Sweet Sinful Nights

“Well, that was then. This is now,” Cara said, as if she could so easily squash the long-simmering desire she felt for him. She’d try any remedy to get him out of her head. But he was right there, twenty feet away, casually leaning against the side of the table, knocking back a longneck as he chatted with Smith, looking all relaxed and sexy casual.

She did her best to avert her gaze from him, and his dark brown hair, and his piercing blue eyes, and his broad shoulders that were strong enough to carry you, because they were supposed to carry you. Just her luck that the already-gorgeous-at-the-time high school football star would turn into one of the hottest firemen in the whole damn world. He’d been branded on her brain and on her body, and the mere handful of men—she could count them on one hand; half a hand technically—she’d been with since then had paled in comparison.

Sigh. What was a woman to do?

“And now is the time to finally do something about it. I see how you’re always looking at him at my bar. And God only knows, I practically have to sweep his jaw up from the floor, the way he gawks at you,” Jamie said, parking her hands on her hips and staring pointedly. Cara’s lips twitched in a faint smile at the confirmation that this attraction wasn’t one-sided.

Wait. Why did it matter? She wasn’t going to do a damn thing about it. She wasn’t into casual hook-ups, and Travis wasn’t into serious relationships. Enough said.

“Be that as it may, I’m going to be working with him the next few weeks, training his new dog. Even if I were to do something about it, it would be foolish,” she said, and she didn’t intend to let her latent lust rule the day. Besides, she’d managed to resist jumping him since she’d moved back to Hidden Oaks after spending most of her twenties in San Francisco. She could work with the man and his dog, no problem.

Too bad the task was harder tonight, since he’d been giving her what distinctly felt like a good old-fashioned eye-fucking when she’d been dancing a few minutes ago.

“Well, you know what they say about fools,” Jamie said, as she flashed a big, bright smile.

Cara shook her head. “No. What do they say?”

“That sometimes the best things in life are the foolish things,” Jamie said, rattling off a quote with authority, as if she were reciting poetry in English class.

“I like that,” she said, and if they were anyplace but a nightclub with loud music reverberating throughout the cavernous hall, she would have repeated it softly to convey how it made her feel. “Who said that?”

Jamie pointed her thumbs back at herself. “This girl,” she said, and both women cracked up.

“All right, you win. You fooled me.”

“Let’s go see the guys,” she said and grabbed Cara’s arm once again.

They weaved through tables and bodies, circling behind Smith and Travis, who were chatting it up. As they neared the guys, Jamie tiptoed the final feet and stretched out her hands so she could drop them over Smith’s eyes in surprise. But then Jamie stopped short, quickly straightening her spine as she mimed zipping her lips.

Cara froze, and her ears pricked as she keyed in on Smith’s voice, saying, “We all know you’re hot for Cara and you have been ever since the two of you went to the goddamn prom together years ago. Wouldn’t tonight be the night to finally do something about it?”

Cara blinked. Holy shit. She did everything she could to rein in a wild grin at hearing those words—hot for Cara. She shouldn’t want to hear them so badly. But hell, did they light up her insides. The prospect of the man she wanted so badly doing something about it tonight had her skin sizzling.

Jamie gave Cara a bug-eyed look as she mouthed, I told you so. Cara pressed her finger against her lips and continued to listen quietly.

“Why tonight? Because it’s your bachelor party?”Travis asked Smith.

“Nope.” Smith puffed up his chest and pointed at Travis. “Because I’m going to make you an offer you can’t resist. Let’s bet right now. Here. You and me. Usual stakes.” The tone of the conversation shifted when Cara heard Smith’s next words. “I bet you can’t even get Cara to kiss you tonight. And there’s no way in hell you could ever convince her to go home with you.”

Now it was Cara’s turn to tug on her friend’s arm. She pulled her away from the men and to the epicenter of all important conversations between women at nightclubs— the ladies room. As the door clanged shut behind them, Cara crossed her arms. She wasn’t sure if she was mad or turned on.

“I can’t believe they just made a bet about me.”

“That’s what they do.”

“Make bets about women?”

“No,” Jamie said with a laugh. “They make bets about everything. They’re guys. That’s just their thing. Personally, I think it’s kind of hot that he wants you so much that all his friends can tell.”

“You do?”

Jamie nodded and wiggled her eyebrows.

“So what am I supposed to do about it?”

“What do you want to do about it?”

Cara blew out a long stream of air and ran her hand through her dark hair. She wasn’t entirely sure at first. A part of her was annoyed to be the object of a bet. But another part of her, the part ruled by her libido, craved the challenge.