Chapter Three

We decided to stop at a diner down the road from the hotel for some breakfast.

I placed my drink order first. “I’ll have a nonfat three-pump vanilla latte, low foam and extra hot.”

Chance squinted his eyes at me and turned to the waitress. “Did you get all that? She’ll have a hot two-pump chump with extra cream.”

Bertha—as her nametag indicated—didn’t look a bit amused. “We just have coffee, decaf or regular,” she said monotonously, holding a carafe.

“I’ll take a black coffee then.”

“Make it two,” he said.

She poured it into our cups. “I’ll be back to take your order.”

Chance was laughing at me as he shook a sugar packet.

I crossed my arms. “What’s so funny?”

“You.”

“What about me?”

“Did you really think you could order your frou-frou drink in a place like this?”

“Who doesn’t have lattes? Even McDonald’s has them!”

“We’ll get you a latte and a Happy Meal for dinner then—with a little toy inside. Will that make you happy?”

Shaking my head, I perused the menu. There was nothing here that I could eat. “Everything is so greasy.”

“Mmm. Bacon. A little fat once in a while won’t kill you.”

“I’ve already had my monthly allowance of fat…the chicken bites from yesterday.”

“Monthly allowance?”

“Yes. One cheat meal a month.” I sighed. “There is not one healthy thing on here. I seriously don’t know what to get.”

“No worries. I’ll order for you.”

“What? No.”

Chance lifted his finger. “Bertha, babe? We’re ready over here.”

God, he even had the ability to make that mean waitress blush.

“What’ll it be?”

He pointed to the menu. “I’ll have this dish you call heart attack on a platter. She’s just gonna have an order of plain rye toast, hold the butter.”

“Comin’ right up.”

“All I’m going to be having is dry toast?”

“No. You’ll be eating off my plate in no time. You just haven’t realized it yet. The toast is merely my way of showing you that you don’t really want the things you say you do. And many of the things you deem bad are really those that—deep down—you want the most.”

“Oh, really…”

“I see through you. The harder you try to be good, the more you’re starving to be bad. Not only are you going to eat some of my greasy food, but you’re going to eat it with my cock sauce all over it and love it.”

“Excuse me? Your what?”

Chance bent his head back in laughter before unzipping the pocket to his jacket. He slammed a small plastic bottle down on the table. It had a rooster on the front.

“Cock sauce. Also known as Sriracha—a Thai chili sauce. I never travel anywhere without it.”

Bertha brought over an oval plate piled high with scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage links, bacon, Canadian ham and corned beef hash. She placed it in front of Chance before handing me the small plate of toast.

He wasted no time squirting lines of the red sauce across the top of his food. He dug in, watching me as I looked at him.

Staring him down, I crunched my toast in an exaggerated bite, determined to keep myself from wanting any of it. Admittedly, I was famished.

To prevent myself from looking at the plate, I pried my eyes upward, focusing on his baseball cap. He’d bought it at the hotel gift shop and was wearing it backwards. It was a good look, really worked for him with his hair sticking out of the sides. A ray of sun streamed through the window of our booth, accentuating number thirteen blue again.

Damn.

His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “You know you want it, Aubrey.”

Huh? Did he catch me checking him out, or was he talking about the food?

He cut a sausage link in half and attempted to feed me with his fork as he flashed a sexy smirk. “Come on. Just one piece.”

It smelled spicy…and delicious. Unable to resist, I opened my mouth and let him feed it to me. “Mmm,” I said as I chewed the juicy link slowly, closing my eyes and savoring every bite. When I opened my lids, Chance’s gaze was fixated on my lips.

“You want more?” he whispered huskily.

Saliva gathered in my mouth. “Yes.”

This time, he lifted a piece of bacon and fed it to me from his hand. I hated to admit it, but he was right about that sauce. It was so good on everything.

“More?”

I licked my lips. “Yeah.”

Chance fed me three more bites. When I let out a moan, he dropped his fork, and it made a loud clanking sound. “Jesus Christ. The food is good. But it’s not that good.”

My mouth was disgustingly full. “What do you mean?”

“When was the last time you were really good and rooted?”

“Rooted? What?”

“Fucked, Princess. When was the last time you were properly fucked?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“There is no way you could possibly have that kind of reaction to food unless you were completely hard up.” He wiggled his brows. “Prince Harry didn’t quite do it for you, did he?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Your face is turning redder than this sauce.” Chance leaned in and whispered, “Aubrey…when was the last time you had an orgasm during sex?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

His tone became more insistent. “How…long… has it been?”

“College,” I practically coughed out. What the hell did I just admit? “I can’t believe I just told you that. Now, I’m embarrassed.”

He let out a deep breath. “Don’t be. But I’m not gonna lie. I’m truly shocked. A woman like you should be with a man that knows what he’s doing.”

“Why do you care? You keep saying that, a ‘woman like me.’ I didn’t even think you liked me very much.”

Chance leaned back into the booth and glanced out the window before looking me in the eyes. “As much as you’re a pain in my ass…I do like you, Aubrey. You’re funny. Not funny ha ha…but funny. You’re conscientious. You’re quick-witted. You’re smart. You’re damn cute…” He looked down almost to stop himself from going any further. “What happened anyway?”

“With what?”

“Why are you running from that tool Harrison?” When I hesitated, he flagged down Bertha. “Can we have more coffee, please, gorgeous?”

I didn’t know what came over me. Maybe it was the hot sauce. A part of me just wanted to let it all out. After Bertha poured two fresh mugs, I started to open up to him.

“Harrison was a partner at the law firm I worked at back in Chicago. I was an associate. Patent and trademark law. He and I were a couple for a little over a year. We’d moved in together. About two months ago, I found out he was cheating on me with one of his interns. So, yeah…”

“So, you moved out?”

“Yeah. I also left my job. Harrison has spent every day of the past several weeks trying to convince me that I’m making a mistake, that I’m throwing away my career because he would have made me partner sooner than I could do it on my own. I left everything behind, took the first position I got, which happened to be at a small startup firm in Temecula. I’m scared. I don’t know anyone out West, and I don’t know if I’m making the right decision. I’m not even sure if being a lawyer is what I even want anymore. I feel very lost.” Admitting that last part made me start to tear up a little.

Chance’s eyes held a serious intensity that I hadn’t previously seen from him. “What are you passionate about, Princess?”

Thinking for a bit, there was only one thing that really came to mind. I let out a nervous laugh. “Not much except…animals. I love anything to do with them. I’d wanted to be a vet, but my father was a lawyer, and he pressured me to follow in his footsteps.”

“You probably feel like you relate to them better than humans, huh?”

“Sometimes I feel that way, yes.”

He scratched his chin and smiled. “You’ll find your way. You will. The shit that happened back in Chicago is still too fresh for you to think straight. When you get out to California, the change of environment will do you good. You can take your time, look inside yourself and decide what it is you really want, then make a plan to get there. You are in control of your destiny—except in the next twenty-four hours. I’m in control of it for now.” He winked and flashed a devious smile. “You’re stuck with me whether you like it or not.”

“I guess I am.” I smiled. This guy was starting to grow on me, and that was making me really uneasy. I didn’t even know anything about him. “Your turn. Who are you, Chance Bateman? How long have you been in the U.S.?”

“I was born here, actually. I’m a citizen. I moved to Australia when I was five. My father was recruited into professional soccer in Australia to play and eventually coach. I grew up in that world.”

“That’s really cool.”

“It was for a while…until it wasn’t anymore.” He swallowed, his expression turning sullen.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

My phone rang, interrupting the conversation. It was Harrison. Shit. Shit. Shit.

I flipped it around to show Chance the caller I.D.

He took it from my grasp and answered, “Harry! You wanker!”

Harrison’s voice was muffled. “Put Aubrey on the phone.”

“Aubrey and I were just talking about you! We’re out to brekky, and she picks up one of these tiny sausage links and says, ‘See this here? This is just about Harry’s size.’”

He sounded irate through the phone. “You fucking asshole. Tell Aubrey if she’s taking up with trash like you—”

Chance hung up the phone. “Ready to go?”

“That was awesome.” I high-fived him after he lifted his hand. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Bye, Bertha!” Chance winked at our waitress.

“Bye, hot stuff.”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head in laughter as I followed his hot ass out the door.

It was a beautiful, clear afternoon. I told Chance I wanted to drive this round. In all honesty, I needed a break from staring at his eyes and stubble for a while. My unwanted attraction to him was really starting to make me uncomfortable. Having control of the radio was also a plus to being in the driver’s seat.

“Michael Bolton? Really, Princess? You’re gonna make me sit through this?”

“What? He’s good! His voice is…hearty…robust!”

Chance started singing loudly over the lyrics to When a Man Loves a Woman. He sounded horrible. The impromptu duet between Chance and Michael was enough to make me switch to another song.

Soon after, we stopped for gas, and Chance went inside the mini-mart to get us some snacks after he finished pumping my fuel.

When he reentered the car with a large paper bag, I looked over at him and froze just as I was about to turn the ignition.

He had powder under his nose.

Shit! Was he a coke head? Had he gone to the bathroom to snort it?

“Are you gonna start the car sometime today?” he chided.

My breathing became labored as I geared myself up for a major disappointment. “Tell me the truth.”

“Alright…”

“Were you doing drugs in the bathroom?”

His eyes darkened. “What the fuck?” He was angry. “Why would you ask me that?”

“You have powder under your nose!”

He closed his eyes and suddenly erupted in laughter that lasted for at least a minute. He’d never laughed so hard in the time I’d known him. Chance kept trying to speak but would keep losing it, having to clutch his chest. He looked at himself in the sun visor mirror and swiped the powder from above his lip.

Practically shoving his finger into my mouth, he said, “Taste.”

I pushed it away. “No!”

“Taste!”

I hesitantly ran the tip of my tongue along his finger. It tasted like grape Kool-Aid or something. “It’s sweet.”

He opened the paper bag and took out one of those Pixy Stix with powdered sugar inside and threw it at me. “Your cocaine, madam.”

Relief washed over me. I also felt stupid. “Pixy Stix? You like these?”

“I love them, actually.”

“That’s pure sugar. I haven’t eaten one of these since I was a kid.”

“They were all out of Fun Dip, so these had to do.” He looked down. “I can’t believe you thought I was snorting coke. I’m not perfect by any means, but I’ve never done drugs in my life.” Chance looked seriously hurt by my assumption.

I still hadn’t started the car. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. It’s just…I don’t really know you.”

“So, get to know me,” he said softly.

We were silent for a while before I spoke, “Why are you headed to California?”

“I live there.”

I knew what I really wanted to ask but wasn’t sure why it mattered so much. My heart started to pound. “Who were you talking to on the phone this morning?”

He looked startled by my question. “What?”

“I overheard your conversation from my room. You were telling someone your plans for the day. You lied and said you were in Los Angeles.”

It took him a while to answer. “It’s complicated, Aubrey.” Then, he seemed to shut down and turned toward the window.

“Well, this was a good conversation. I’m glad I asked,” I said bitterly as I started the car and took off toward the highway.

We sat in silence for a long while. Chance looked tense and kept sucking down the Pixy Stix one by one. After about a half-hour, I decided to break the ice. “How do you keep a body like that eating the way you do?”

“Is that your way of saying you like my body? You like what you see?”

“I didn’t say that exactly.”

“Not exactly, but you implied it.”

“Jackass.”

“Lots and lots of sex, Aubrey. That’s how I do it.”

“Really? That’s it?”

“No. I just wanted to see your face turn that pretty shade of pink it does when you’re embarrassed.” He snickered. “In answer to your question, I work out a lot, and I don’t eat like this every day. But on road trips, all dietary rules go out the window. You need to be able to eat what you want to keep sane.”

“Well, from what I see, you’re pretty insane, so it’s not working.”

He smiled at me, and I returned it. The aftermath of our tense conversation from earlier finally seemed to have faded away. “Give me one of the packages of pretzels, please.”

He took one out of the paper bag and handed it to me then looked behind his shoulder to my packed backseat. “What do you have in all these bags back here, anyway?”

“Don’t touch my stuff.”

“I bet there are some treasures in this junk that would tell me everything I ever needed to know about you.”

He started to blindly grab things out of my bags. “Oh, a book! Happy Bitch: The girlfriend’s straight-up guide to losing the baggage and finding the fun, fabulous you inside.”

“Put that back and don’t touch that bag again!”

“Alright. But what exactly are you hiding in this one that’s so bad?”

Shit.

Chance kept digging. “What’s this now?”

Oh no!

He pulled out my lifelike flesh-toned vibrator. “Princess…is this a silicone cock in a bejeweled case? No wonder why you didn’t mind that Harry couldn’t do it for you. You were taking it into your own hands and into your own—”

“Give me that!”

He took it out of the case. “Oh…this thing is pathetic. We could do a lot better than that.”

“Chance…seriously, I’m not joking. Hand it over…now!”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We all pleasure ourselves.”

The events that followed seemed to happen in quick succession. He kept waving the dildo around as I tried to grab it. A truck driver that noticed it honked at us. The car was swerving. Then, I saw it. It was standing in the middle of the road with frightened eyes, frozen like a deer in headlights. I suddenly cut the wheel hard to the right, driving straight into an embankment, not knowing if I had killed him.