Page 5 of Single Chance

The town looked sleepy and peaceful from here.

There were trees everywhere, and dark hills barely visible in the distance. The air smelled of pine and freshness. An unexplainable serenity came over me as I took it all in.

“It’s beautiful,” I said quietly.

Chance put his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side.

“You must be freezing,” I said.

He let out a sexy, quiet laugh. “I’m fine. Though I wouldn’t be opposed to having a princess warm me up.”

I laughed at his reference to my costume again. “Confession: I’m anythingbuta princess in real life.” I turned to face him. “But I might be convinced to help you warm up.”

He brushed my hair back from my face, his gaze dipping to my lips. I moved my body into his to let him know I was on board. My heart thundered as he leaned toward me, and then his lips were on mine. A thrill shot through me at the first contact. I lifted my hands and ran them through his thick hair, pulling him closer into me.

Kissing this near stranger should seem odd, foreign, dangerous, but Chance felt natural and irresistible.

As he plunged his tongue into my mouth, I felt it to my core. I realized I might be open to more than a kiss from him. It’d been years since I’d had a fling, and I hadn’t had many of them, but if this tempting man was up for it, maybe we could start the new year together. Just for a night. No strings.

Chapter Two

Chance

As a single dad of a teenage girl who broke rules more often than she followed them lately, I didn’t get many evenings to myself.

On top of that, my job at the Rusty Anchor Brewing Company sometimes required working past five o’clock. I didn’t mind since I liked the people, the job, and the challenge of managing the brewery’s marketing efforts.

My social life was limited to early mornings at the gym and my Saturday nights with a group of dads who’d been hanging together since we were all single. Some of us weren’t solo anymore. I probably always would be, at least until my daughter, Sam, was an adult and on her own. In the meantime, she was a full-time worry and then some.

I hadn’t been with a woman for… Shit. I couldn’t say how long it’d been since I’d gotten laid. A few hours of escape, of not needing to keep tabs on my fourteen-year-old, would be a luxury. I loved that girl with all my heart, but she’d been struggling since we moved here a year and a half ago. It got worse when she started high school last fall.

Tonight, though, it seemed things might be lining up in my favor.

Sam was spending the night at her friend Lacey’s house. I’d verified with Lacey’s mother that the woman would be home so the girls wouldn’t be unsupervised. That translated to being able to relax at this party and have a few drinks. And maybe spend some time with the woman who’d caught my eye the second she entered the ballroom alone. Rowan.

The chemistry between us was fire, like nothing I’d ever experienced. Even before I’d gone cheesy and used my costume and boom box to get her to dance, I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes from seeking her out.

She was distractingly pretty, with chestnut-brown hair that reached below her shoulders and large, captivating brown eyes. Her skin was flawless, lashes full and long, body slender and alluring even though she wore a non-revealing, narrow skirt that reached her calves, with a thick suede belt, tall boots, and a plain pink blouse for her costume.

We’d stood out in the frigid night kissing like teenagers until my balls threatened to fall off from the cold. Then we’d laughed at ourselves, made our way back up the stairs, and she’d returned my jacket before we reentered the ballroom. Once inside, she’d excused herself to go to the ladies’ room.

To avoid looking like a creepy dude, in case she was giving me the blow off, I’d had to give her that space. My gaze had been on the door ever since, waiting for her to return, even as I took a ribbing from West, one of the only other singles left in the dads’ group, about disappearing with my mystery woman, as he referred to her.

I was all too aware she wasn’tmineby any stretch of the imagination. There was at least a fifty-percent chance she wouldn’t reappear at the door.

She’d seemed to be as into me as I was her, but I didn’t trust my judgment and sure as hell didn’t trust my game where women were concerned. I suspected she was out of my league, but that didn’t stop me from hoping for more time with her tonight.

The band was playing its last song of the evening, as they were packing up before midnight to let the DJ, Adrian Cormier, take over again. I didn’t know him well, but I appreciated that he’d done me a solid and played along with my movie song pickup plot to win a dance with Rowan.

“I’m gonna take off,” West said to the group that included Knox and Quincy, newlyweds Ben and Emerson, and me.

“Leave me as the fifth wheel,” I joked. “Thanks, man.”

“Your mystery woman’ll be back. I saw the way she was looking at you.”

“You’re really leaving before midnight?” Quincy asked him.

“Need to spell my babysitter,” West said, but I suspected he didn’t want to be by himself at midnight, watching all the happy couples ring in a New Year of love and bliss. I couldn’t blame him. I wasn’t sure how long I’d stay if Rowan didn’t return.

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