Page 8

Quiet, modest, cozy.

I love Wynnter’s home. It feels like a home, a place where only friends are allowed and no strangers are ever welcome to intrude. It’s not the sort of place that beckons needless attention. It’s not where work formals or banquets or politics take place. It’s just…the location for a sister’s unconventional family wedding. The perfect spot for a movie or craft night. The only yard worth having smores in.

Since Wynn rents from one of his grandmother’s close friends, he’s been allowed to deck the place out however he’s seen fit, so it’s flawless, comfortable, warm.

Everything.

Just like him.

I…

I shouldn’t be here.

Any day now, my parents will let me know that some bigshot is flying in from who knows where to meet me, and I’ll have to sit through an awkward date of some kind. If they like him and he likes me, they’ll subtly wink-wink, nudge-nudge me toward accepting a proposal, and then I guess I’ll be married.

To…

Not Wynn.

Chest clenching, I jerk my keys from the vehicle, push open my car door, and head up the sidewalk. I don’t bother knocking, because I have only ever once knocked on a Winslow door, and it shall never happen again.

Walking right in, I open my mouth to call for Wynnter Gray Winslow—and freeze instead.

Cussing, Wynnter stops short in the middle of his living room and jerks his attention to me.

Gasping, I back into the wall and stare at…him.

Broad, bare, star-spackled skin. Underwear only. Muscles everywhere, but none of them overwhelming. He’s huge, and so much of him is just big, not defined, not shredded, just large. Hard. Strong.

Fabric gripped in his hand, he pulls a pair of jeans that he seems to have only just taken off over his hips. Next, he shakes out his shirt and tugs it over his head. “What the—” He swears again. “—are you doing here?”

Remembering myself, I cover my eyes with both my hands and squeal. “My innocence!”

“Don’t—” he grits.

I swoon and croon, “I was a virgin—once.”

“Dece.”

My lashes flutter as I opt for a joke I’ve pulled on him a hundred times and lob it in his direction. “You’ll have to marry me now.”

His hand slams to the wall by my head, sending a shock of vibration into my skull.

Letting my fingers slip from my eyes, I look up at…

Him.

My mouth goes dry.

Commanding, he cups my chin and murmurs, “All right. Let’s go get married. Right now.”

Electricity sparks. Because this…is not what normally happens at all. Normally, he lectures me. Normally, he big brothers me.

Instead of that, he crowds in, closer, and his breath touches my parted lips. “Well, actually, I was just about to shower. And I should probably do that before we get married. Wanna join me?”

My heart screams yes, but my brain does not for the life of it know what’s going on. Fragile, I say, “W-Wynnter?”

“Why in the—” He whispers a curse, right into my skin, as his lips land against my jaw. “—would you ever call me by my full name, Dece?”