Chapter one — Open The DAMN Door!

Anna wished she was somewhere else right now.

She glanced at the figure beside her and her nose scrunched up.

Her phone rang just then, her younger sister's smiling face filling the screen.

“Is everything okay, Lena?” She asked the moment the call connected.

“Yes! When are you getting here?”

Anna side-eyed the figure behind the wheel. “We happen to be crawling like a snail right now, but I'm sure I'll be there soon, okay? Go have fun, and big sis will roll in soon with the cannon.”

The call ended and Anna leaned back into the passenger seat with a sigh.

Jason's deep voice cut in, low and smug, “Still like telling people what to do, huh?”

Anna turned away toward the window, deciding she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of an answer this time. She wasn't sure what spoiled the night more: sitting in a car en route to the venue of her sister's wedding after-party with the most annoying jerk she knew, or the fact that he was clearly enjoying her torture.

Jason Knight.

The groom's annoying brother and best man, which meant as her sister's Chief bridesmaid, Anna had been stuck with him these past few days!

She didn't know a fate more horrible, nor a person more maddeningly unpredictable.

The first time they'd met, she would swear he hated her guts. His big grin for his baby brother had dropped the instant he saw her. He'd spent the rest of that day offering nothing but cold shoulders and dissecting stares, as if she were some kind of lab rat.

Then the next day at rehearsal?

A full eighty degrees turn.

He'd kissed her hand like a gentleman, called her his favourite bridesmaid, and showed up with chocolate bars like a lovesick fool.

And then today at the wedding, he'd ignored her almost completely, entertaining every other bridesmaid and lady who so much as blinked his way. Charming, handsome, magnetic, and she hated that she'd noticed.

She'd decided that Jason Knight was the kind of man she wanted nothing to do with.

But here she was, in his car.

“Quieten your brain, spitfire.” Amusement rang in Jason's voice. “I can see the smoke through your nostrils and ears.”

“Pretty sure yours is frozen from the alcohol and cringy flirts,” Anna shot back, glaring at him from across the console.

Jason’s eyes left the road momentarily, a smirk on his lips. “Were you watching me, Princess?”

“What— why would I watch you? And stop calling me those silly names you give your girls.”

He chuckled. “You didn't have an issue with it the other day, Sweetheart.”

Anna tried to ignore the heat creeping up her neck slowly. “Ever heard the phrase, for peace to reign?”

Jason frowned, rubbed his jaw in thought. “Enlighten me, if you would, Your highness.”

“I tolerated your presence and bawl-worthy attempts at flirting because it's my sister's wedding. Curb it.”

Jason pulled into the hotel for the after party just then and turned to her. He pressed a button to lock the doors, preventing her from exiting.

“You've still got that same bossy tone, Princess.” He leaned forward. “Makes me wonder what you sound like when you break down.”

Anna frowned. “What does that mean?”

Jason grinned. “It means I want to get to know—” his eyes trailed over Anna slowly, “—every part of you.”

Suddenly, Anna felt naked. She resisted the urge to pull the silk fabric of her dark red gown over her exposed cleavage. Heat bloomed on her cheeks, thankfully hidden by the blush she had on. She reached for the door immediately and frowned when it didn't budge.

She turned back to him and her breath caught at the look in his eyes. Her tongue darted out quickly to moisten her lips. “Unlock the door, Jason.”

His smirk was pure sin. “Not until you say you’ll dance with me.”

“I’d rather—”

“—kiss me?” His gaze dropped to her mouth, slow and deliberate, like he already knew her answer. “Careful, Princess. You keep looking at me like that and I’ll think you want me.”

Her pulse spiked. He was too close, too smug, and way too tempting. “You’re drunk.”

“Drunk on you, maybe.”

She hated him almost as much as she wanted to find out how good that mouth really was. She swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat, unable to tear her gaze away from his lips. Those heart shaped lips. She wanted to know if they were as soft as they looked.

Jason leaned over the console, a smug smile stretching his lips. He grabbed her chin with his thumb and index finger, tilted her head up. Their gaze met and locked, and he ran his thumb over her lower lip slowly, his gaze lowering to watch them part.

Goosebumps broke out on Anna's skin from his touch, and her eyes fluttered close as his fingers caressed her cheeks. Jason's lips lowered slowly to hers but with their lips just inches apart, he stopped.

He brought his lips to her ears instead and whispered in a low, hoarse voice, “Does this mean you'll dance with me then?”

Anna's eyes flew open, her face turning the color of an overripe tomato the moment she realized just what she'd done. Or rather, what she'd been willing to let him do.

She pushed against his chest and Jason pulled back, a smirk on his lips. Anna wanted to slap it off his face.

God. She wanted to strangle him.

She cleared her throat. “Open—open the door, Mr. Knight.”

Jason tilted his head to the side, eyes boring into her. “The dance?”

“Fine. I'll dance with you! Jus—just open the damn door!”

Jason pressed a button and the doors unlocked with a click. He opened his mouth to speak, but Anna was out of the car before he could get the first word out, like hellhounds were hot on her heels.

“Maybe they are,” he muttered under his breath, eyes darkening as they followed her with a glare and a hunger he couldn't suppress. “This wasn't part of the fucking plan.” .

Her sheer red gown had tormented him all afternoon at the wedding, and now every step she took only fanned the fire in him.

This wasn’t part of the plan. The plan was to ruin her like she did him in high school, but his body betrayed him anyway. His jaw tightened.

Who said he couldn’t get both?

A wicked thrill curled through him. He was going to leave a mark on her that she would never forget, and he would have fun while at it.