Read Feeding the Fire for Free Online Page B

Pepper, the conversation moved on.
    “So, tell us about the new tour,” Pepper suggested.
    Ivy started talking, but Grant didn’t pay much attention to what she said. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested, it was just hard to focus with Pepper so close to him.
    She looked amazing tonight. She had straightened her red curls so the fanlike splay of hair fell in a long, shiny sheet of red around her face. Around Christmas, she’d cut her hair to about shoulder length, but when it was straight, it seemed a lot longer. The bright red was stunning against the flawless creamy complexion of her pale skin.
    Grant didn’t know much about makeup. He couldn’t tell eyeliner from blush, but he knew he liked Pepper’s handiwork. She had a smoky cat eye tonight with a shimmer of copper that pulled out the golden highlights in her dark brown eyes.
    Pepper caught his gaze for a moment, a pale pink coming to her cheeks. She immediately moved to slip out of her light brown leather jacket. “I think Emmett’s got the heat up a little high for folks that are drinking. Is it hot in here to y’all?” she asked.
    “No, it’s just me,” Grant said with a wide grin. She rolled her eyes, but that didn’t stop him from reaching out and helping her with her coat. Her top was sleeveless, he discovered as his fingertips brushed along the bare length of her upper arm. The touch was charged, like static electricity that buzzed along his skin and sent a bolt of awareness up his arm.
    Pepper felt it, too, he could tell. She hesitated for a moment, a soft hitch in her breathing. An instant later she shook off the reaction, along with her coat, and pretended like nothing had happened. “Thank you,” she said reluctantly, without meeting his eyes.
    Grant knew that her eyes would give her away, but he couldn’t really press the issue with his brother and future sister-in-law across the table. Playful banter was one thing, serious seduction was another. “You’re welcome,” he said instead.
    “You’re wearing the scarf I got you for Christmas!” Ivy said to Pepper; her declaration like a bunch of neutrons spilling into the space and negating the charged environment around them.
    Pepper beamed as she adjusted the beige-and-brown-plaid scarf around her neck. “Yes, I love it. The fabric is light, and yet it’s so warm. The winter has been brutal this year.”
    “I’m glad you like it. When I saw it, I just knew it was perfect for you.”
    “It looks nice on you. It has the same colors in it as your eyes.” Grant’s statement slipped through his lips without him fully thinking it through.
    Blake narrowed his gaze at him across the table. “Have you been spending a lot of time gazing lovingly into Pepper’s eyes, Grant?”
    “No,” he said, with a dismissive snort. “She won’t hold still long enough.”
    “That’s right,” Pepper chimed in.
    “I just happened to notice while she was sitting here now.” Grant stopped himself from continuing on. He was protesting too much. He wanted to spend time gazing into her eyes, but he’d told the truth before. She was like a hummingbird, zipping around so he couldn’t get a good enough look.
    Fortunately, Emmett arrived at the perfect moment with drinks and pretzels. After that, Pepper deflected the conversation by steering it toward Ivy and Blake’s upcoming wedding plans. From what Grant could gather, the answer was that they didn’t have anything planned and they were waiting at least another year before they got married, and yet the girls chatted on the subject long enough for Grant to finish his beer and start to get antsy.
    “You wanna play pinball?” he finally asked Blake.
    Although he had a vested interest in the discussion, he, too, seemed interested in escaping. “Sure.”
    They excused themselves, got some quarters from Emmett, and went to the pinball machine to play a few rounds. Grant had beaten his older brother’s score the last two out of three rounds. He was