next to me, his body towering over me, hard and
delicious. I wanted to ask him to dance, to feel his arms around me, all over
me, but knew dancing wasn’t his style either.
    “See
something you like?” he asked. Dark gray eyes with just a tiny hint of blue
stared down at me, deep pools I wanted to swim in. My body heated as his gaze
roamed the length of me, every inch of my skin tingling as he assessed me. God
only knew what he thought, but a bolt of excitement shot down my spine when he
stopped to stare at my breasts.
    “Do you see something you like?”