slowly growing her YouTube channel and working on increasing her numbers so that she could become a style guru like Scarlet, but it was hard to build that kind of influence. Marielle had been doing it for a little over a year now and felt like she was just starting to find her own place in the noisy world of influencers.
She’d come back to the Hamptons and her parents’ home after a disastrous affair with a married man that had left her shattered. She shook her head, wishing it were just as easy to shake off how bad she’d felt when she finally realized he was married. She’d been hiding out in East Hampton for the better part of the last five years in between traveling the world and searching for answers about herself. She’d been making peace with her mistakes, keeping a low profile and building her internet-based influencer business. The scandal and hurt she’d caused had left her broken.
Glancing around the room, she locked eyes with a hot guy who was being shoved in her direction by an older man.
He had dark brown hair, but from this distance she wasn’t sure of his eye color. He bore a strong resemblance to the older man, who was laughing. She couldn’t help but smile at them. It was clear that they had a strong bond—probably father and son.
Her gaze locked with the man’s, and she felt a zing go through her. Dang. It had been a long time since she’d felt anything like that. He looked embarrassed, which was cute, so she crooked her finger at him, and he arched one eyebrow at her as he made his way across the room.
“So someone thinks you should meet me,” she said. “But you needed a shove?”
“Uh, no, that’s my dad. And he’s in full-on party mode,” he said, then groaned. “Not that I needed my dad to push me toward you or that I always hang out with my parents.”
She just laughed. He seemed so genuine and real that for a moment she wasn’t sure he belonged here. “It’s okay. Your dad seems like a lot of fun. I haven’t seen you at any of the other parties this holiday season, so I’m guessing you’re not local.”
“No. Texan born and raised. Are you a local?” he asked.
“Sort of. My parents have a house here. I grew up in the city but summered out here,” she said. Oh God, she was rambling. But it was totally his fault. Up close she saw that his eyes were a deep, dark chocolate brown and that he had a small scar in his left eyebrow. His jaw was strong and his mouth firm, but he smiled so easily that it distracted her.
“How do you know Scarlet?” he asked.
“She’s sort of my mentor. She’s been so great about answering all of my questions and helping me to come up with a business plan as an influencer,” she said. Scarlet had been the first person to take her seriously when she’d suggested that she wanted to make a career out of social media. Her father had been disappointed that she hadn’t landed a husband by now.
But that was her dad. Always making her feel like a disappointment. Not like this dude’s dad, who was watching them and smiling in a sweet way. His dad seemed like a really nice guy. Or maybe a silly drunk, she thought as he turned and moved toward the bar. She realized she’d seen him at the bar a few times tonight.
“Your dad is too funny,” she said.
“He’s a mess. He’s just enjoying the fact that all of his kids are here tonight. Normally at least one of us is away on every holiday, so he’s thrilled we all are here.”
“That’s so cute. Usually it’s the mom who’s like that,” she said.
“Yeah, my mom is a newscaster in Houston, so when we were growing up, she was gone a lot and Dad was the one who did all the school pickups. They are both pretty fabulous,” he said. “I’m pretty lucky in that they both made us a priority but weren’t too overbearing.”
“Must have been nice,” she said. As the only daughter in a family of five children, she’d always had a little too much attention from her parents. Her dad had been overprotective when she was younger, but once she was eighteen, he thought that she should find a good man and settle down. He was very old-fashioned about stuff like that.
“What about you? Are you here with anyone?”
“Um, no.”
“It might be too forward, but I’m glad you’re here and I hope you will be at midnight,” he said.
“Nah, I’m happy to be here with you,” she said, taking his hand and leading him through the French doors and out on the balcony.
The night air was cold after the warmth of the house, but there were patio heaters stationed every few feet, so it wasn’t unbearable. “Why are we out here?”
“I want to kiss you and didn’t think I should do that in front of your dad.”
He smiled. Damn. He had a really great smile and though she knew she should turn and walk away, there was a big part of her that didn’t want to. It was New Year’s Eve. Surely she could have one night of fun without it being a big deal, right? One kiss wouldn’t hurt.
Right?
She smelled of summer and sunshine as he lowered his head and their lips met. A zing went through him. Was it a warning? But she tasted good, and her lips felt perfect under his. Her kiss wasn’t too wet, and she didn’t try to shove her tongue down his throat the way so many women he kissed did.
She held on to his biceps, and he couldn’t help himself: he flexed his muscles and was pretty sure he felt her smile against his kiss. He had the feeling that he amused her, which was fine with him, because for the first time in a while, he was with a woman who made him feel like he didn’t have to try. He could be himself…heck, after his dad shoving him toward her, he’d sort of had no choice but to just be Inigo Velasquez from Cole’s Hill, not the up-and-coming F1 star. As a Formula One driver he was always aware of his visibility and he was always focused on winning. For this one night he wanted to focus on her.
He had one hand lightly around her waist, and his fingers flexed as he slowly deepened the kiss. In the distance he heard the sound of the party guests counting down from ten.
He lifted his head. “Got one kiss in this year. I want you to be the first kiss of the new year too.”
“That’s why I led you out here,” she said, tipping her head back and studying him. Her long hair brushed over her shoulder, and he lifted one hand to twirl a tendril around his finger. It was soft and light, as he expected.
When he heard everyone yell, “Happy New Year,” he leaned in, brushing his mouth over hers. “Happy New Year.”
She kissed him again. None of the tentative teasing stuff he’d been doing, but full-on kissed him. He pulled her closer into his embrace, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Loving the feel of her breasts against his chest and her hips nestled close to his, he pressed his hand against her lower back as she sucked his tongue deeper into her mouth.
He felt his engine roar to life and knew that he was going to get from zero to sixty in a nanosecond with this woman. But they were in public. At a party. A party his parents were attending.
He stepped back, keeping his hold on her waist but breaking the kiss. She looked up at him, a flush on her cheeks and neck, her breath coming in quick bursts. “What’s the matter?”
“I think we should get out of here before this kiss gets out of control,” he said.
“Is it getting out of control?” she teased, drawing her finger down the column of his throat and running it around the collar of his tuxedo.
A shiver of pure sensual delight went through him.
He was pretty close to saying the hell with it and leading her to the secluded section of the balcony behind the large potted fir tree. But this wasn’t some foreign city after a race. This was his sister-in-law’s house,