Chapter 2

Addison

If there was ever a night in my life when I could’ve used a blindfold and earplugs, it was as I stood in O’Paddy’s bar witnessing the hellish experience that was my first rugby after-party.

“What in the hell is this fuckery?” my best friend, McKenna, slurred, while her fourth rum and Coke in an hour spilled over the rim of her glass and onto the floor.

“How about you tell me?” I moved to sit on the stool I’d been leaning against, then propped my elbows back against the bar. “Since you’re the one who chose this bar in the first place. Remember?” Scowling, I took a sip of my beer, ignoring her huff from my left. As the cool liquid slid down my throat, I scanned the massive display of male thighs on the dance floor just a few feet away.

One. Two. Three… At least fifteen pairs, by my count, all covered in matching black shorts that barely covered their goods. White numbers and the words Carinthia Irish Rugby were written across the backs of the guys’ green-striped jerseys. Eyes narrowed, I watched them shifting and thrusting their hips to the rhythm of their strange chant while each of them took a turn speaking a line. Some appeared to be about my father’s age, others fresh out of college—and every one of them looked as sexy and fierce as the next.

“That sure is a lot of man,” I whispered, my throat going dry as I took in the sexpot in the center of it all. His hands were massive, clinging to the thighs of a tiny blond sitting squarely on his shoulders.

“That’s a lot of cock, you mean.”

I shrugged, not denying McKenna’s observation as my gaze did a quick foot-to-neck perusal of the middle man I’d deemed Number Six—since that’s what his jersey said.

Blondie swayed and giggled as he spun her around in a circle, and with both hands gripped tight in his crazy, black hair, she yanked hard, hollering out “Giddyap, cowboy.” The team, along with Six, laughed and continued reciting their lines and shoving one another in their drunken stupors.

“Maybe I need one of those to get my mind off Paul.” McKenna plopped down on the stool next to mine and laid her blond head on my shoulder.

“No. What you need is to go to Maine with your brother and sister-in-law and find some inner peace. Maybe avoid men altogether. Then when you come back, you’ll have a fresh perspective and—”

A sandy-haired Duhamel-meets-Tatum hottie smacked into the side of her seat.

“Oh shit,” Kenna squealed, tipping forward off the stool.

Sucked out of my therapist mode, I shoved the drunk asshole back and reached for Kenna’s hand to help her up. “You okay?”

With a glare pointed in my direction, Duhamel-Tatum pushed my hand away, playing the knight-in-black-rugby-shorts to Kenna. In a matter of seconds, she was on her feet, leaning against his large body like it was her newest lifeline. Her eyes widened as she took him in, black lashes batting against her cheeks in awe. I sighed. Her new plan to avoid men seemed null and void already. Not that I could blame her; Rude Man was gorgeous.

I turned away to give her a moment to recover—and flirt. Another half hour was all she had left on my watch. She was already three-quarters of the way past plastered and one-quarter of the way from full-on shit-faced and puking on her favorite Jimmy Choos. And for me to let her puke on her nine-hundred-dollar shoes would be a friendship fail.

Brokenhearted or not, McKenna needed an intervention when it came to the opposite sex…and quite possibly with rum too.

With curiosity being my biggest downfall, I took another second to search for Number Six out on the dance floor. When I found him, his back was still to me, and I sighed, regretting that I couldn’t see his face.

At well over six feet, the guy was massively built—with a firm backside and nice calves to boot. Whether he was ex-military, a professional athlete, or just lucky to be blessed with muscular perfection, I didn’t know. In any case, I’d have bet my left boob his face was gorgeous with a capital G.

The rugby team’s weird chanting continued around us, but Kenna’s giggle was capturing my attention. Turning, I found her petting Mr. Hottie’s chest. But for the first time in all the years we’d been running around together, the guy she had her sights set on wasn’t taking the bait.

Interesting.

After the blond on Number Six’s shoulders was dropped to the floor, despite the numerous groans from nearly every man in the room, he disappeared into the crowd like a ghost—unreal, untouchable even. Kind of like any man I found attractive nowadays. Bumping into my shoulder, Kenna—sans man and with frown on her face—turned her attention to the rugby crew like I’d done. “You ready? I’m not going to find what I need here tonight, sadly. I mean, where’s a good lay when you need it, huh?” She frowned, eyes squinted into drunken slits.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think what you need is here anyway. Trust me.” I patted the back of her hand, pulling her toward the door.

“Don’t coddle me, Addie. I’m not a child,” she mumbled, tilting, tilting, tilting some more…

“Whoa.” I grabbed her around the waist, yanking her to my side. “I’m not coddling you. I’m protecting you.” My voice cracked. “You asked me not to let you do anything stupid tonight, remember? Taking home some random drunk in a bar qualifies as stupid.”

“Fine.” She sniffled, wiping at the wet mascara now dripping down her cheeks. “We’ll go.” Side-by-side, we fumbled our way forward, Kenna’s eyelids drooping with every step we took. The girl was breaking my heart. Her stupid ex-boyfriend… If I had it in me to murder someone, he’d be my first victim.

“I’ll make us hot fudge sundaes and put something funny on for us to watch at your house, okay?”

She nodded, wiping at her damp cheeks some more. “No chick flicks, right?”

My chest tightened. “Of course no chick flicks. I promise.”

“Wait.” She froze, eyes widening. “Gotta pee, first.” Her mood shifted as she spun around.

“Do you need any help?” I asked.

Swaying to the left, she propped herself against the wall, red dress rising high on her thighs. “Gotta be strong. Paul said I’m weak. Weak girls go to the bathroom with their friends. I’m not weak.”

She wouldn’t let this go, not with the mention of him, so I nodded and curled my toes inside my boots so I wouldn’t follow. “Fine. But if you’re not back in five, I’m coming in after you,” I called after her over the now-blaring music.

Rubbing my hand over my forehead, I sighed. If only I’d had enough guts to keep her home tonight in the first place. I loved her to pieces—wanted her to be happy more than anything else—but this wasn’t the way to go about it.

Not that I was an expert in dealing with issues myself. I had a crap ton of them that I’d been avoiding like the plague lately. For one, I only had three weeks to go until my rent was due, yet I was also two days into being jobless. The preschool where I’d been working had shut its doors with no explanation, leaving me and twenty other women SOL. I would never ask McKenna for a loan. And my parents? They’d all but forgotten I existed, so that option was out.

Still…I was twenty-six years young. A strong, savvy woman with a four-year college degree under my belt. There was no doubt in my mind that I could find another job…eventually. And so what if I had to use what was left of my meager savings to pay next month’s rent? That’s what it was there for. Emergencies. I’d get through this. I had no other choice.

Needing to keep myself busy as I waited for Kenna, I jerked on my coat and planted myself in an empty chair just around the corner from the bathrooms. Setting my wallet and elbows on the table, I longed for a genie to grant me a wish—an IV drip of coffee so I could somehow manage to stay up late tonight to update my résumé and send it to places that bordered my hometown of Carinthia. With the school year already in session, I was screwed when it came to finding a job in any of the neighboring school systems, but I was a planner in need of a plan.

What I needed right this moment, though, was to find something that would bring in a steady stream of cash to pay for my rent, my living expenses, and the last of my student loans.

After standing in line at the unemployment office all day and scouring the internet for hours the night before, I’d almost given up. Until the moment I clicked on an ad for a hostess at a local waffle house. Part-time hours, decent pay… It was promising and could, hopefully, get me through a few more months. It was also the first local job that appealed to me. Sure, I had a degree in early childhood education, but when you lived in a small town like Carinthia, with one elementary school and now only one daycare, the options were limited.

Just when I was ready to go looking for Kenna, a voice interrupted my musings—all deep and hoarse—sending a bout of goose bumps up and down my arms.

Voice porn. That’s exactly what it sounded like.

“You do realize its eighty-some degrees in here, right?”

I grabbed my wallet and set it on my lap. But when I attempted to swivel around in my chair to face him, he—whoever he was—placed his hands on the table along either side of my waist, keeping me from moving.

I stiffened, readying my elbow to drive back into his gut. “What are you doing?”

“Saying hello.” Warm breath caressed my cheek as he lowered his chin to my shoulder. Not touching, but just enough to crowd me. The scent of beer and aftershave invaded my senses, and I couldn’t help but inhale, latching on to the scent with all sorts of shame. A still-faceless creeper should not make my tummy tumble like an overloaded dryer.

God, I needed to get some even more than Kenna did.

“Well, you said your hello. Now say your goodbye. I’m not interested.”

I dragged my gaze down his arms, eyes widening at the sight of his hands.

Strong fingers. Fingers with nails as clean as my own. The same set of fingers I’d seen wrapped around the thighs of the girl on the dance floor.

Oh God. Of all the guys to approach me, it had to be this one?

“Can’t help myself,” he whispered. “How about I help you out of this coat?” I tightened my hold on my wallet as his hand grazed the lapel of my jacket.

“Do you happen to know what personal space is?” I gritted my teeth, warm, yummy smell be damned.

“Hmm…” Tugging a section of my hair away from my shoulder, he trailed one of his fingers down my arm until his fingers were back on the table. “Not when there are pretty ladies like you—”

“Save it.” I shivered, warning bells dinging inside my head. “I don’t do strangers at the bar.”

“Neither do I. Lucky for you I’m just looking for some conversation.”

I highly doubted that. “I don’t have time for a chat. Now if you’ll excuse me”—I stood and nudged one of his arms out of my way, ignoring the rattle of laughter against my shoulder—“I need to go find my friend.” I glanced around him toward the bathroom, avoiding his gaze.

“What does your friend look like?” He cleared his throat, sexy voice gone and all business as he moved to sit on the other chair at the table. Was it my imagination, or did he sound nervous?

Still, it wasn’t any of his business, but… “She’s blond, real tall, skinny, red dress. Drunk off her ass.”

“Ah. One of those, huh?” He sighed, the sound all high and mighty—knowing too. I hated self-righteous men more than any other kind. “Need help looking for her?”

“If that’s some kind of skeezy pickup line to try to get me alone, then…” I blinked, hating myself for failing in my attempt to stay composed when I finally met his dark gaze.

Holy. Hell. This man took gorgeousness to another level—to orgasmic at first sight. Blue eyes, dark hair, dark brows, pink lips, and…dimples?

Damn, damn, double damn. Why’d there have to be dimples involved?

“Not that desperate, sweetheart. Trust me.” He scowled.

Ah, so it would seem Number Six was easily offended.

“Sorry. That came out wrong.” I shrugged one shoulder, not really sorry at all.

His lips twitched. “That so?”

I nodded, needing to avoid looking into his eyes. But the alternative was his mouth, which was gorgeous too. Or his chest, which was big and bulky and…

Who was I kidding? This man was straight-up eye candy all over.

“You’re forgiven.” He winked before grabbing my hand. “Now, follow me.”

“What are you doing?” I dug my heels into the floor as he tried to pull me along behind him.

“Finding your friend.”

“I’m perfectly capable of finding her on my own, thank you.”

He pursed his lips. “No denying that.” He glanced back at the bar. “But it looks to me like your friend needs more help than you can give her.”