Page 20 of Desperate Games

He was not supposed to be more than a memory.

A really, really hot memory.

And now he’s standing here—looking at me like I’m not just the girl from the wedding he slept with once—but like I’m something more.

And damn it.

Some messed up, romantic part of me wants to believe maybe I am.

“There’s my little sis.”

Sammy’s voice hits my ears a split second before his shoulder bumps into mine, nearly knocking me off balance.

Classic bonehead brother move.

I stumble slightly, heels skidding across the polished stone floor—because of course I wore sandals with too much heel to a family dinner party. In Verona. In late summer. At the Callahans’ palace of a home.

Honestly, I was just trying to make it to the hors d’oeuvres without tripping over my own bad decisions.

But no. Sammy has to shoulder-check me like we’re playing full-contact tag, and I’m one second away from landing face-first into Clementine’s absurdly perfect hydrangea arrangement when?—

One large, warm, entirely familiar hand wraps around my elbow.

“Easy,” Remy’s voice rumbles, low and steady.

His grip is firm. His touch grounding. His palm spans nearly the whole damn width of my arm.

And—unfortunately—my entire body remembers him.

Every touch.

Every kiss.

Every filthy, perfect, panty-destroying second of our island night together.

My thighs clench like I’m trying to keep the memory from escaping.

“You good?” he murmurs, and damn him, he sounds amused.

“I’m fine,” I squeak.

Absolutely squeak.

Like a guilty girl caught red-handed in the church donation basket.

Ugh.

I clear my throat and shoot my brother a glare, trying to shake off the mortification and regain an ounce of dignity.

“Jesus, Sam, can you not launch me like a frisbee?”

“What?” he shrugs, totally unrepentant. “You were in my path.”

“Your path? This isn’t a racetrack. You don’t get right of way just because you’re bigger.”

Sammy grins and slaps Remy on the back, utterly oblivious to the tension sizzling between us.

“Hey, Falco. Didn’t know you were gonna be here tonight.”