As we turned off the main strip toward the hotel we’d called home for the past week, I snuck a peek at Brianna in the passenger seat. As much as I wanted to ignore her presence at my side, it was impossible, not with the way her subtle floral perfume filled my car. How did this woman pull me in so easily? Was it because she’d been off-limits before we met, or was it something about her?
Brianna stared out the window, almost consciously trying to keep a wall up between us. Even after drinking for most of the night, she sat straight up in the chair, as if someone had placed a taut spring along her spine. Sheneeded to relax, to breathe, but I wasn’t close enough to her to say anything.
Hell, this was the first time we’d been alone together, and I practically had to force her into my car. Which was surprising to me. I’d tried not to make assumptions, but experience had taught me that if I offered a woman a ride home, she’d usually make a move on me.
As I hit the turn signal, I turned my head to check for oncoming traffic, but got caught up, staring at Brianna. The streetlights highlighted her sad smile. There was an extra edge to her, one I hadn’t noticed when we first met. Jaded—like life had done a number over the past few months.
She sighed and shifted toward me, her short brown hair spreading out over the headrest. “I’m guessing this isn’t how you wanted your night to turn out.”
No, it was not, but for the first time in a long time, I was okay with leaving the bar early. Celebrating with a new woman in my bed would have been fun, but lately, I’d woken up too many times with an emptiness inside my chest. No matter how many beautiful women traipsed into my life, it never seemed to fill, and each one-night stand only made it burrow deeper.
I cleared my throat, burying those emotions before smirking at Brianna. “Hanging out with a beautiful girl like you? I’ve had worse endings.”
Brianna shook her head, hiding a slight smile under a lock of hair. I’d seen that look before—doubt and a little self-loathing. My jaw tensed, and I hated the darkness that wafted off her. “Once, when I was a rookie, a bunch of the guys pulled a prank on me. Took my clothes when I was in the shower and removed all the towels from the clubhouse. Had to runthrough the stadium naked, covering my goods with part of the mascot’s costume.”
“And you drove back to the hotel like that?”
“Yup.” I grinned. “Walked right on the team bus and plopped down next to the coach. He almost had a heart attack right then and there.”
Brianna let out a soft laugh, covering her mouth as her giggles dissolved in hiccups. I reached behind her and grabbed a spare water bottle from my bag in the backseat, twisting off the cap before handing it over to her. She gave a grateful smile before taking a sip, holding the bottle in her hands afterwards.
“So,” I said as I stole a glance over at her. “Gonna tell me what happened to the ring?”
“What ring?”
I smirked. “You know which one, Bri.”
Brianna’s head snapped toward me. Her pouty lips dropped open as she covered her bare finger. “I’m surprised you noticed.”
“I’m getting a little insulted here. We spent a day together, and you think I didn’t pay attention to you?”
“Not really.” There was no resentment in her voice, just cold fact. “It was just one day, Damien.”
“You’ve also been to some of my games.”
“True.” She shook her head. “But it’s not like we’re friends or anything. I didn’t think you remembered my name.”
“Proved you wrong on that one.” I winked at her, relishing the subtle color that filled her cheeks. “But we have a lot of friends in common, so maybe this is a good chance to change that.”
Brianna’s face furrowed as she glanced over at me, as if trying to read my intentions. When I kept the amiablesmile on my face, she sighed. “What do you want to know?”
“When you lost the ring.”
She laughed. “You have a one-track mind.”
You have no idea.
There was no reason for me to be so curious. Besides my rule about not messing around with married women, there was no reason for me to be so curious about the end of Brianna’s marriage. I should have let it go, but curiosity got the best of me, and I needed to know more about what happened.
Brianna sighed and turned toward the window, speaking more to the darkness than to me. “If you must know, I got divorced. We finalized it three months ago. In fact, I changed my name back to Sideris, so Mrs. Collier is no more.”
Fuck. That was recent. I tried to read her tone, but she gave nothing away. “How are you holding up?”
“As good as I can, I guess.”
“Can I ask what happened?”
“Lots of little things,” she answered. “We’d been drifting apart for years, but the nail in the coffin was when I walked in on him jerking off on a video chat with his assistant. I told him I was done, and he just nodded, told me his lawyer would contact mine, and moved in with the same woman. Turns out, they’d been having an affair for almost a year, and now that we’re officially divorced, they’re getting married.” Brianna laughed, but it held no warmth. “Aren’t you glad you asked?”
