Page 15 of Luck of the Draw

“I’m thirty.”

I didn’t ask for her age, but she bit her lip again, which made me laugh.

“I’m thirty-eight,” she blurted out. “I’m much too old for you.”

She didn’t look thirty-eight, not that it mattered. In fact, I preferred dating women who were older than me. Women who already had children or didn’t want them. But I didn’t want to get into that discussion with her, nor did it seem like there was any point.

She wanted to have a little fun, break some rules, and I wanted to help her. There was no need for us to think beyond that.

“Thirty-eight?” I asked in feigned shock. “You’re right, I’ve changed my mind.”

She gasped before noticing the playful look in my eyes, then pulled her hand away and gave me a little shove that barely registered.

“A sixty-something goat woman tried to pick me up earlier. Another crasher. Do you know her?”

“No,” she said with a smile twitching at the corners of her lips. “But I did hear some interesting stories.”

“Well, I’m not sure if anyone told you, but I had to make a Faustian bargain to get her to leave the wedding. I’m supposed to pose for a painting for her. So, if you’re willing to spend some time with a condemned man tonight, you’d be doing me a favor. It’ll be my last hurrah before I’m made into a stew or just a really bad portrait.”

She laughed, and just like her smile, it bled into every part of her being. I decided I liked making her laugh and instantly wanted to do more of it. She laid her hand back on top of mine. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well, you said you were all about challenges, right?” I asked, standing and lifting her to her feet. “I have a challenge for you.”

Chapter Five

Dee

I have a challenge for you.

After Dylan had caught me sneaking around the corner of the greenhouse earlier in the evening, I’d been ready to strangle Bear and Sam for coming up with this ridiculous challenge, but now as Dylan pulled me to my feet, his callused hand holding mine, I felt almost painfully grateful to them. The way he looked at me, like I was an ice-cold beer in a desert mirage and he wanted to drink every last gulp…a tingle ran down my hand and sent a pulse of warmth to my core.

Lord only knew what his challenge might be, but I wasn’t ready to let this moment go. I wasn’t ready to lethimgo. He had to be drunk or addled from his experience with Stella to want to be here with me, looking like he wanted to touch more than my hand, but he didn’tlookaddled.

And good grief, the way he’d slid off my flats and put my heels back on…it had lit an actual fire inside of me. Randy had never done anything even close to as romantic as that. His idea of romance was watching Discovery Channel’sAlaskan Bush Peoplein bed, rolling over to cop a feel of my breasts, then getting pissed when I didn’t jump from zero to sixty.

When was the last time a man had looked at me like this?

A very, very long time. If ever.

I lifted my chin slightly, the beaten-down part of me embarrassed that Dylan was staring at me so intently, but the rest of me wanted to be the person he seemed to see—a sexy, intriguing woman.

I scraped my bottom lip with my teeth, and his gaze followed the movement, his hand tightening over mine.

Another pulse of heat filled my core, and I barely restrained the gasp rising in my throat.

“What kind of challenge?” I asked, shocked at my coyness.

He grinned, taking a step backward toward the dance floor and holding my hand up like he was a duke at a Victorian ball.

The dance floor? He wanted to dance with me? Was hecrazy? But something about him told me that this was just as uncharacteristic for him as it was for me.

Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe this was just a game for him. Maybe he bartended weddings every weekend and met all kinds of women. Maybe he picked one every night and looked at her the same way he was looking at me now. He was certainly hot and charming enough to pull it off.

The flood of disappointment and jealousy made me stumble.

He stopped, concern filling his eyes, and leaned in close, his lips next to my ear. “I will never ask you for what you aren’t willing to give, Cinderella.” Then he added, “Like your Netflix password.”

I couldn’t stop my giggle. I was sure the strong drink I’d just downed wasn’t helping.

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