Take a Chance on Me(9)

If only she could strip off this stupid dress, stand under a hot shower, and scrub this day away. She blew out an exasperated breath. “God, you have no idea how much I want out of this torture device. You don’t happen to have a spare set of women’s clothes lying around, do you?”

“Sorry, Princess, you’re out of luck.” He pushed aside a heap of fabric and helped himself to a seat on the couch next to her knees.

She pressed her legs against the cushions and tried not to think about how good those hard muscles felt against hers. Wanting to recapture the light flirtation in the bar and to forget about the past weighing her down, she said, “I thought guys like you stripped enough women out of their clothes that they would have left a few stragglers behind.”

His expression transformed from thoughtful to heated as he ran his fingers over the back of her hand. “I don’t bring women in here. And I don’t bring them home. But I’m making another exception for you.”

Throat drying up like a desert, she swallowed hard. For the past hour, she’d reminded herself—almost pathologically—that she had been supposed to get married today. But the normal strategies she employed to stay responsible and good kept short-circuiting in her brain. Fizzling out before she could muster any real moral fiber.

She wished she could blame the shots. Or that he was irresistibly gorgeous, with a body designed for sin. Or even something noble, like his quick wit and intelligence.

But she couldn’t blame any of those things.

It was the way he looked at her, like he really saw her.

She drew her hand back before his touch hypnotized her. “I should go to a hotel.”

His gaze dropped to her lips for a moment. Darkened. “Do you have any money?”

Only the change from the fifty tucked in her purse: not nearly enough. Too bad she was drunk enough to be dumb, but not enough to be stupid. She shook her head.

“Where do you plan on sleeping?” His voice had deepened to match the sudden heat in the small room, and thickness coated the air.

Powerful thighs pressed close enough for her to feel his hard muscles beneath the jeans he wore. Her breath did a little stutter. Was this seduction? The better question was, did she want to find out?

She clasped her hands and attempted to concentrate through her alcoholic haze. She had no money, no clothes, and no car. What options did she have?

The smart, safe, and obvious choice was to call her oldest brother. Once Shane found out where she was, she’d be rescued by the time she hung up the phone. One call and she’d be tucked into her childhood bed before the break of dawn. The thought made her want to heave up her shots.


No. Not an option.

The dangerous choice sat right next to her, watching her with a focus that made her want to squirm. It would be so easy to take what he offered, but really, wasn’t that another rescue?

Was that so bad?

It saved her from crawling back to her family, proving she couldn’t even last one night on her own. Rescue, along with getting drunk, had been her only thought as she’d walked through the night, following the red BAR sign like it was the North Star.

So why couldn’t she stomach the thought now?

She breathed out a long sigh that felt like it came from the tips of her toes. That left one other option. She raised her chin. “I’ll call a cab and go to my car. I’ll sleep there for the night and figure out what to do in the light of day.”

He’d started shaking his head about halfway through her proclamation and hadn’t stopped. “Do you honestly think I’m going to let you sleep in a car abandoned in some ditch on the side of the highway?”

She scowled, hackles rising. “There’s no letting me. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” I think. No, screw that. I know.

“Hey,” he said, voice soft. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and, when she tried to yank away, held tight. “I know you can. You’ve already proven yourself.”

Her frown deepening, she cast a suspicious glance in his direction. She was stuck in the middle of nowhere with no resources. Any idiot could see that. “I’ve proven nothing other than I can land myself in a huge mess.”

One brow rose. “Oh? How long did you walk tonight? By yourself, in the dark?”

“I didn’t have a choice, and I don’t have a choice now.”

“There are always choices, Maddie. Don’t forget, you made a hell of a big one today.”

“That doesn’t count,” she said, voice rising. Temper, temper, Maddie. She shook the voice away. “I know my options, and I’m going back to my car.”

He studied her. Summing her up like the lawyer he used to be. “I don’t want to ask, but I’m going to anyway. Why don’t you want to call your family?”

“Because I don’t want to.” The words shot out of her mouth, surprising her with their force.

“What about friends?”

Penelope and Sophie would walk through fire for her, but they weren’t an option, at least not tonight. “They’re probably at my mom’s house, consoling my family.”

He scrubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Won’t they be worried?”

“I’m sure they are,” she said. Her voice had taken on an edge that she hoped would pass for determined, but she feared that it bordered on petulance. “But I’m not calling them. I wrote a note and stole my own car from the parking lot, so it’s not like they’ll think I’ve been kidnapped.”