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them. Right away she spotted Trent and Addie at one of the large round tables. “Trent and Addie are sitting over by the window. Let’s join them.”
    Several other acquaintances greeted her as they crossed the room, but thankfully none seemed interested in long conversations at the moment, at least not until they passed by Tasha Marshall, a woman a few years younger than her whom she’d known for as long as she could remember.
    “Allison,” Tasha called out as she and Rock passed near her table.
    For a second, she considered whether or not she could pretend she hadn’t heard Tasha and keep on walking. Over the years, they’d seen each other at countless events. She’d even attended Trent’s wedding with the rest of her family. However, Allison never sought her out for conversations. It wasn’t that she hated Tasha, but rather just found her rather annoying and a bit empty-headed.
    Unfortunately, both her mom and dad had drilled too many manners into her and Allison stopped alongside Tasha’s table. “Hi, Tasha. Thank you for coming tonight.”
    “Mother and Father asked me to join them,” Tasha answered. “I didn’t know you would be here.”
    “I work for the foundation.”
    “Really? So you live down here now? When did you move?” Tasha’s eyes kept darting in Rock’s direction, confirming her earlier belief that he was going to catch the eye of many women.
    Before Allison provided an answer, Tasha gave Rock her full attention. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
    She’d seen the same glint in Tasha’s eye before when she’d looked at her brothers and cousins. “Rock was at Trent’s wedding.”
    Tasha’s smile grew a little wider. “That’s right. You were in the wedding party. You’re Addie’s brother.” She looked at Allison again. “I thought you had gotten back together with Charles. He talks about you all the time.”
    “No, Charles and I are just friends.” Reaching for Rock’s hand, she leaned closer to him and continued, “If you’ll excuse us, my brother is waiting.”
    Tasha glanced over her shoulder and Trent waved in their direction. “Sure. Rock, it was nice meeting you.”
    “You too,” he replied, his deep, sexy, late-night DJ voice kicking her pulse up for a moment.
    “Let’s chat again tonight, Allison. I know my parents would like to say hi to you and they should be here soon.”
    She’d rather avoid any further conversation with Tasha, but realized the probability of that was low, especially if Tasha’s parents were in attendance. She genuinely liked Richard Marshall and his wife, who were close friends of both her dad and Uncle Warren. “I’ll stop back after dinner.” She wouldn’t drag poor Rock over again. As it was, she suspected Tasha would be seeking him out later.
    ***
    He watched Allison walk toward the First Lady’s table. His date for the evening was the President and First Lady’s niece. Talk about a friggin’ head scratcher for you.
    “You should ask her out for dinner or something,” his sister whispered, interrupting his thorough visual inspection of Allison’s ass. “You haven’t stopped staring at her all night.”
    If his sister had caught him staring, he wouldn’t deny it. “Not happening.”
    Stopping near her aunt, Allison pulled out a chair between the First Lady and another man he didn’t recognize. After giving her aunt a kiss and hug, she did the same thing to the man on her right. Lucky SOB.
    “That’s only AJ. He’s Elizabeth’s nephew from England,” Addison said, her voice still low as she patted his hand.
    His sister referred to the First Lady of The United States as if she were talking about a neighbor down the street. “Thanks for the family tree lesson.”
    “I’m serious. You should ask Allison out sometime. I think you’d have fun together.”
    The man his sister called AJ said something and Allison’s head fell back as she laughed, and he pictured himself kissing all the pale skin exposed by