Page 57 of Spilling the Tea

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. What brought you off the ranch on a Saturday night?” Reese asked his brother.

“A better question is, what brought you off your ranch, period?” Slade then asked.

Zoey was confused by their questions. Did Chance rarely leave his home?

“Thought I’d come here and dance a bit tonight,” Chance answered.

“Dance? You?” Blade asked, surprised.

Chance looked at Blade with an unreadable expression on his face. “Yes, dance. Me.”

The entire table got quiet, and Zoey didn’t miss the look of disbelief on most faces. However, she noted that neither Luke nor Corbin seemed stunned by what Chance had said. When she shifted her gaze back to Chance, she saw how his dark, mesmerizing eyes had zeroed in on her.

“Will you dance with me, Zoey?” he asked, extending his hand to her.

Zoey’s breath caught in her throat. All she could do was nod. Standing, she took his outstretched hand. The moment she did, a sensuous shiver flowed down her spine. Her pulse quickened, and she hoped the loud music had drowned out the moan she was certain she’d just made.

“We’ll be back,” Chance said to those sitting at the table.

“I should hope so. Need I remind you that Zoey ismydate, Chance?” Corbin asked, placing emphasis on the wordmy.

Zoey glanced at Corbin. Was he trying to shield amusement behind his frown?

Chance didn’t respond to his cousin’s question. Instead, he led her toward the dance floor. As if on cue, a slow song began playing. He pulled her into his arms, and when he did, she felther senses aligned with everything about him. That made her intensely aware of him even more.

Gazing into his eyes, she studied his features: the dark, penetrating eyes staring at her beneath his Stetson, his chiseled jaw, nostrils that seemed to flare with every breath he took, and lips that could be her downfall if she were to let them.

“How have you been, Zoey?”

Her gaze moved from his lips back to his eyes. “Other than being annoyed there’s still strong sexual chemistry between us, I’ve been doing fine.”

If her honesty surprised him, he didn’t show it. “Why are you annoyed?”

“Because it’s a first for me.”

He lifted a brow. “You’ve never been attracted to a man before?”

“Not of this intensity and not when the man seemed to be on the same giving and receiving end as I am.” Even now, her body was heating something fierce under his concentrated stare. From the moment he’d entered the establishment and captured her gaze, he had focused on her like she was the only woman in the room.

“I must admit such a thing hasn’t happened to me before either. However, unlike you, I’m not annoyed by it. I will accept it as just one of those wonders of the universe. By the way, how did your meeting with Mama Laverne go?” he asked.

He had smoothly changed the subject, which was okay with her. “I thought it went well. I wanted to call to thank you for setting it up and to tell you how things had gone.”

“Why didn’t you call?”

Was she imagining things, or did he sound salty that she hadn’t contacted him? “You never gave me your number, Chance.”

He held her gaze and didn’t say anything. Then he said, “You will have it before tonight ends.”

She frowned at him. “Why now? Have you broken up with your girlfriend?”

“My girlfriend? Was I supposed to have a girlfriend?”

“I assumed you did,” was her comeback.

“Well, I don’t.”

She’d overheard the whisper about him not dating but wanted to hear it from him. “You might not be in an exclusive relationship, but you do date, don’t you?”

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