Page 29 of Bad Luck Club

He took another sip, keeping his gaze on her. “That’s the theme of the night, correct? Total honesty?”

Her cheeks flushed, warming the blood coursing through his veins. He wanted to close the space between them to see if her skin was as soft as it looked. Touch those long, dark curls that were lucky enough to brush against her face.

Down, boy. You aren’t here for a relationship.

But if he continued with this radical honesty theme, he wanted to see what was underneath the flowy floral shirt that clung to her curves. He’d never been one for one-night stands or casual relationships, but Blue made him want to rethink his position. Only Blue didn’t seem like a casual relationship kind of woman. She seemed like a forever kind of woman.

Or maybe not, since she’d confessed that she was divorced. Twice over.

“So…” he said. “This radical honesty thing…are you from Asheville?”

She took a sip of her beer, and he watched the way her lips hugged the bottle and the movement of her neck as she swallowed.

Her eyes landed on him, and her flush deepened. “No,” she said as though his gaze hadn’t affected her. “Pennsylvania.”

“Really? Where about?”

“Just outside of Philadelphia.” She smiled, a sweet smile that looked almost innocent, not what he would have expected from a twice-divorced woman.

Come to think of it, he didn’t know anyone who’d been divorced twice. Not anyone so young, anyway. There was Bob at Buchanan Luxury, but he was enough of a blowhard it was a miracle anyone had married him once.

“I know you and your sisters are from Connecticut,” she added, rousing him from his thoughts.

“You have an unfair advantage,” he said. “Addy.”

She laughed. “That can’t be helped. I also know some other things about you from her.”

Her statement was like a bucket of cold water tossed on his face.

“Lee…sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No,” he said, then took another sip from his bottle. “That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? You know about myterrible tragedy.” He lifted his free hand to add air quotes.

She felt sorry for him. He’d seen pity in her eyes the day before, just like he was seeing it now. That was another dose of reality to kill his libido.

Maybe this had been a huge mistake. He set his bottle on the kitchen counter. “I think I should go.”

Her eyes flew wide. “What?Why?”

“I…” He shook his head. What excuse could he come up with? Because he still didn’t want to lie to her, and the truth was he didn’t want to go home. Adalia was alternating between giving him the silent treatment and coercing him to come back to the brewery. Thankfully, Jack and Iris had spent the day with Maisie so at least he hadn’t had to see the disappointment in his brother’s eyes. Georgie had left several voicemails, pleading with Lee to at least call her so they could talk it out, but he wasn’t ready.

“I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable,” she said, reaching out and grasping his forearm. A grimace creased her forehead. “I’m doing this all wrong.” She looked up at him with a pleading look. “Give me another chance.”

He didn’t want to stay, but he couldn’t bring himself to go either. Not when she was touching him. Her touch brought comfort and a zing of electricity, which was confusing enough, but her eyes…when she looked at him like that he couldn’t find it in him to tell her no.

She took his silence as a positive sign and tugged him into the living room. “I’d hoped to have this set up before you got here, but I got detained.”

He finally found his voice. “Which was why you were late.”

“Yes.” She glanced around her small living room. “Would you rather do this on the floor or my sofa?”

“What?”

“Well, it’s important that you’re totally comfortable, so maybe you’d prefer to stretch out on the floor with lots of pillows.”

His heart skipped a beat. “Is this some kind of sex thing?”

Was he an asshole if he hoped it was?

---