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  “Joey said he wanted to come over here, because he hasn’t seen his uncle all day. You wanna go to Uncle Mark.”

  As the words set in, I looked up at Mark. “Uncle?” I asked.

  He didn’t say anything in response, just held out his hands and took Joey from Courtney’s arms. “Of course Uncle Mark wants to hang with his favorite nephew.”

  I was still floored, getting hit with that news. After all this time of getting to know one another, I hadn’t even pieced together that Mark was Joey’s uncle and since I knew Courtney’s family, I was fully aware that Mark was not her brother.

  “So, you guys getting to know each other?” Courtney asked, glancing between Mark and myself.

  I slowly nodded. “Uh yeah…we are.” I looked at him and he smirked. I then looked back at Courtney’s inquiring stare. “Taking your advice.”

  She laughed. “I see you are,” she said. From her words I wondered if that meant that she knew what was in my mind.

  After a second more of standing there, Courtney was called away by someone that was getting ready to leave. When she left, I turned my attention to Mark. “You didn’t say that you were Matt’s brother.”

  He laughed. “Well, two things…you didn’t ask and that doesn’t matter?”

  I thought about it, then shook my head. “Not really. It was merely an observation.”

  “Ah…I see.” He looked at Joey and bounced him a few times on his hip as Joey got a little restless in his arms. He then looked back at me. “While we’re observing things,” he started. “You haven’t exactly expressed how you know Courtney and Matt.”

  I smiled. “Courtney’s best friend. I then thought about it for a moment as it dawned on me that I didn’t recall seeing this guy at their wedding two years ago and I was sure I would have remembered him. “I don’t recall seeing you at the wedding and I was in the wedding party.”

  He snickered. “I was out of town for business and couldn’t get away.”

  I frowned at that, because I found it odd that you wouldn’t move heaven and earth to get to your brother’s wedding, but I didn’t say anything of that nature. “I see,” I simply said. I looked at Joey and he had his head lying on Mark’s shoulder. I smiled. “That’s a cute picture and I’m sure Courtney would want a copy. Do you mind?” I pulled out my phone and held it up.

  He laughed. “Are you sure you just don’t want my picture?” He winked at me and I laughed.

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” I said. I held up the phone and pressed the camera button. “Smile!”

  He did and Joey looked right at the camera. I snapped the photo and looked down at it, knowing full well that that was one of the reasons I took it. It was nice to think that I could look at his gorgeous face any chance I could. I put the phone back away in my pocket and looked at him. He smiled at me and I felt like I was the only person in the world and I was glad that I had accepted the invitation to the birthday party, because I was having an amazing time.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Rachel Rise is a romance and erotica fiction author. She loves to write stories that make your heart race, take your breath away, make you laugh, make you cry and have happy endings.

  Currently, she is devoting her creativity and ink into high action adventure, billionaires, bad boys, unexpected love connections. Living my lifelong dream of being an author has been the most fulfilling thing she could ever ask for. When she is not creating characters or stimulating her readers, you can find her reading, hiking, traveling to exotic countries or just chatting up with strangers and sharing life stories.