A Second Chance at Forever (7 page)

“I don’t know.” He pushed off the bed and stood, crossing the room in long determined strides, then disappeared into the attached bathroom. The soft click as the door closed behind him resounded through the quiet of the room.

“I didn’t think so,” she whispered to herself.

Dejection sitting heavy in her chest, she rose from the bed and forced her leaded feet to move as she gathered her clothing off the floor. She would never regret tonight, would cherish the time she’d spent with him until the day she died. She didn’t do one night stands. It wasn’t her style. She would probably never have one again. This weekend he’d given her something intangible. He’d made her feel desired and beautiful, in a way no man before him ever had.

She knew darn well, though, that their time together had been a mistake for him. She’d seen it in his eyes, heard it in his voice. Now that he knew who she was, he wished it had never happened.

The weight of that reality settled on her dark and heavy. It made her feel like the nerdy teenager she’d been once, watching the boys pass her by and the girls tease her. The girl who’d spent the night of her prom alone, because nobody, not even the nerds, had wanted to go with her. Whose ex-husband had called her dowdy and boring when he’d dumped her for another woman.

It made her yearn for nothing more than to get out from beneath the weight of being who she was. This was why she loved being a dancer—because at least at night she could pretend to be someone else.

She dressed in a hurry, determined to leave before Alex returned from the bathroom, before the tears that burned behind her eyelids refused to be held back any longer. She wouldn’t give him the benefit of seeing her pain. No man would ever know he’d broken her. Not ever again.

Chapter Five

Alex returned from the bathroom a few minutes later to find Angela fully dressed. She strode toward the exit, her gait long and determined, like she couldn’t get out fast enough. The sight caught him. He halted beside the bed, his heart hammering as an inexplicable surge of panic expanded in his chest. “You’re leaving?”

Her steps faltered then stopped. She darted a glance at him. Her back remained ramrod straight. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out you don’t want me here, Alex.”

For a long moment, Alex could only stand there, confused by the wave of emotion that washed through him at her admission. He desperately wanted to hold on to the anger he’d gone into the bathroom with. Angela had lied to him, had no intention of revealing her true identity. She was right, had he known, he wouldn’t have slept with her.

A mixture of anger, hurt, and uncertainty flashed like neon signs from the depths of her eyes, hitting his chest like a wayward arrow. Whatever else stood between them, she was hurt, and he was the cause.

He’d been the one to put that pain in her eyes. It tore him apart to see it.

Whatever fury he’d gone into the bathroom with drained from him. A wave of regret took its place. Swearing under his breath, Alex sank onto the edge of the bed. “You’re my best friend’s kid sister, Ang. I’ve known you since you were
eight
.” He ducked his head, dragged his hands through his hair with all the frustration winding through him. “Christ, if your brother finds out, he’ll have my hide.”

She heaved a sigh. “Look, you’re right, okay? Maybe I should have told you. But you wanted Candy, because men always want Candy. She’s sexy and vivacious, and she isn’t afraid to show it. I was afraid if you knew who I was you wouldn’t want
me
. It wouldn’t even have mattered anyway, because you were leaving, going back to New York soon. I knew I’d never see you again.”

When she hesitated, as if waiting for a reply, he lifted his head. She now stood with her shoulders slumped, arms hanging limp at her sides. She looked so damned vulnerable the sight nearly pulled him onto his feet.

“I just wanted one night, Alex,” she said, continuing before he had time to think of an intelligent response. “One night with the only man in a long time who seemed to see me beneath Candy and still thought I was beautiful. I’m sorry I lied to you.”

The dejection in her tone cut him like a knife. More than anything, he wished he had the right words to somehow make this better. He was a lawyer for crying out loud. He made his living persuading people. He was damn good at it too; had an excellent record. But right then, words failed him.

When he didn’t say anything, her shoulders slumped, and she turned, resuming her trek for the exit. As he watched her, his chest tightened. He had all of about thirty seconds before she walked out that door and out of his life. Another twenty years would likely pass before their lives crossed paths again, before he got to look into those hypnotic blue eyes, or hear the soft tinkling sound of her laughter. He didn’t come back to Vegas often. They didn’t run in the same circles anymore.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a small, cynical voice whispered,
don’t just sit there. Stop her, stupid!

That inexplicable pull between them still held him firmly within its grasp. For three days he’d wanted her and damned if he still did. He ached for her, wanted to make love to her until the sun came up, to lose himself in her.

A future wasn’t something he had to give, though. He’d had his gift, his once in a lifetime. Had it and lost it. He wouldn’t get another chance. He didn’t even want to try. His heart couldn’t take being torn like that again. Angela sure as hell deserved better than a one night stand.

When her hand closed around the handle and pulled the door open, something inside of him bound up into a tight coil that released in an instant and propelled him off the bed. Before he’d even made the conscious decision, he was halfway to her.

“Wait.” The word left his mouth on a hoarse whisper, wrenching the knot in his gut. He wasn’t ready for a relationship or anything like one. He sure as hell wasn’t ready for
their
relationship to change. Still he found himself telling her, “Stay.”

For a moment she hesitated, stood staring at the door. Then slowly she faced him. Her lower lip caught between her teeth, and she wrapped her arms around herself. She looked vulnerable and uncertain. He hated that he’d been the one to make her feel that way.

He shook his head. “I don’t want you to leave."

She folded her arms across her chest and arched a brow, clearly not convinced. “What happened to me being Brock’s little sister?”

He shook his head and crossed the room to her, stopping just beyond her personal space, not wanting to push her. “To be honest, I don’t even want to think about it. All I know is that I need the woman who mesmerized me last night, and that woman is you.”

It made no damn sense, yet it made all the sense in the world. He only needed
her
.

“I need the woman I danced with last night. That warm, soft, sassy woman who wrapped me around her little finger.” Compelled to connect to her, he drew a finger down her arm. “To be honest, Ang, you make me feel like a man for the first time in a long time.”

She was the warm fire his frozen heart needed. If he let her leave, he’d regret it.

“I have to be honest with you, though. I can’t promise you tomorrow. My flight leaves in five hours. I have to be on it.”

She stared at him for so long he thought for sure at any moment she’d storm out of the room, out of his life. His stomach clenched, wound him in a tight knot. Her scent, soft, floral and feminine, slid around him, warm and enticing.

Then she did the last thing he expected. She slipped her arms around him and pressed her body along his length. Everything inside of him sighed with relief and tightened in carnal response. His arms closed around her to hold her closer, half afraid she’d change her mind.

“I’m not asking for tomorrow,” she whispered. “Kiss me, Alex.”

So he did. Gently sipped at her mouth, tasting her, acclimating himself to the newness of her lips. He was sure at any moment he’d realize he was kissing his best friend’s little sister. That somehow it would weird him out, the way it had when she was a kid, that night on her mother’s porch.

But it didn’t. A soft moan slipped from her lips. Her hands slid up his back to gather him closer, pressing her soft body against the hard planes of his. He lost himself in the sweet taste of her mouth, the flavor of her tongue, the way her lips moved beneath his own, pliant yet insistent. The feel of her curves against him.

She wasn’t that little girl anymore. She was a full fledged woman, warm and willing in his arms. One who wanted him as much as he wanted her. He had no idea how it was possible, but somehow, that he’d known her his whole life added warmth and familiarity to an already powerful exchange. It provided an intimacy he hadn’t even realized he craved until it stared him in the face.

“You’ll stay?” he whispered against her mouth, already finding the zipper on the back of her dress.

“Yes.” She breathed the word against his lips as she shrugged out of the dress. It fell to the floor, pooling at her feet.

That was all he needed to hear. He bent, swept her off her feet, then carried her the last few yards to the bed, where he set her upon it and crawled over her, tucking her beneath him. Tonight she was his, and for this one night, he was hers.

In five hours, though, his flight was leaving. He had every intention of being on it. Whatever the hell was happening between them would remain a weekend fling. No more, no less.

****

Several hours later, Angela lay with her head nestled in the crook of Alex’s shoulder. She trailed her nails up and down his chest, delighting in the tiny shivers she drew out of him, the gooseflesh that popped up along his skin.

They’d been laying there for a while, neither one saying anything, a comfortable silence between them. It surprised her how content she felt, more so than she’d been in over six months. She figured once he found out who she was, she’d feel like that awkward teenager with a crush on her brother’s best friend.

She didn’t. It was like they’d lain this way together forever.

“Tell me something, Ang,” he murmured beside her.

“Hm?” She drew her nails up over a nipple. He sucked in a breath, a low growl rumbling out of him. The warm hand curved around her right buttock lifted to swat the cheek.

She giggled, bit his chest. An instant later, she found herself flat on her back, his body pressing her into the mattress.

“Minx.” He leaned down and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth before lifting his head to gaze down at her again. “How on earth did you end up working as a stripper?”

“A friend got me into it. It helps pays the bills. Mom’s insurance doesn’t cover all the treatments she went through. Bill collectors almost took her house this year. I refuse to let that happen.” At the mention of her mother, apprehension knotted her stomach. She drew her brows together and shook her head. “You can’t tell Brock about my work at the club, A.J. Mom doesn’t know.”

Alex shook his head. “I won’t tell, but you’re lucky he hasn’t found out already. He was the first person I called when I got into town. He was supposed to come to the club with us, but he was working that night. You’re lucky he hasn’t found you yet. He works just down the street from the Diamond, Ang.”

She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her. “That would require Brock to actually go into the Diamond, because nobody there knows me as Angela. Brock would never go to a place like that. Mel would kill him, and it’s not his style.”

He was right, though. She pushed her luck working at the Diamond. Her brother did security six nights a week for one of the Casinos on the strip only a half mile from the club. So far she’d been lucky, she’d never seen anybody she knew, but it wouldn’t take much for her brother to find her.

“Well, I’ll deal with that if and when the time comes,” she said, unsure who she was trying to convince more—Alex or herself. “So far nobody I know has ever come in there.”

Alex stared pointedly at her. “Ang,
I
was there.”

Ignoring the unsettling precarious feeling his words gave her, she arched a brow in challenge. “Why
were
you there?”

“Co-worker of mine’s getting married in a couple of weeks. Three of us came down to celebrate. The strip club was Rick’s idea.”

“A bachelor party.”

“A bit of an impromptu one, but yeah.” He lifted a hand, brushed a stray lock of hair off her face. “You’re the last person I expected to find in a place like that.”

She let out a quiet laugh. “Me too.”

“You’re an incredible dancer.” He leaned down, brushing his mouth over hers. “Never in a million years would I have thought your body could move like that. Very mesmerizing watching you.”

Her mind filled with images of that first night. The shock of seeing him in the audience. The business card he’d given Janet, and the comment written on the back that had set her pulse thundering.

“When you gave Janet your business card I thought for sure you’d recognized me.”

A chuckle rumbled through him. “Probably should have.” He stared down at her for a long moment, then shook his head and rolled over, taking her with him. With his arm wrapped around her back, he settled her against his side. “Just goes to show how little we actually know about each other.”

“We can fix that, you know.” She slid one leg over his, laying her head on the center of his chest, listening to the soft, steady beat of his heart beneath her ear. “Tell me about your life. Brock told me once you work for the District Attorney’s office.”

“Mm. Still do. I’m an Assistant D.A. I work in the Trial Division, with the bureau of Family Violence and Child Abuse.”

“Not a divorce lawyer then. Thank God for small favors.”

His quiet laugh rumbled through his chest. “I take it you don’t like divorce lawyers.”

“No.” She bit her lip then quietly offered, “My ex-husband was a divorce lawyer.”

“I think I remember Brock mentioning something about your divorce. How long were you married?”