Page 80 of A Lucky Shot

“Rescuing a damsel in distress.”

Cass giggled. “Does that make you my knight-in-shining armour?”

Far from it. “Do you remember texting me?”

“I did?” Cass peered down at her phone and swayed dangerously in her seat, the smile fading from her lips. “It’s dead, anyway. At least I can’t read his texts anymore.”

Texts from whom? And why did that make her sound relieved and dejected at the same time? Josh turned his anger to the bartender, who was likely responsible for over serving her. “How many has she had?”

The skinny man scrubbed a palm over the nape of his neck and had the decency to look guilty. “A couple too many.”

Obviously. Josh propped his arms under Cass’s. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

“I haven’t finished my wine!” she protested.

Her morning would be bad enough without adding more alcohol to the mix. Josh reached over the bar and dumped the last of the wine into the sink. “All done. I’m bringing you home.”

A light dust of snow had accumulated on his rental car. Josh maneuvered Cass into the passenger’s seat and wiped the windshield with his arm, swearing as flakes snuck down the collar of his jacket. He dropped into the driver’s seat and texted Stephen.

Yo what time are call sheets tomorrow?

Libs wants to know if you got Cass yet

With her now

She’s in for a rough morning but she’s fine

We roll at 11. Might want to get here for 9 in case Brynne wants to meet before Friday’s scenes.

Shit. That’s right. Brynne had mentioned she had ideas about the scenes they were filming in a few days. Nine a.m. wouldn’t be a problem for him. He wasn’t the one whose head would feel like a bag of rusty hammers in a glass factory tomorrow.

When’s Cass on set?

Noon

Josh chewed the inside of his cheek and shifted his gaze down to the borderline comatose woman beside him. Noon would come a lot earlier than she wanted.

Even like this, she looked adorably dishevelled. Her curls had frizzed with the melting snow, and her lipstick must have worn off on the rims of who knew how many glasses. At least her lipstick hadn’t worn off on Leo. Josh swallowed the guilt that he was still hung up on her kissing other people when she was swaying in his passenger seat.

He reached over Cass’s pliant form to buckle her in and enveloped her freezing hands in his. “Why didn’t you call me? I would have come for you,” he whispered.

“Didn’t want to bother you.” She leaned into him, face smushed against his collar. “You smell so good,” she said in a breathy voice.

He snorted to cover the lurch under his ribs. “Okay, Lucky Charms. You are going to have a rough morning.”

“It’s already rough.”

“What happened tonight?” he murmured into her hair.

Her breathing fell into a quiet pattern. Melancholy misted around her in a miasma, dulling her shine and putting her in shadow.“I wasn’t stood up. The guy showed. Stuck around for a few minutes, ordered a drink, and said he had a call he had to make. Then he didn’t come back. He sent me a DM and said I seemed nice, but he usually was into women who were different physically. He said it looked like I had cankles.”

Josh stopped himself from rearing back. What the actual fuck? Cass was a voluptuous woman, and her profile picture had put every curve joyously on display. How that asshole thought he was meeting someone different made no sense.

He shut down the image of himself putting his lips to those ankles, slung over his shoulders as he’d buried himself in her. “That asshat doesn’t know what he missed out on.”

Tonight was his fault. Every single night she’d spent with a dickhead had been his fault. Sending out his sensitive Cass to be chewed up and spit out in the name of fuckboy exposure therapy. He ran a hand down her sleeve, wishing he could brush away the hurt, and tucked her head under his chin.

Cass sighed. “Why did he have to say that? He could have just used his inside voice and I would never be the wiser.”

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