She cleared her throat.“I think the tequila is working.”
“Well, hell, let’s get you a margarita to chase the shots.”Gina spun to the bartender.A moment later, she handed the drink to Alana.
Alana raised the drink to her lips and murmured.“He’s headed this way.”
“I’ll just exit stage left and leave you two alone,” Gina said.“I’m leaving my margarita with you.Either drink it too or offer it to your next friend with benefits.”
“Don’t you leave me.”Alana started to reach for Gina’s hand, but she’d already darted out of range, landing at the far end of the bar, smiling at a man wearing a wife-beater muscle shirt and several layers of gold chains draped around his neck.“Oh, Gina.Be careful.”
Incoming hot guy headed straight for the barstool on the other side of Alana.
She spun around, afraid he’d catch her staring far too long.
Once he slid onto the stool, he grinned at the bartender.“Una margarita,por favor.Make it a big one.I’m here to celebrate.”
Alana, feeling the effects of the tequila, turned toward the man.“Celebrating?”
He nodded.
“Me, too,” she said and shoved Gina’s untouched margarita toward the guy.“Have one on me.”
His brow wrinkled.“Isn’t that your friend’s drink?”
Alana nodded toward Gina at the other end of the bar.“She left it for me, but I’m not quite up to two-fisted drinking yet.”
His eyes narrowed.“How do I know you didn’t spike it?”
“I’ll drink some to prove it.”She lifted the glass, took a big enough swallow and slowly licked the salt from her lip.“Mmm.So good.”Who was this woman, sexy-flirting with a complete stranger?
The kind who has been dumped at the altar and needed a good ego-fuck to remind her of her own worth.
“When you put it like that…” He reached for the drink.
Their hands touched, sending a bolt of electricity through Alana despite the numbing tequila.
He raised the glass.“To new beginnings.”
“That’s right.Out with the old and in with the new.”She touched her glass to his and drank.As she lowered the glass, the band started playing a sensuous salsa.The man had all the right looks.So had Vance, though this stranger was bigger, broader and more rugged, not polished.Much better than Vance.One of Vance’s negative traits was that he refused to dance.She met and held his gaze.“How do you feel about dancing?”
“I come from Irish stock on my mother’s side.We believe in dancing.If you do it right, it’s like making love with your clothes on.”He winked.
Heat rose up her chest and down to her groin.“Can you salsa?”
“I’ve done a little.”
She drank a big swallow of her margarita and then held out her hand.“Come on.I’ll teach you everything I know and bumble through the rest.”
“Now that’s an offer I can’t refuse.”He took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor, twirled her around and stepped right into a sexy, sassy salsa.
Alana’s head spun with each twirl.She laughed and danced with the hottest man in the bar, thanking her lucky stars Vance had skipped out on their wedding.He and Kinsley deserved each other.And Alana deserved a greatun-honeymoon with a man whose name she didn’t know, who was hotter than Vance and could dance.The night was definitely shaping up into an epic experience she wouldn’t soon forget.
Chapter1
Persistent light knifedthrough the slits of Chase Flannigan’s eyelids, bringing him back to consciousness with a jolt.Pain pounded through his temples, his left cheekbone stung and one of his ribs hurt every time he took a breath.
He opened one eye and immediately closed it.The light was blindingly bright.He couldn’t remember the light shining this brightly into his bedroom before.Easing open his eyelid again, he stared up at a ceiling fan with blades in the shape of palm leaves.
What the hell?Must have been a helluva brawl.
