Worth the Risk_ A Contemporary - Megan Hart Page 0,56

it again," Laila admitted.

Hal shook his head. "Laila, I was coming back to talk to you. I decided I'd run out on you once, and I wasn't going to do it again."

She didn't want to move, but the pavement was cold and the garbage none too fragrant. "Hal--"

But he interrupted her. "This is how we first met. Maybe...maybe we can start again. I'm Hal Kessler."

"I'm Laila Alster," Laila said. "And I'm pleased to meet you."

They needed no more introduction than that because then he pulled her mouth to his for a kiss made even sweeter for how long she'd thought about having it.

Life with Hal would mean a lot of falling, Laila thought as together they hobbled to the streetlamp's glow.

Falling in love.

Bachelor Number Four

Chapter 1

“I swear, I love my husband, but sometimes I just want to kill him.”

Utter silence filled the room that only moments before had been filled with the sounds of laughter and crunching popcorn. Barb, the woman who’d spoken, flushed. Arden Walsh froze with a chocolate sandwich cookie halfway to her mouth as every face in the room turned toward her. Did they want her to say something? Do something? She forced herself to eat the cookie as Lida, bless her, reached for the remote and rewound the scene, then used the remote to zoom in on the luscious backside displayed on the TV.

“Ewan McGregor has the finest ass in the universe, I swear. He wouldn’t even have to knock on my door. He wouldn’t even have to knock on the door. I’d catch him while he was still standing in the driveway.”

The room rocked with laughter. While moments before the continuous chuckling and innuendo-filled comments had sounded sincere, now they rang false. No wonder, Arden thought, turning her determined attention toward the film, which sadly was no longer showing naked male booty. What kind of downer was a widow on Ladies’ Night anyway?

“I need another drink. Anyone else?” She got up from the plaid couch and looked around brightly, ice cubes clinking in her glass.

A chorus of “No” greeted her, and she was glad because that meant she could take the trip to the kitchen by herself, eyes burning with unshed tears, throat clogged so tight she wouldn’t have been able to make small talk had she tried. In Lida’s disorderly kitchen she found the pitcher of sangria and filled her glass. She didn’t really want the booze. It made her melancholy. She swirled the soggy fruit around in the bottom of the glass for a moment before dumping it down the sink. She’d be better off with diet soda.

Rooting around in the freezer, Arden took the time to press a handful of ice against her eyes. The cubes burned, but not as badly as the tears had. At least that pain stopped when she took the ice away.

“Cucumbers work better for that than cubes.” Lida parked her butt at the kitchen table to scoop up a chip full of taco dip. “Mmm. Man, this stuff is fabulous. Try some.”

Arden shook her head and sipped from the soda.

Lida tilted her head. “Barb didn’t mean what she said out there. At least...she didn’t mean to say it in front of you.”

“I know.” Arden sighed and looked back into the living room, where the ladies were now hooting and hollering over a scene featuring another naked celebrity. “Don’t worry about it. I think they felt worse about her saying it than I did.”

“You’re missing the movie.”

“Yeah, which is sad, since it’s the closest I’ve been to a naked male behind in a long time. I know.” Arden tried to shrug her comment off, but it came out sounding too sad.

Lida let out one of her throaty, delightful laughs that had always made men’s toes curl. “Whose fault is that?”

Arden shook her head, emptied her glass in a hasty swallow and poured another. “Last I saw, Ewan wasn’t riding his motorcycle up and down Main Street.”

“You need to be a little more realistic.”

Arden fixed her eyes on her friend’s. “Lida, you know that’s not going to happen.”

“Why not? You’re young. You’re gorgeous. You’re available.”

Again, Arden sighed. She helped herself to some of the spicy dip and followed it with a swig of cola. “That’s...that’s not really part of my life any more.”

“When’s the last time you had sex with something other than Mr. Jolly?”

Arden spluttered and laughed. “Mr. Jolly?”

“Or whatever you call yours.” Lida grinned slyly. “I call mine The Joystick. What can I say? Bill’s out of