Stroke of Luck - Opal Carew Page 0,4

her.

Austin and Quinn both sat down, April across from Austin and kitty-corner to his friend.

The waitress set a third menu on the table for their unexpected guest.

“What would you like to drink?” she asked.

“I’ll just have a water, please,” April said.

“I’ll have a Guinness,” Quinn said.

“Certainly, sir.” The waitress left to retrieve their drinks.

April opened the menu and glanced through it nervously. When the waitress had called her by name, he’d assumed that she was also an elite guest at the hotel, but she was behaving as if she wasn’t sure if she could afford to eat here.

“How do you two know each other?” Austin asked, though he’d already begun to speculate that this might be the woman.

“We went out together in college,” she said.

Austin’s interest flared.

“We dated briefly,” Quinn added. “It wasn’t serious.”

Aha. She was the woman.

Quinn’s heart had been broken by someone back then, and Austin knew he’d never gotten over her, even though Quinn would deny that adamantly. That’s why Quinn diminished the relationship now, because he wanted to believe it was nothing. But he could never fool Austin.

“It’s nice that you two ran into each other in the hotel. What are you doing in Vegas, April?”

April gazed up from her menu and shifted uneasily.

The waitress arrived with their drinks, and he wondered why his question had made her uncomfortable.

“Are you ready to order?” the waitress asked with a smile.

Austin glanced to April, but she had her head buried in the menu.

“I’ll have the prime rib sandwich,” Austin said, “and the house salad.”

“I’ll have the same,” Quinn said.

They all turned their gazes to April.

Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink as she lifted her gaze from the menu.

“I’ll … uh … just have a small side salad. I’m not very hungry.”

“Nonsense,” Quinn said, a tad impatiently. He glanced at the menu again. “Here, I think you’ll like the seafood linguine they have on special today. Or maybe the salmon steak with dill sauce.” He turned to the waitress. “By the way, put Ms. Smith’s meal on our tab.”

Hesitantly, she agreed to the linguine, and Quinn ordered a bottle of white wine for the table.

“I didn’t expect you to pay for my lunch,” April murmured to Quinn once the waitress was gone.

“I invited you. Of course I’ll pay for it.” Quinn glanced at Austin. “She’s embarrassed because she had a slight mishap with her credit card, but I straightened things out for her.”

“He paid my hotel bill,” she murmured, staring at the lemon floating in her water glass.

Austin’s gaze caught on Quinn’s, and his friend’s exasperated expression told him that Quinn had been trying to spare her that embarrassment.

“It’s fortunate that you ran into each other when you did. It’s nice to be able to help a friend in need.” Austin sipped his beer. “So you were going to tell me why you’re here in Vegas this weekend.”

She compressed her lips. “I came here to get married. Today is my wedding day.”

Quinn glanced her way, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Really?” Austin asked, his eyebrows arching. “Is it an evening wedding, or should I ask the waitress to put a rush on lunch?” he added in a teasing tone.

She bit her lip as she twirled the engagement ring on her finger.

“I meant it was supposed to be my wedding day. In fact, it was supposed to be happening right now. But last night … at the rehearsal dinner…” She sucked in a breath. “I caught him with another woman.”

“By with another woman, you mean dancing? Kissing?” Quinn asked.

She shook her head. “He was … excuse my French … fucking her. I caught them doing it.”

Although the situation was tragic, Austin had to stifle a chuckle at the quaintness of her excusing herself from using the word fucking. In fact, he found everything about her completely charming, and the devilish side of him imagined her in bed, naked, using the word fuck in the most imaginative ways while begging him to give her pleasure.

Whoa, what the hell am I doing? If this was Quinn’s lost love, there’s no way he should be thinking of her like that. No matter how delightfully attractive he found her.

Even if Quinn didn’t have lingering feelings for her, the fact that they’d dated meant she was totally out of bounds. Austin would never do anything to jeopardize his friendship with Quinn.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Austin said.

* * *

Quinn’s stomach clenched. What a fucking idiot the guy was.

“Then this morning, he canceled my credit