Worth the Risk_ A Contemporary - Megan Hart Page 0,82

inbox.

The first two were advertisements.

The third was from Connex.

The smile on her face didn’t seem out of place as she slid into her office chair. She’d been waiting for him to reply. She logged in to her account and clicked on the message. No subject. No salutation, no signature. Four words that slammed lust into her so hard her breath left her in an audible whoosh and her fingers clenched on the mouse so hard it fell, dangling by its cord, off the mousepad.

You looked good tonight.

It had been him, there in the corner, that ghost, that phantom from her past. She reached for the mouse and settled it back on top of Keanu’s sunglass-covered eyes. Before she could respond to the message, the Connex chat button blinked.

Someone was messaging her, and it could only be one person.

erectorset1241: That was you at the Cadillac Grille, wasn’t it?

shesewsbuttons: That was me. She paused before typing again. I thought that was you, but I wasn’t sure.

erectorset1241: Your picture didn’t lie. You haven’t changed.

shesewsbuttons: Neither have you.

She waited for him to write something else. Nothing. Her heartbeat had just begun to slow and her hands stop shaking when the next words appeared in the small message window.

erectorset1241: Your husband is a lucky man.

Her husband? Arden shook her head, brow furrowed, then realized. Shane thought Philip was her husband. And why wouldn’t he? He’d never met Jason. Had no idea Jason had died. She hadn’t changed her Connex status to “widow” or even “single”, and there were no photos beyond the one she used as her avatar. And how like Shane to send her a provocative email and follow it up with a latenight IM, even though he thought he’d just seen her with her husband. Typically arrogant and bold...but damn, so very, very sexy.

shesewsbuttons: That wasn’t my husband.

The blinking cursor mocked her. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she prepared to tell him she’d been on a date, but he replied before she had the chance.

erectorset1241: Then you should be more careful.

She scowled and sat back, staring at the screen. He was trying to be witty, she could guess that, but also had no trouble imagining the undercurrent of truth to his words. She thought of their last exchange, a heated volley of words that had left her shaking with the same sort of anger she felt now.

I wasn’t sneaking around, she typed back so fiercely she misspelled sneaking twice before she got it right. I was on a date.

Then a moment later: Divorced?

“Wouldn’t you love to hear that?” she muttered. Tears stung her eyes and the computer screen blurred for a moment.

shesewsbuttons: My husband died.

There. In black-and-white, the words looked harsher than if she’d said them quietly, or shouted them. Written that way, there could be no other way to say it. Died. Dead. She was a widow.

She imagined him squirming in his chair, embarrassed at his faux pas, but knew that was a false picture. He wouldn’t care if he’d put his foot in his mouth. Not Shane Donner, cool as ice, smooth as silk.

erectorset1241: I’m sorry. I didn’t know.

Sorry? Arden rubbed her mouth, which wanted to frown, and scrubbed her eyes, which still wanted to cry. That was unexpected. Her anger faded. He couldn’t have known about Jason.

shesewsbuttons: Lymphoma. Almost two years ago.

erectorset1241: I’m sorry.

shesewsbuttons: Me too.

He didn’t reply for so long she thought he’d signed off. Just before she pushed her chair away and started up to bed, the next message came up.

erectorset1241: You were on a date?

shesewsbuttons: Yes.

erectorset1241: Your boyfriend?

shesewsbuttons: No. Just a date. Our first one.

erectorset1241: You looked pretty cozy.

She blushed, feeling the heat painting her cheeks. She refused to let him make her feel that way. She typed without censoring herself.

shesewsbuttons: My friend Lida set us up. She thought it would be good for me to get laid.

erectorset1241: !

That single exclamation point said more than a paragraph could have. Arden laughed, imagining his face. She’d shocked him. A first.

erectorset1241: You should have called me.

shesewsbuttons: I don’t have your number.

Oops, that was a little lie. She did have his number, right there on his Connex page. But she wasn’t angry anymore. She was itchy again, anticipating how he’d respond. What he’d say. How he’d flirt.

erectorset1241: You could have emailed me.

shesewsbuttons: Oh, right. What should I have said? Hi, Shane, how are you? Want to come over and fuck?

She sat back and watched the screen, aware her breath was coming faster and her throat was dry with