“I still want you,” she said. Her cheeks instantly heated. She took a sip of her drink and stared into it, swirling the ice in her glass. “But you’re going to keep right on turning me down, aren’t you?”
She felt so sorry for herself in that moment, so embarrassed to have put herself out there again only to be rejected.
“You’re not telling me the whole story,” he said.
“What do you want me to say? That I’m here because my divorce left me feeling like an old, dirty towel someone dropped on the floor and walked on? Because there it is. That’s the truth. And the truth isn’t always pretty. You strike me as the kind of guy who’s more interested in pretty.”
She searched his face for the pity she knew she would see there, but his expression was unreadable.
“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think,” he said.
He was so good-looking, his presence so big and grounding and endearing and sexy, if she added sensitive and understanding to the list, she’d be on her knees begging him to reconsider.
She put her empty glass down on the tray of a passing waitress. She had to get the hell out of here before she made even more of a fool out of herself. “Enough talking. I’m going to go to the nightclub. This girl needs to dance.”
8
Cowboy spentthe better part of the next hour watching Abby lose money playing blackjack at the table next to the prince and princess. He’d watched the royals all through dinner and the early evening so Abby could go to the spa, which meant he didn’t need to be here right now, and he kept thinking about Charlotte dancing.
“Hit me,” said Abby.
Cowboy frowned. “You have seventeen.”
“I’m trying to get twenty-one.”
“You suck at this game.”
The dealer flipped over the four of hearts and Abby gave a loud whoop. “I am great at this game.”
“You’re down more than four hundred bucks.”
“I’m going to get it all back, and more.”
He’d seen enough. “I’m going to head out. I’ll catch you in the morning.”
He left the casino telling himself he was headed back to his room, but that wasn’t where his feet were taking him. A walk, then. He’d just go for little walk around the deck before he turned in for the night.
He arrived at the nightclub, staring into the darkness and blue throbbing lights. Of course he was headed here. He’d been heading here the whole time. From the moment Charlotte walked out of the casino, all he could do was follow her. He needed to see her.
It wouldn’t go further than that.
Sure it won’t.
He entered the nightclub, picturing her body moving to the thump of the music and imagining he could take her up on her offer. Knowing how good it would feel to be with her.
She was larger-than-life in his mind, with her bold makeup and clothes that hugged her body, an odd mix of classy and trashy that drove him absolutely wild. The revealing plunge of her neckline and the tang of her perfume in the casino had nearly been his undoing.
He’d been about to kiss her when he pulled himself back. Now here he was following her, and he knew he’d left his better judgment at the door.
The music was loud, people standing at small tables and drinking out of glasses that glowed neon in the black lights.
Then he saw her.
She was on the dance floor, the wide stripes of her black and white dress fluorescing and disappearing in the darkness, making her knockout body look wrapped in strips of fabric. She had her eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the world around her as she circled her hips and raised her arms above her head.
He was already half hard and the floodgates opened, blood rushing to his cock. He stepped onto the dance floor, walking around her, taking in the sight of her from every angle before getting close enough to touch her shoulder.
Her eyes flew open, her knowing look arresting his stare. It was too loud for talking. She rested her hands on his chest and began to move to the music once more. He moved with her, a slow, seductive dance that had more in common with making love than dancing. He squeezed her hips, his fingers slipping over the silky fabric of her dress and digging into the curves of her warm, womanly body.
