Lucky Break (Lucky 3)

“What if I told you I can do better?” he asked, still playing along.

“I’d tell you to go for it.” Lauren barely recognized her own deep, husky voice.

She’d made her way over here on trembling legs, determined to check him out up close. Foolishly believing she could handle him. She’d thought that whatever impact he’d had on her in the past would have died. She’d been wrong. The man he’d become packed more of a punch than the boy he’d been. He blew her away and she needed time to process her reaction. Flirting with him was fun and safe behind the anonymity of the mask.

“So what’s a gorgeous woman like you doing at this small-town festival?” he asked as they moved up in the line.

She swallowed hard. “I’m just passing through,” she said, keeping her explanation deliberately vague.

“Lucky me.” The words rumbled from deep inside his chest, reaching down to her soul.

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nbsp; They’d made out, they’d kissed, and he’d taken her virginity. He’d been her first and she’d never forgotten him, not even when she’d tried to convince herself she had. She’d also never forgotten the pain of coming back here and finding him gone.

He extended his hand just as the band switched to Cher’s “Dark Lady.” “Dance with me.”

He didn’t ask.

He commanded, in a gruff tone that had seduction written all over it and had her experiencing the same tremors of excitement and anticipation she’d felt when she used to sneak from her grandmother’s house to meet him late at night.

And he spoke with the certainty she remembered when he talked about heading to Vail to show his skills to Bud Keene, his dream coach. Jason Corwin was a man who went after what he wanted with blind determination.

He held his hand out and waited.

It was one dance, she thought, and a chance to have his arms around her again.

She placed her hand in his.

He led her to the makeshift dance floor in the center of the field and swept her into his arms, gliding rhythmically to the soulful beat of the music.

His fingers intertwined with hers and his hard body did crazy things to her insides as he pulled her against his chest. Warmth seeped through her, heightening her senses. She tried to keep her emotions in the past and concentrate on the delicious sensations he created inside her.

Couples moved around them in a blurry haze but he was all she could see. And feel. They might as well have been in a world of their own. This spiraling need and sense of euphoria had been missing from her life. She’d come alive again, the yearning for him overwhelming.

The day she’d discovered Jason was gone, she’d sworn she’d never fall under any man’s spell. She ran through life at breakneck speed, never slowing down long enough to get to know anyone-man or woman-well, and she liked it that way. She didn’t need a shrink to tell her why. What was the point of letting another human being in when all they’d do was find her lacking the way her family had, or leave her behind when something more important beckoned. Men came and went from her life when she had time for sex or a short relationship.

Yet here was Jason again, bewitching and entrancing her. Erasing the memories of her sister and her family problems, overpowering her dislike of this town and her reasons for being here.

She hadn’t sought him out for this. She’d just wanted a glimpse of him. To see how he’d changed. But they’d locked gazes across the field and she hadn’t been in control of her emotions or her actions since.

“Tell me about yourself,” he said, bringing her back to earth as he swept her around, her feet barely brushing the dirt on the ground.

She tensed at his question. Too much. Too personal.

But his intent, curious eyes never left hers as he waited for her to answer.

“I’m just visiting. You?” she asked.

“I live here.” Without warning, he spun her around with the combination of grace and strength that had made him a successful athlete.

His strong thighs brushed against hers, hard and demanding, awakening needs only he’d ever aroused.

“I like your mask,” he said, his eyes focused on hers.

“Thank you. I like that you aren’t wearing one. It lets me see your face.” She wanted to trace the strong lines of his jaw, explore the stubble on his cheeks.

“I like what I can see of yours,” he said, his voice huskier than before. “What made you choose that color?” He touched the edge of her mask with his finger.