Chasin' Eight (Rough Riders #11)(14)

“Sounds like you’re reading a page out of the story of my life.” Ava typed her name into the search engine and spun the laptop around. “Have a look.”

Chase scooted out the chair across from her and sat. His fingers clicked on the keyboard. His eyebrows went up a couple of times. But he didn’t speak for a few minutes.
She refilled their cups and braced herself when she sensed him staring at her.
“Your ex was gay?”

“Yes. It was quite a shock to me.”

“It wouldn’t have shocked me at all. He looks gay.”

Ava bristled. “You can’t tell that by looking at him.”

“Sure I can.” Chase spun the laptop around and enlarged the photo of Ava and Jake at an Emmy Awards after-party. He pointed at Jake’s feet enclosed in white patent leather clogs decorated with brightly colored polka dots. “No straight man ever wears shoes like them.”

“Shows what you know. Those are high-couture shoes.”

“Those are highly gay shoes.”

She wanted to laugh, she really did. It’d been ages since she’d met a man so willing to speak his mind. “Shoes are your gauge for determining sexual preference?”

“No, the best indicator is sex. How often did you have sex?”

“I don’t see how that’s relevant,” she snipped.
Chase leaned closer. “It’s the only thing that’s relevant. Because if he wasn’t dragging you to bed at least twice a day, the man was either a f*ckin’ moron or totally gay. Probably both.”

That was kind of sweet…in a caveman sort of way. “Not everything has to do with sex.”

“Oh yeah? If that’s true, then this Jake guy wouldn’t have left you to have sex with a dude, would he?”

Ava’s mouth dropped open.
“Shit. Sorry. That came out wrong. What I meant—”

“No. Don’t.” She placed her hand on his arm. “I think you’re the first person who’s been totally honest with me.”

He relaxed. Smiled again and she bit back another sigh. “So this is what sent you running from California?”

“I got tired of the paparazzi.” Something kicked from what he’d said about his family. “I got tired of the pity. Of the trade mags making such a big deal out of it. I needed to get away and prove…”

There was that amazing grin again. “Don’t clam up on me now, Hollywood.”

Ava laughed at his impromptu nickname for her.
“And if you’re afraid I’ll judge you? Think again.”

“You were dead-on with the sex question. One of the reasons I’m here? To find a guy I can get wild with. To prove I’m hot between the sheets. To prove I can keep a man sexually satisfied.”

“Is that right?” he drawled.
Her brain slipped into seductress mode as she channeled the femme fatale she’d played on TV for two seasons. “Maybe…you’re the man who can help me with that.”

Bad karma is coming back to bite you in the ass, McKay.
Of all the times to have sworn off sex, this had to happen? Now? When the hottest woman on the planet sat right across from him? Burning him alive with her smoldering eyes? Oh, and she wanted to prove—with him—that she was a tiger between the sheets.
Fuck.
He wondered why God hated him.
He wondered if it was too early in the day to start drinking.
He wondered if Ava had any condoms because he hadn’t brought any.
No, no, no. He would not break the vow he’d made to himself. He’d been making excuses for his behavior for far too long. This “break” was supposed to get him back on track, not drive him off the rails completely.