Page 101 of No More Heartbreakers

Ihad a chance.

So what was I going to do with it?

* * *

A little after one a.m., I pulled into Aric’s driveway, hoping my headlights didn’t wake his landlords.

Oh my God, his car was in the driveway. How had he managed to drive home in that state?

Shivering, I flashed back to the wreckage I’d witnessed tonight. That could have been Aric, driving as drunk as he reportedly was.

I knocked on the door of his apartment and waited. After getting no answer to a second knock, I turned the knob.

It was unlocked. Aric was probably passed out.

I’d just go in and check on him, make sure he wasn’t sleeping with his head in the toilet or something.

Thor met me inside the door, tail wagging, tripping me as I climbed the stairs.

“Hi buddy, hi Thor,” I whispered. “Is Daddy home? Does he hate me? Hmmm? No answers? Okay, I guess I’ll have to go find out for myself.”

Thankful for the lamp he’d left switched on next to our favorite chair, I crossed the quiet living room toward Aric’s closed bedroom door.

Before I could open it, the door opened on its own.

And out walked Colleen. She wore Aric’s faded red T-shirt.

And nothing else.

She was gorgeous, still in full TV-ready makeup, her long, tan legs looking swimsuit-competition perfect, and her hair slightly mussed in a Victoria’s Secret-model-shoot sort of way.

“Oh, Heidi. My goodness, you scared me. I thought I heard something out here. What are you doing here?”

I could’ve asked her the same question, but then, it was pretty obvious what she was doing here, wasn’t it?

At least Aric hadn’t driven himself home. Or been lonely.

“I, uh… came to see if Aric was okay. But I guess he… is.”

Looking past Colleen, I saw one of Aric’s long (bare) legs and a big foot hanging over the edge of his bed.

A blanket blocked his face from my view, but his (bare) arm and shoulder were visible. He hadn’t moved since I’d arrived. Out cold.

Colleen followed my eyes and glanced behind her at the beautiful (bare) male with whom she’d been presumably sharing a bed.

“Oh. Yeah. Well, that’s real sweet of you, but I took care of him.”

I’ll bet.

“He was hittin’ it pretty hard tonight at the bar, poor guy,” she said. “Seemed upset about something.”

Colleen continued with a satisfied grin. “He’s a trooper, though. He didn’t go down for the count until a whileafterwe got back here.”

A long-lashed wink.

Sugar.

TWENTY-SIX

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