Can't Bear to Run - Lynn Red Page 0,1

the sides of his face joined the ones in the corner of his mouth, and for a moment, captivated me.

I’d always thought he was good looking. And aside from that, he was funny, witty, and usually at least a little charming. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t some kind of heaven-sent Prince Charming, but for a twenty-six year old on the downhill part of her first divorce, Prince Charming is a pipe dream.

I got to the chorus, belting it out as best I could, hoping to at least sort of match the intensity of overblown emotion that the song captures. As I let the words flow from my lips like mana from heaven, I realized that my heart wasn’t just pounding from the glory that is Michael Bolton. It’s weird, but as I surveyed the crowd, a couple of guys caught my attention. First there was this big, gruff-looking, muscular dude with shaggy hair and dark brown eyes who I don’t think I’d ever seen before. He was watching me like a hawk about to dive on a squirrel.

But it wasn’t him that I noticed the most. Dan’s eyes had managed to bore their way into my heart.

And hell, I wasn’t even sure if he was meaning that longing stare the way I took it, but right that second, it didn’t matter. The only thing that did was that whatever emotions he was stirring inside me were... well, let’s just say they didn’t hurt my love song singing.

Sweat was running down the sides of my face by the time I finished my turn at the mic, and my nerves were absolutely shot. I felt like I’d just downed a handful of amphetamines and chased it with a gallon of Red Bull. As I took my seat, and snatched the handle of my mug, Dan was pouring more from the pitcher for me.

“That was good,” he said. “Probably better than the real thing. At least these days.”

There wasn’t a damn thing in the world except for the two of us right then. I couldn’t hear the girl on stage singing that one Four Non Blondes song that always seems to herald the end of karaoke night. I couldn’t hear Karen and Matt yammering at me, I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts bouncing around inside of my skull.

My brain was telling me to cut him off, not to let this go too far, but... like I said, downhill slope of a real nasty divorce. Things like that tend to make a girl let her head take a backseat to her heart. And besides – Dan was a friend. He was safe.

At least that’s what I told myself. I mean, I didn’t have any reason to think otherwise. He’d never been anything but nice and kind to me, how was I supposed to know?

“Thanks,” I said, diverting my eyes from his. I could feel the heat boiling up inside the pit of my stomach. Even if I wasn’t thinking particularly straight at that moment, I always knew better than to make that outwardly obvious.

“I think those two have, er...” he trailed off and I turned my attention to our two buddies. Karen had her hand in Matt’s, and before I knew it, the two of them locked lips in a way that would be extremely dangerous if they had braces.

“Think they’re gonna want to hit the IHOP?” I joked.

“I think they’re gonna want to hit a motel,” Dan said. I smirked with a little blush coloring my cheeks. “Can’t blame them though.”

When he said that, he grabbed my hand in his and squeezed. “You were really something else up there.”

“Oh,” I chuckled. “I get really into whatever I’m singing. One time I did a Meatloaf song, and the entire audience was in tears, holding cigarette lighters in the air.”

“I believe it.” Dan’s eyes were sparkling.

You know the way that some guys can make their eyes sorta... twinkle? Car salesmen do it right as they’re convincing you that they’re offering you ‘the lowest I can go, really, this is two grand below cost.’ Even when you know better, it makes you trust them, at least for long enough to make a really stupid decision.

“Hell yeah, give me that SUV,” or “why yes, I do want to sleep with you ten minutes after we got together.” Either way, you’ve got to get checked the next day, but damn if it doesn’t feel good when you’re putting your name on that line... or

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