Page 18 of My Secret Santa Dallas

“I know. Feel free to show me up any time,” he said.

“Good,” I said, hopping off the stool. “Put your head in the middle of the board.”

He rolled his eyes, “Nice try.”

“Do you want a prize?”

“I think I’m getting it right now.”

I plucked a few darts from his hand and tried hard not to react to the feel of his skin on mine. There’s a pull so strong that I almost took half a step forward. Then I caught myself and turned away.

Breathe. I clenched my fist.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do; I just knew I needed to be careful around Dallas Donovan before I punched him or kissed him or, possibly, did both at the same time, which seemed like it would be impossible, but I wouldn’t put it past myself right now.

I got my darts out of the dart board; two of the three landed dead center while the last landed on the ring outside. Dallas was standing closer to me than he should be, and it was setting off proximity alarms in every single part of my body— I could damn smell his cologne.

It reminded me of how long it had been since an attractive man touched me and when I’d had a roll in the sack.

“Huh, not so bad,” I said, turning to him.

He looked over his shoulder to O’Hara, “You going to take him up on his offer?”

“No,” I rolled my eyes. “I am not that kind of girl.”

“You sure?” he asked.

Sighing, I went back to the bar. “Hey. Can I get one for the road, please?”

“No problem,” he said while I fished into my wallet for thirty bucks. When he came back with the plastic cup, I slid him the money.

“Keep the change for the lovely customer service,” I said.

He winked. “Are you needling Mr. Grump on purpose?” O’Hara asked. “You’ll probably get a lot more than you’re bargaining for.”

I looked over my shoulder. “Eh, I just want to keep him on his toes and rattle him a bit. It’s not any worse than what he’s doing to me. No harm, no foul.”

Laughing, O’Hara left for another customer, and I took my drink and waited for Dallas to pay before we left for the truck.

“God, I’m going to sleep well tonight,” I sipped my drink, loving the bite of the Irish Whiskey on my tongue.

Dallas had the truck rumbling, and he headed out to the road. “Speak for yourself.”

Chapter Six

Dallas

We parted ways in the hallway leading up to the rooms, and I went to my room, craving a shower like crazy. Tonight had been a clusterfuck in so many ways that I didn’t even want to think it over.

All I wanted to do was shower and sink into my bed. As I went to the bathroom, the clothes fell off me as I went along. I cranked the knob up to the highest pressure and the temp to near scalding and stood under the spray, the stream of hot water easing the tense muscles in my neck, thinking about how much my life had changed in the past week.

Has this really been four days? Christ, how am I going to last four to six weeks?

Tilting my head up, I tried not to think of the moment I’d kissed Blair. I know she hadn’t expected it— hell, I hadn’t expected it either, but it happened, and now it’s going to be a sticking point between us.

“She ain’t ever gonna forget it,” I grumbled.

This felt like when Mama sat me down at sixteen andtold me that eight minutes of sex might end up as an eighteen-year commitment. I’d wanted to sink under the table back then, but now I wanted to sink into the floor.

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