Talk about not having it go to my head.

Grayson gaped at her. Was the little minx toying with him?

But that glossy smirk of hers didn’t so much as twitch.

From the first second he’d touched her a few minutes ago to dance, his blood had rushed with the knowledge of it. His boner was swelling with the mere hope of it.

And yet, now, here she was, suggesting it herself.

“You’re drunk,” he declared.

Her smirk turned nasty, “What? Afraid?”

Throwing a glance around to confirm no one was looking, Grayson slid his hand to her ass and gave it a light squeeze. “On the contrary, just not enough of a jerk to take advantage of you in your clearly inebriated state.”

“Didn’t seem to bug you before.”

Damn her, if there wasn’t a twist of mockery in those tempting little eyes.

“If this is a trick, it’s going to backfire,” he said, carefully.

She pouted, “Are you just trying to make excuses now?”

Grayson opened his mouth, and then paused. What was he trying to do, really? Wasn’t this what he wanted?

But his next circumspect look found that they were no longer alone on the wooden-floored dance floor. Only a few feet away, an elderly woman, with a dress the color of watermelon skin, was eyeing him dubiously. This was not the place.

He tugged Annie away, out to the balcony. He waited until the door had closed behind him and a look confirmed that they were, indeed, alone. Then he asked her, “Is this about the Jermaine thing?”

She shrugged. “No, except that it made me realize something.”

Grayson sighed. Why was it that this woman, who he’d had zero interest in initially, was now someone who had trouble written all over her, in the worst way?

He sighed, “Still don’t think this is a...”

She kissed the words right out of his mouth. Her tongue edged in tentatively, while her lips pressed too tight.

Yep, she was drunk alright, but hell if that clumsy kiss wasn’t giving him a full hard-on.

As their lips met and re-met, he was the first to flow his tongue into hers. He suckled on her upper lip, then the lower. Her fingers raked through his hair. He traced her curves with his hands, just the way he’d been aching to for days.

She felt so... good. All of her was feeling all of him. Them. Feeling each other.

That mouth and that tongue. His hands claimed her face, and her body eased into his. Damn, if they weren’t on a goddamn balcony at Kyle’s wedding, no less, then he’d...

He pulled away.

“Jesus, Annie...”

Her gaze drooped. “Awkward, I know,” she admitted quietly. “It’s just that... I haven’t been with that many people.”

“That many people?”

Annie was looking out into the night as if she was just another star in her shining silver dress. She considered joining her twilight friends.

“Something happened, and...” she exhaled. “There’s been no one else.”

“No one else,” Grayson said the words hollowly, disbelievingly. Did no one else mean...

“But it doesn’t have to be weird, ok?” Annie’s voice was no longer a whisper; it was now shrilly furious. “I just want something with no-strings attached; to ease me into it. Something with no stress.”

Grayson could only gape at her. A virgin wanting something with no stress?

This time, when she swooped her lips for his, he stepped back instinctively. This, as badly as all of him was thrumming for it, couldn’t be right.

Annie’s face was now a mask of moonlit rage. “You’re kidding me.”

She stood there, waiting. Grayson waited too. For what, he wasn’t sure, since he had no idea himself what to do next.

He watched as she stormed to the doorway and paused, “You didn’t see Jermaine, did you?”

She turned away before he could answer.

Blood thrummed through Grayson’s veins. He couldn’t let her reach Jermaine and make whatever mistake she was actually considering.

He scowled. Anyway, they had just kissed. Did that not mean shit to her, or was he just part of this virginity-losing ploy of hers?

But following her, pulling her back here; it wouldn’t be right. Not when Grayson knew, with every tensed fibre of his being, what would follow next; what he couldn’t stop from following.

Grayson watched her disappear inside, as all of him strained to follow her.