Shame the Devil (Portland Devils #3) - Rosalind James Page 0,21

and said, “You study the Tao?”

“It’s that or read my horoscope,” Owen said, and she laughed.

“Right,” the redhead said. “Well, apparently I’m failing at flowing, because to me, that just felt like almost getting mowed down by a ten-year-old on a snowmobile. What a stupid way to die. I need a glass of wine. Or two. Probably two.”

“I think you’ve earned a glass of wine,” Harlan said. They were almost back at the lodge now, and he was feeling a whole lot better about his weekend. She was wearing stretchy black ski pants and filling them out just fine, he liked those freckles and that hair, she had a great mouth, wide and full and just as curvy as the rest of her, with a deep crease in the center of the upper lip and the kind of bow you wanted to keep on kissing. That mouth promised everything, and let’s just say she was a pleasure to lie on top of.

While rescuing her. Besides, he’d got right off again.

Owen wasn’t saying anything, for some reason, so Harlan ran with the ball. “If you’re staying here at the lodge and you don’t have other plans,” he told the redhead, “we could buy you that glass of wine. Adrenaline rushes can leave you a little shaky. Good to talk it out. Also, I think you may be hurting some. Advil works, but wine tastes a whole lot better. Or, hell, let’s go all out. Hot buttered rum.”

“Oh,” the redhead said. Blankly, like she was completely taken aback by that. By a guy asking her out for a drink. Along with a friend. At a lodge where they were all staying.

Which meant she had a boyfriend. A husband. Somebody. That was another bad thing about cold weather: gloves. You couldn’t check for the ring.

She’d said “Blake,” he remembered belatedly. Well, yeah. That would be it. That would be the guy.

The elf-girl said, though, “We’d love to. That sounds fun, doesn’t it, Jennifer?”

The redhead, for some reason, looked even more flustered at that, opening her mouth, then closing it again. She didn’t say anything, though, and after a second, Harlan said, “I’m guessing here. Hang on, because I’m about to use my intuition. You’re taking a break from the relationship. You’ve broken from the relationship. You’re still in the relationship, but your girlfriend’s trying to talk you out of it, because the guy’s a jerk. I’m guessing one of those is it, because you don’t seem used to being asked, and I can’t think of any other possible reason for that.”

She was still limping some, but she was hanging in there. “Maybe I am used to being asked,” she said. “Maybe I get asked all the time. Maybe I just don’t like you, did you think of that?”

He laughed out loud. “Nah. Plus, I saved your life.”

“I thought we were just experiencing a natural and spontaneous change,” she said. “Flowing naturally forward.”

“Hey,” he said, “I’m not the one who said that. I’m going with saving your life.”

7

Practice

Jennifer let the door to the lodge room bang shut behind her, and Dyma said, “Mom. Breathe.”

“I am breathing,” Jennifer said, unzipping her coat and unwinding her scarf. What did she have to wear that would look both like she was expecting nothing, and like she was … well, possibly expecting something, without being too obvious about it?

Not that she wanted something. Anything. And why had he asked her, anyway?

“It’s a drink,” Dyma said. “Not an invitation to a menage a trois. Unlike your first Yellowstone boyfriend, back in the ski shop, and you weren’t nearly as thrown by that. You thought it was funny, even though it was actually gross.”

“I know it’s a drink,” Jennifer said. “Which he invited us to have because we went through a harrowing experience together, and besides, there isn’t much to do here in the evening. And you’re not having anything alcoholic. Don’t even think about it.”

Dyma sighed and took off her boots, then started stripping down. “Like they wouldn’t card me. And like that guy wasn’t into you. Mom. He was totally into you. Also hot. Not as hot as his friend, but still.”

“He said about three sentences to me. And what’s with the ‘Jennifer’? Don’t think I didn’t notice that. I am not pretending to be your girlfriend. And that guy is way too old for you.”

“He doesn’t look old to me,” Dyma said. “He looks amazing, and he knows the Tao. What’s not to like? Haven’t you ever