Pushing His Luck - Rhyannon Byrd Page 0,14

night wore on, though, James drank more and more, which would have been fine, if she didn’t know he was planning on driving home at the end of the night. She wouldn’t judge that he liked to let loose on a Friday night, but the fact that he was doing it on their first date, no matter how casual it was—and when he was driving—didn’t sit well with her. At all.

“Hey, Karrrinnn,” he said as he walked over to her and Natalie. “You”—he paused to belch behind a fist—“need anything?”

I must be cursed when it comes to men, she thought, cringing at the way he was slurring nearly every word. “Thanks, James, but I’m good.”

He gave her a wide, sloppy-looking smile, his green eyes glazed. “Just give me a shout if you change your mind,” he said, then turned and headed back over to the group of guys he’d been drinking with. Somewhere along the way, he’d obviously decided that it was more fun to drink with his friends from work who had shown up than to hang out with her, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because she’d passed on doing shots with him. As she watched him slam back another one, she sighed, knowing she was going to have to ask Chris to help her out. No way in hell was she letting James get behind the wheel and cause an accident, and her cousin and Sophie were so focused on getting everyone fed, she wasn’t sure Chris had even clocked on to what was happening.

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed,” Natalie murmured in a wry drawl, “but your date seems to have devolved into a Jaeger-for-brains frat boy.”

“Trust me, I noticed.”

“What the hell was Chris thinking?”

She gave a baffled shrug. “I don’t think they’ve ever hung out much outside of work, so he probably didn’t realize just how hard the guy likes to party.”

“Still, as douchey as he’s turned out to be, there was one good thing to come out of the set-up.”

She arched a brow as she looked over at Nat. “What’s that?”

Natalie smirked. “Did you see the look on Paul’s face when he saw James sitting with you?” she asked with a wicked laugh, her dark eyes shining with satisfaction. “I love the guy, but he deserved the metaphorical ‘kick in the balls’ that he got from seeing you with another man.” Nat frowned as she looked back over at James, who had his arm thrown over one of his friend’s shoulders, the two of them drunkenly singing along to the CCR song that was playing on the radio. “It’s just too bad that James has the maturity level of a teenage jock.”

She sighed, wishing she were more disappointed that the date hadn’t worked out. But… God, the sad truth was that she was feeling a huge, frustrating wave of relief at the way the evening had gone. And the reason for that relief was the tall, gorgeous, tattooed cop who was working his way so deeply under her skin, she was starting to think she wouldn’t ever be able to get rid of him.

And, damn it, she was no longer even sure that she wanted to.

She’d have never thought it was possible, after the horrible way that Paul had acted, but the surprising reality of the situation was that his texts were getting to her, each one revealing more of his sometimes wry, often charming, undeniably fascinating personality.

It was crazy to admit it—even in the privacy of her own head—but he was getting to her. Every hot, rugged, mouthwatering inch of him.

And that right there was the main reason she’d agreed to meet James tonight. If ever there was a woman who needed a serious distraction, it was her.

Reaching for her glass of wine, Karin had just started to take a sip when she suddenly shivered with a warm, vibrant wave of awareness that swept all the way down to her sand-covered toes—and she knew, before she even turned her head in his direction, that Paul was finally moving toward her. The hard set of his jaw when she looked his way told her he wasn’t happy, even as his beautiful blue eyes did a hot, appreciative sweep of her chest, the hunger in his gaze making it clear that he loved the silk, bronze-colored blouse she’d paired with dark denim shorts and sandals. She’d curled her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders in soft waves, and had used an