Hunks Pulled Over (14 page)

Chance’s back went up. What did he want to know about her? How did he know her? “Yes, I was. Why are you so surprised?”

“I just thought she might still hate your guts after what happened at our very last fraternity party,” Greg said, shocking him.

What was he talking about? Emerald was never at one of their parties. Why did Greg think she was?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “Emerald was never at one of our parties.”

“Yes, she was,” Greg insisted.

The level of Chance’s anger grew by the minute as he raked his brain to recall how his path had crossed with Emerald.

“Damn man, you don’t remember her do you?” Greg asked, jerking him from his memories.

“Does it look like I remember anything?” Chance demanded, harshly.

“Shit man. How many girls did you sleep with the night of that crazy masquerade party? You know the one where the girls had to wear sexy costumes with masks, but they couldn’t tell us their names. I can’t believe you forgot about her. I’ll tell you the only reason I remember her was because Emerald was my wife’s roommate. I used to see her all the time at the house she shared with Daisy.”

Chance felt like he’d gotten punched in the stomach as the image of Emerald slipped back into his memory with a shiver of vivid recollection about the amazing night he had spent with her. But she was gone when he rushed back upstairs after dealing with his crazy ex-girlfriend Brianna.

“Chance, are you okay?” Greg asked, touching him on the shoulder. “You look like you’ve gotten the shock of your life.”

He had to get out of here. He needed to talk to Emerald fast. How could he not have remembered who she was? An apology would be the first thing on his lips when he met up with her. Shit! How could he have been so stupid?

“Sorry, but I need to go. I have to fix something I should have done a long time ago.” Turning on his heel, Chance left a puzzled Greg staring after him as he rushed towards the entrance to meet up with Emerald. He had so much to tell her and he hoped that she would listen to him.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Walking around her car, Emerald wondered what was taking Chance so long to come back from speaking with the judges. His appearance today was a complete, yet wonderful, surprise for her. She was thrilled to see him and even more proud of herself that she could admit it.

Her mother always told her things happened for a reason and Chance came back into her life. Someone was giving them a second chance to redo their past. She had to let go and see where things could go with this new Chance. She now saw he wasn’t the same guy anymore which was a very good thing.

For once, she wasn’t going to think about the future and what might happen. She would leave it in the perfect moment of the situation and get all of the happiness from it she could.

Today, Emerald was going to prove to herself that she could open up herself again to love with Chance. She couldn’t wait to tell him that she was ready to see where this blooming relationship could go if they both gave it their all.

A new bubbling excitement formed in her heart at the possibility of having what Shauntie and Sapphire both were very lucky enough to find. Valentine’s Day was only a few weeks away and the thought of having a special man was something she had been waiting for, for such a long time.

Having a commitment with someone who cared about her as much as she him was extremely important to her, because at the end of the day love is what she wanted the most. It was one of the main reasons she’d tossed out the hunks challenge to her girlfriends.

She had gotten tired of them not looking past the men in their circle, but she was guilty of doing the same thing when it came to Chance. Admittedly, she was initially suspicious of his motives, but she saw through the stories she had heard about Chance around town to the man who more than made her feel good.

Slowly, she was gravitating towards the intelligent side of Chance. Everything he talked about was filled with substance, a quality she loved in a man and hadn’t found in her ex-boyfriends all that often. Now, here was Chance and he had it overflowing from him in buckets. It was almost like he had learned to get the sense of integrity he lacked when he was younger.

So far, Emerald sensed deep down that Chance was being straight with her and not pulling any punches. When it came to her job, she knew it like the back of her hand; knowing how to keep a serious relationship going was another matter completely.

Most of the time she felt vulnerable when things didn’t turn out the way she planned them and it hurt her more than she cared to admit.

If any of them had been straight with her without pulling any punches then maybe all of the breakups wouldn’t have hurt so badly, but her ex-boyfriends rather lied to her telling her she was the one at fault because she hadn’t given them enough of herself to them.

How in the hell could they use that excuse on her when she was the one giving it her all and they weren’t
?

Excuses didn’t go over well with her. She liked when a person stood up for themselves and admitted their faults. God, she’d been through so many horrible relationships that she almost let having another opportunity with Chance slip through her fingers.

This might be a cliché to some women, but she always thought that ‘actions speak louder than words’. Chance buying her those flowers and then treating her to dinner proved he could think about someone besides himself. Both were very simple acts, but it showed her another side to him.

Emerald loved the fact Chance had a nurturing part buried deep within him. It almost made him seem like a romantic. He almost made her feel loved and nourished but not suffocated. If he kept going the way he was, she would keep coming back for more and more.

“Emerald, I’m so sorry that I’m late.”

Spinning around, Emerald grinned as she spotted Chance running up to her across the parking lot. Her heart pounded even faster when he got closer and stopped right in front her. She was falling for him fast and hard.

“That’s okay. I didn’t mind waiting for you. I was enjoying the fresh air and the sunshine,” she answered. “Did you get everything taken care of with the judges?”

Chance’s expression stilled and grew serious as he stared down at her. “I found out something and I don’t know how to tell you about it. I—”

She got concerned as she watched the variety of expressions from fear to worry pass over Chance’s handsome face. He was nervous about telling her something, but she would rather he just come out with it instead of scaring her like this.

What in the world happened while he was left back at the car show? He was so excited about them going to lunch and now he acted like his world was about to come to an end.

“Chance, just tell me and we can work through it. I know it can’t be as bad as you’re making it out to be,” she encouraged, in a soft voice. “What’s gotten you so upset all of a sudden?”

Emerald was puzzled by his abrupt change in mood. What happened to the excited guy she was talking to thirty minutes ago? Had someone said something to him? Did his talk with the judges not go the way he wanted it?

Reaching out, Chance wrapped his hand around her wrist. “I know who you are now.”

Instantly, Emerald could tell from the tone of his voice what Chance knew. She masked her inner turmoil with deceptive calmness. She found it hard to control her swirling emotions. A tumble of confused thoughts and feelings assailed her.

“Emerald, you’re the girl I slept with at the masquerade party.”

Easing her hand away, she took a step back from Chance. She didn’t know what to say. It was like she was frozen in limbo where all of her decisions and actions were impossible to think through at the moment. Only minutes ago, she’d been thrilled about her future with Chance but now it looked vague and unsure.

“I know you didn’t remember, so how did you find out?” Emerald asked.

“Greg Hamlet, he was your roommate Daisy’s boyfriend. He’s married to her now and he saw me talking to you.”

Greg...of course, she remembered. Why did he have to say anything to Chance now? Yeah, she’d wanted him to remember her but she wanted Chance to figure it out. Not to get some help from another person. What good did it do?

“I think I need to leave.” Emerald moved towards her car, but Chance stepped in front of her.

“No...wait. I want us to talk about that night. You need to understand some things if you just let me get it out.”

Under his steady scrutiny, she couldn’t think. She needed to go back to the hotel room and have some time alone. Chance finding out who she was came out of the blue. She was more shaken than she cared to admit. Wanting something to happen and having it happen so fast was two different things entirely. She needed a moment to reorient herself.

Emerald took a deep breath and tried to relax. “I’m not ready to talk about that night with you. Why do you think I kept telling you that there wasn’t any kind of connection between us? A part of me just wanted you to leave me alone while the other side of me wanted you to remember. This is just all too much. We can discuss this later.”

Stepping around Chance, Emerald turned and got inside her car. As she was about to shut the car door, Chance grabbed it. Her eyes shot down to his tanned arm and then his face. His light blue eyes were watching her intently with a hint of sadness hidden in their depths.

“Emerald...we need to get this out in the open. Let’s talk now and not later.”

“Chance, please let go of my door,’ she requested, softly.

He looked at her like he wanted to demand she stay and talk to him, but he removed his hand from her door and took a step back. Emerald quickly shut the door and drove off before Chance could stop her.

****

Chance watched Emerald drive away with a heavy heart. How could he have been so blind not to have known who she was? It was right there in front of his face. All he had wanted to do, his last year of college, was spend his time finding the beautiful black girl who had stolen his heart, but he hadn’t. Now, here Emerald was and he would be damned if she put more time between them. He wasn’t going to let it happen.

Besides, she might have not realized but Emerald had finally called him Chance instead of Officer Cutter which meant she did have feelings for him, feelings he was going to make sure she understood were returned by him.

Rushing over to his car, Chance hopped inside his car and drove off after Emerald. There was only one hotel close enough to the car show that she could be staying at because he had a room at the same one.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“I don’t feel right about us having this meeting without Emerald or Chance here,” Shauntie complained staring at the other people inside her family room. “Would you want Chance or Emerald to have a secret decision about you, Brian?”

Brian glanced at her as he leaned forward in his chair bracing his elbows on his thighs. “I can’t say that I would, but we know that Chance dating Emerald isn’t a good idea at all. Yeah, I’m still annoyed at her some about what happened at the cottage but Chance isn’t the guy for her.”

“Are you serious about this? How can any of us complain about them being together?” Nash asked. “Look at how fast all of us fell in love with each other. Brian, do you love Sapphire any less because the two of you didn’t have a long ‘getting to know you’ stage?”

Shauntie watched as Brian grabbed Sapphire’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “No, I love my girlfriend very much. You know that I wouldn’t be able to take not having her in my life. My stubbornness almost caused me to lose her.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Shauntie pointed out. “Not one of us wants to be without the person we love. How can we deny Emerald and Chance the chance to find out what could be between them?”

“I can’t agree with you on this one,” Brian complained getting up from his seat. “Chance has run through too many women to be serious about Emerald and I don’t want his nonsense to ruin any of our relationships”

“Honey, I’m not going to fault you for anything that Chance might do with Emerald. She’s a grown woman and knows how to stand up for herself. I swear to you if Emerald thinks she’s getting mistreated in any kind of way she’ll let Chance know about it,” Sapphire said, pulling Brian back down into his seat as he walked past her. “Let’s just wait and see how things play out.”

“I think Sapphire has the right plan,” Shauntie agreed, jumping in. “Anyways, I want to bring something else up to all of you. I was thinking about having a Valentine’s Day party. You know, to celebrate all of us being together this year.”

“So, you’re turning down my idea of having our wedding on Valentine’s Day?” Nash asked.

Shauntie turned in her chair and looked at Nash. “Sweetheart, it was a great idea. However, I think we should pick a day that should be our own perfect day. Don’t you?”

Pulling her to him, Nash planted a kiss on her mouth then moved back. “You should know by now that I can’t tell you no. Find the day you want to get married and I’ll be there waiting at the end of the aisle for you.”

“Speaking of weddings,” Nash said, turning his head away from her to look over at Brian. “When are you going to get up enough nerve to propose to Sapphire? I mean you better hurry up before another guy comes and steals her away from you.”

“I don’t plan on going anywhere with anyone else,” Sapphire said. “I love Brian. I don’t have to be engaged yet if he isn’t ready. We’re still working slow and building our relationship into what you have with Shauntie.”

“Okay, enough of all of this,” Shauntie laughed, touching Nash on his leg. “I want an answer to my question. What does everyone think about me throwing a Valentine’s Day party? I mean I can hire someone to decorate this huge family room and we can have it right here.”

“I love the idea,” Nash said. “I love the chance anytime I get to see my gorgeous woman in a dress.”