A second chance? At what? He was in love with Bliss. He wasn’t looking for someone else. “What were you hoping for exactly?”
He stared out at the water and gave a small lift of his shoulders. They were nice shoulders. Broad muscular shoulders. I was sure he got plenty of female attention. I was one of many. “I’d sworn off women for a while. Needed a break to clear my head. I was doing good too. I was focused. Getting things done. Running more. But then you walked in. I had been midsentence arguing over beer with my friends and I wasn’t able to look away. That hasn’t happened to me . . . in a long time.”
That almost eased the sting from him forgetting we’d had sex. Almost. It did help.
“I leave here soon. Probably tomorrow. At the latest Monday.”
He didn’t look pleased about that. “I know. You’ve got that adventure to experience. But while you’re here I’d like to be part of that adventure again. Maybe on your way back you might stop by and tell me how it all went. I just, I’d like to get to know you.”
There were a lot of things I could say here. But the only thing that came out of my mouth was “Okay.” I surprised myself with it.
The smile that crossed his chiseled face was nothing less than beautiful. He wasn’t hard on the eyes that was for sure. And he may be in love with an almost married woman, but he was kind. He’d drunk too much, that didn’t make him a jerk. I might have gotten completely drunk too if I loved someone who wouldn’t ever feel the same way about me.
“What are your plans the rest of the evening?” he asked hopefully.
“I was going to decide my route, but that’s it. I haven’t spoken to Bliss and Nate. I don’t know what they were planning on doing.”
“It’s Saturday night. Come back to Live Bay with me. I’d like to enjoy dancing with you sober. Then we can take a walk I do remember. I’ll even buy you some bar food that you can eat with flatware. It’ll amuse my friends and possibly charm them the way it did me.”
He was very good with words. I was smiling despite everything else. “If Nate and Bliss don’t have plans where I am involved, that would be nice. Let me check with them first.”
He nodded to the notebook in my lap. “Is that your adventure?”
“Yes,” I replied feeling a little embarrassed.
“Where is the next stop?”
“Nashville or New Orleans,” I told him.
His eyebrows shot up. “New Orleans is dangerous for a girl traveling alone.”
I’d already considered that. “I know. But what is an adventure without danger?”
“You want to live to tell about it.”
I did. “I’m just thinking about it. The idea for this trip was to take off and not have a plan. But I like to know where I’m headed.”