Beautiful, lovely, dazzling, striking, unreal; the list was endless. There were hundreds of words flitting through Asher’s head - almost none good enough to describe the woman who had just entered the ballroom; except one: flawless.
It wasn’t just Asher who had noticed; several heads turned in her direction. Vida elegantly strode into the room, unaware of all the attention she was receiving. Her eyes wandered around the room as she searched amongst the guests for her brother’s dark head, it was then that she noticed all the people staring at her. It was nothing new to her; nevertheless her cheeks still grew pink. She was diverted from her search as her eyes finally came to rest upon the gentleman standing straight across from her, staring.
Her heart skipped a beat. She stood frozen, her lips parted. He’s gorgeous, she thought.
Mateo Montero was in his element, basking in the attention of his friends. He was busy amusing them with one of his many work anecdotes until he noticed barely any of them were paying him any attention. He turned his head to see what had distracted them and right at the centre of attention, as usual, was his sister, Vida.
Vida snapped out of her daze. She looked away and saw her brother surrounded by his friends glaring straight at her. Amongst the guests she recognised several people. As she walked to her brother she smiled – a perfect, pearly-white smile, nodded and waved in greeting to the people she was familiar with.
“Ash, you want a handkerchief? You’ve got some drool on your chin.” His friend, Devon, asked him sarcastically. His friends guffawed.
“Piss off,” Asher hissed before swallowing the rest of his champagne.
“Leave him; he’s mesmerised.” Jamie said.
Every one of their eyes followed Vida as she sashayed over to her brother. Asher knew the Montero boy, Mateo - he was one of Isaac’s old college buddies who he regularly ran into at society events. A bit arrogant, but he seemed like a good kid. His thoughts went back to Mateo’s twin sister Vida. He caught her returning his stare before heading across the ballroom to her brother.
Her parted lips and flushed cheeks were imprinted on his mind. He imagined that is what she probably looks like after she’s been kissed. Or what she could probably look like, he thought, tossing in pleasure beneath me.
He grinned into his champagne flute. This was not first time seeing her; he had seen her once before, years ago.
She doesn’t know me, not yet, Asher smirked.
Mateo held his arm out to his sister (almost robotically) as she reached the group. She slipped her arm through his and stood next to him.
She smiled, “Wonderful to see you all again,” she said to the people around her, “I hope that my darling brother hasn’t bored you with any of his business tales. He has a habit of doing that,”
The group chuckled agreeably; Mateo blushed.
Her eyes sparkled and she patted his arm, “I’m just joking Matt. It’s been ages since I saw most of you. How have you all been?” She asked affably.
Vida smoothly immersed herself in the group’s conversation, casually interacting with everyone as if she had just seen them the other day – unintentionally diverting the attention from her brother. Everybody was undeniably taken with her.
A few minutes later she politely took her leave to mingle with other guests. “Your sister is absolutely charming,” said one of Mateo’s old college classmates.
Isn’t she just? He thought bitterly.
Vida seamlessly wove in through the guests making genial small talk while gracefully eating canapés and sipping on fine champagne.
“Excuse me miss,” Asher said.
She stopped and turned around. It was him - the man she who had been staring at her earlier. He was even more attractive up close.
He walked closer to her; she could smell the intoxicating scent of his cologne. Vida smiled, “Hello,” she said.
Asher took her hand and bowed slightly, he pressed his lips to the back of her soft hand. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Asher Dalton.”
