“Damn, it, Tina!”
“It was a night. That’s all it was. I don’t need his explanation why he cheated on his fiancée with me. I don’t need anything. I got just what I bargained for. A night of fun.” I pout.
Inside, though, I’m shredded.
The way he fucked me that morning, both of us sober, with all sorts of eye contact and softness? Totally different than the hot sex of the night before but just as good.
And then watching him move around his kitchen making breakfast for me? He was playful and cute. And he talked about going to the zoo on my next day off. I suggested volunteering there to help instead of paying to look at animals in cages. He kissed me hard and sweet at that.
I was stupid. I was stupid and giddy and then reality came crashing in, five foot nine and dressed to kill. She killed a fantasy I didn’t even know I had with one look at me.
I didn’t belong there.
And he was just what I originally thought he was. A player.
I get a text alert.
April reaches under me and grabs my phone.
“Hey!” I snap.
“It’s from him.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Too bad. I’m reading it to you.”
I cover my ears.
She reads anyway. And my hand earmuffs don’t work.
“Christina, that was my ex. We’ve been done for months. She has a friend at the bar who told her I took someone home. She caused that scene on purpose. Please answer my calls. If you don’t call back soon, I’ll have to pull out the big guns.”
I roll my eyes.
“See, Teeny?” April says. “He’s not engaged. That girl was just trying to sabotage so she could get him back.”
“It doesn’t matter. It was a sign. A sign that it’s not meant to be. I should’ve listened to my gut instinct. Should never have—”
“Had fun? Given yourself something good? You’re really starting to piss me off, Tina.” She stomps off saying, “I hope he does pull out the big guns. If you don’t let him shoot you with them, I’ll go out with him. That guy is a catch and a half. And you’re in position to catch him after he’s gotten all that wild out. You’re nuts if you don’t jump on that.”
I shrug. “Guess I’m nuts, then.”
It’s Saturday and I’m at the rec centre. I’m at the craft table with half a dozen kids, making Popsicle stick birdhouses. There’s music playing and the mood is jovial. This is a workshop that I’ve done the last two years, and it’s always fun to hang with the kids and watch them create.
Hunter walks in with a little girl, about six years old. He’s pushing her wheelchair.
What the fuck? It’s been a week; I thought he’d given up.
He pulls up to the table and parks her at the empty space.
Is she the missing kid on my list registered for this?
I look at my clipboard.
Skye Collins.
What?
I stand there frozen.
“Are you Christina?” she asks.
She’s adorable. She has the same hair and eyes as Hunter.
“I am,” I say. “And you’re…”
His daughter? Does he have a kid?
“Skye. Uncle Hunter told me that he likes you, but you don’t like him back. How come? He’s really nice!”
I blink twice and laugh nervously. Then my eyes lock with his.
“Big guns?” I ask.
He smiles smugly. “Big enough?”
Maybe.
“She needs her kit to get started. And her directions. You’re late,” a little girl Colleen, also in a wheelchair says. “I’ll help her, Miss Tina.”
“Thank you,” Hunter says to her.
“I’m Colleen. You’re cute.”
Hunter chuckles. “Can you tell Miss Tina I’m cute?”
Colleen looks at him like he’s got a screw loose.
“Or help Skye while I talk to Miss Tina for a sec?”
Colleen nods big and happily.
Frannie steps up. “Go. Staff room.”
I give her a quizzical look.
“Go,” she orders, smiling.
I rear back.
Hunter grabs my hand and tugs it, so I have no choice but to follow him to the staff room.
He shuts the door and leans against it, effectively trapping me.
“That was…” I rub my forehead, lost for words.
“The big guns.”
“Your niece…”
“Has spina bifida and autism. Yeah. So, I may have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth, yeah, and I may have had a wild youth and been wasteful, but I’ve also got direct experience with pain, heartache, and challenges. I see who you are and what you strive to do, and I respect it, Christina Rose. I also wanna give you plenty of reasons to smile. Will you go out for dinner with me tonight? I’ve got Skye until seven and then we can talk.”
I shake my head. “Hunter…”
“Christina, come on. Take a chance on me. Take a chance on a stupid guy who drives too fast, who spends too much, and who does stupid shit sometimes. I’m not perfect, but you’re lookin’ to make the world a better place, aren’t you? You could make the world a better place for us both by givin’ me a chance.”
I’m biting my lip.
“You wouldn’t wanna disappoint my little niece…”
“That’s fighting dirty.”
“It sure is.” He smiles. “But sometimes you gotta fight dirty.”
“What if you break my heart?”
“You take a chance every day that something good’ll happen when you go to a call for your job, don’t you? Do you head out with the lights flashin’ and sirens blazin’ expecting it to go wrong? Or do you go out there and do your best to make sure that it goes right?”
I roll my eyes.
“I’ll do my best to make sure this goes right, Christina.”
Hunter’s lips touch mine and a feeling comes over me that I’ve never felt before. He pulls back and I look into his deep brown eyes and see things. Beautiful things.
“Okay,” I whisper.
Because sometimes something happens out of the blue that’s meant to be.
Maybe I was meant to save Hunter’s life. And maybe that was so he could save me from being afraid to live mine to the fullest.
“Bistro Bleu?” he asks. “Tonight?”
I shake my head. “I’d prefer Spanish omelets cooked with love.”
About DD Prince
DD Prince is a Canadian multi-genre romance author who writes dark, dangerous, and addictive romances with alpha males, usually antiheroes. What’s your poison? Biker? Dark mafia? Vampire? Alphahole businessman? Hot alpha alien? Sexy wolf shifter? Keep up with DD and join her reader group at http://facebook.com/groups/ddprincefangroup for all sorts of book fun and shenanigans. Sign up for her free newsletter at: http://ddprince.com/newsletter-signup/.
Save Me!
Maria Vickers, Edited by Becky Swafford Baldridge