Page 30 of Bad Luck Club

“What?” She released his arm and jerked back in horror. “No! Why would you think that?”

“I have no idea what’s going on,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I only know I’m here for some radical honesty about bad luck and lots of questions to potentially join your super-secret cult.Andit’s only supposed to involve just the two of us.”

Horror filled her eyes, quickly replaced by a flash of anger, something he’d never seen in her before. Not even when he’d ruined her shoes or hit her car. “Is that why you’re here?For sex?”

“Radical honesty?” he asked with his brow lifted. “I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t know what possessed me to come other than that I find you intriguing. Well, that and Goat Lady Stella was trying to add me to her harem. The only reason she held back was because I told her I had plans. If I canceled on you, Stella would have wrapped a bow around my neck.”

She studied him as though dissecting his psyche. “You’re here so Stella doesn’t force you to join her harem?”

He grimaced. “Look, to be fair, I had no idea what to expect, and you didn’t give me a lot to go on. So when you mentioned stretching out on the floor…you don’t seem like the kind of woman who participates in ritualistic sex practices, but then again people are surprising.” He released a dry laugh. “Or maybe I’m just terrible at reading people. May I present exhibit A: my father and girlfriend were committing fraud right under my nose. Exhibit B would be that they’d been screwing each other for months, and I didn’t have a clue. Seems like I’m the perfect candidate for a cult. Gullible.”

The pity was back, and it pissed him off. He didn’t want her looking at him with pity. He wanted her looking at him with eyes full of lust.

“I should go,” he said, taking a step toward the door.

“Stop,” she said, stepping in front of him and blocking his path. “You’re not gullible, Lee. You just trusted the wrong people. That’s something I understand more than you’d think.”

She took his hand, tugged him to the sofa, and pushed him down, and he found himself letting her.

“For me to be your sponsor, I need to know your history. I need to know where your life went wrong so I know how to help you.”

“I wasn’t aware you had a psychology degree,” he said dryly.

“I don’t,” she admitted, but she didn’t look ashamed or guilty. “Actually, the only person who can really help you is yourself. Just like the only person who can help me is me. But Bear knows my past and what brought me to this place, and he holds me accountable when I start repeating bad habits. I want to help you, Lee, like he’s helped me, but I need to know your full story.”

“And you plan to ask me questions, which I’m required to answer honestly.”

“Yes,” she said with one of those soft smiles he was starting to crave. “But I have to tell you my story too. Remember?”

“But I’m not helping you?” he asked, trying to understand how this worked.

“Technically, no, Bear is. But I’ll tell you my story first so you’ll feel comfortable sharing yours.”

His brow lifted in surprise.

“But what we share stays between the two of us,” she said. “While Addy and Maisie know some of it, they don’t know everything, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“So no radical honesty for your friends?” he bit out before he could stop himself.

She paused, and he wondered if he’d pushed her too far. But she just tipped her head slightly. “I’m still a work in progress, Lee. Change doesn’t happen overnight. Especially when we’ve lived with bad habits and behaviors long enough that they become instinct.”

He took a breath and admitted, “That’s fair.”

“When I told Bear my story, we did it back-to-back. Which is why I suggested the floor.” She shrugged. “But then I’m a yogi, so I’m used to stretching out on the floor.”

Now he felt like a total asshole. “I’ve never taken a yoga class in my life, so I don’t think the floor’s a good idea.”

“Yoga’s good for stress,” she said. “I can teach you a few things you can practice to help with relaxation.”

He grinned. “That’s not helping with the cult image.” Was it wrong if thoughts of the Kama Sutra popped into his head? It wasn’t his fault Lettie Larkspur had mentioned it.

She laughed. “I can see that. We can drag two dining room chairs in here or turn sideways on the sofa and sit back-to-back.”

He liked the idea of feeling her body pressed to his. Even if it was back-to-back.

“The sofa,” he said, lowering himself onto it.

She smiled, and from the relief that filled her eyes, he realized she was nervous.

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