I’m wrapped in Chance’s arms and I can’t remember a better feeling than this one right now. I had tossed and turned for hours, playing with all sorts of fantasy’s in my mind, wondering what would happen if I walked into his room and crawled into his bed. But, the sensible Mia won out and decided to sneak past his closed bedroom door and go downstairs for something to drink. When I saw him sitting in the dark, shirtless, watching as two men pummel one another on the large screen TV, I was drawn in like a moth to a flame.

What happened after that was nothing short of amazing. My experience with oral sex has been limited. The couple of times when Clark did it, it was clumsy, like he didn’t really know what he was looking for, so he tried to hit it all, hoping something would work. It never did. Chance knew exactly what he was doing; those assessing eyes watched as my body reacted. I push that thought aside, not wanting to consider where he learned those skills.

“You’re quiet,” Chance says, his breath heating my neck.

“So are you,” I whisper back with a smile.

“Tell me about you.”

My laughter fills the room at the absurdity of what he’s asking and where we are. “We’ve just exchanged body fluids and now you want to know about me?”

He laughs, rolling over and looking at the ceiling. I twist on the bed so that I’m facing him. “That was some body fluid exchange,” he snickers playfully and I pretend punch him. He winces, catching my hand and lifting it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles softly. He rolls over and props his head on his hand, our eyes meeting in the near darkness. “What did you do before you started working at Jimmy’s?”

A small pang of sadness washes over me, but I push it away as soon as it comes. I don’t want to sacrifice tonight with Chance on thoughts of tomorrow. “I’m a ballet teacher. I teach at my mother’s old studio.”

“Ballet?” I smile when Chance’s brows lift in surprise. “That explains it. I always thought you could dance, just not pole dance.” He chuckles when I lift my fist to threaten another punch. “I’m kidding…no I’m not. I knew you were too graceful to be on that stage,” he says soberly.

“How many times did you see me up there?”

“Two times. I was on my way out the second time, but when I saw those blue sparkly shoes step onto the stage, I remembered you wearing them the first time I saw you and had to stay to see you again.” I groan, knowing I only wore those on my first and final nights. “Do you still have those, by the way?” He waggles his eyebrows and I cover my face.

“No, I burned them!” We both laugh.

“So, ballet, how did that happen?”

“My mother grew up loving it and wanted to be a ballerina, but it didn’t work out for her. She had me and growing up, I loved it just as much. My sister Audrey hated it so it was kind of nice that it was something just she and I shared. I went to Julliard with the hope I’d someday be a professional, but it didn’t work out, so teaching it to little girls keeps me doing what I love.”

“Why didn’t it work out?”

“A car accident.” I lift my leg from the covers, extending it into the air. “I have a metal plate in my ankle and four pins. I could never dance like I once did so I was forced to give up my scholarship.” Chance’s warm palm rubs over the area, setting off a flutter in my chest. I know in the dim lighting of the room, he can’t see the thin scar from my surgery, but the fact that he wants to, comforts me in a way that I haven’t realized I’ve needed until right now.

“Your parents?” he says and I know what he’s asking.

“Yeah,” I whisper around the lump before clearing my throat. “They said my father died on the way to the hospital and my mother on the scene. I didn’t know until I woke up from surgery.”

“Was your sister in the car with you guys?”

I shake my head, emotions creeping in and preventing me from telling him she’s the reason we were in that car. She was on another binge and had disappeared three days before. We’d gotten a call from a family friend that night, saying they’d seen her in that area of town just an hour before.

“I’m glad you still have her, but I’m so sorry about your parents and your dreams, Mia.”

I meet his eyes. The knuckled-side of his fingers softly caresses the side of my face and he leans in, kissing my forehead.

“If I could give that back to you…all of it, I would.”

I smile sadly, wishing he had some superpower that could do just that.

“And your sister? Are you two close?” he adds.

I force my mind to reflect the good Audrey, the one before we lost her. “She used to annoy the shit out of me when we were little. I hated her more than I liked her, but eventually that worked out and we were very close until I went to college in New York. She changed and I wasn’t there so we drifted apart.”

“And she lives in Texas?”

“Yes, with my Aunt Donna. She owns a cattle ranch. Bent Branch Ranch,” I say wistfully. “I haven’t been there in years, but growing up, some of my best vacations were spent on that farm.”

“I bet. I’ve traveled a good deal with boxing, but I’ve never been to a ranch. I bet my brothers would love it, too.” He smiles, seemingly lost in the idea.

“Tell me about your Superman loving brothers. Do they live close?”

His smile slips.

“Matthew and Brandon live on the other side of St. Louis with Michelle. It’s kind of a recent move for them. One I hope to make temporary.” He rolls back, looking at the ceiling. “My parent’s overdosed a few weeks ago,” he adds quietly before pausing. I don’t show my surprise. Having learned a few things about his mother, it shouldn’t surprise me at all, but a pang of sadness hits me in the chest for him and his little brothers. “I threatened to take custody the night they died. I’d thought about fighting for her a hundred times before then, but every time it came down to it, something pulled for me to give her another chance. I gave her money to live on and pay for whatever they needed outside of their private school I was already paying for. She was using, so as you can imagine, her needs always came first.” I can more than imagine. He blows out a long puff of air. “Long story short, my mother’s sister beat me to the courthouse and got custody of them. She’s never been part of their lives or mine, so I didn’t even know there was going to be a fight until the night the cops showed up, taking them away.”

“I’m sorry, Chance,” I offer softly in the dark.

“The shitty thing is, I don’t even think she wants them, just what they can do for her.”

“Is she like your mother?”

“Probably, they’re sisters, cut from the same cloth,” he says dismissively and my thoughts wander to Audrey and me. She and I are nothing alike, I justify, pushing aside the insult. “I’m working to overturn her custody and bring them home with me, where they belong.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?” I whisper, crawling on top of him.

“Yeah? There’s more sad shit where that came from.” He brushes my errant hair back and gathers it in a ponytail at the back of my neck.

“I like your sad shit. I like your happy shit.”

“I like you,” he says flipping me over and climbing on top of me. I wrap my legs around his waist.

“I like you too, Chance,” I reply, our eyes meeting, making that statement a whole lot heavier than I cared to.

“You know what I would like right now?” He smiles.

I wiggle underneath him, his thick erection sitting heavy on my stomach. “I bet I can imagine.”

“Say it,” he whispers above me.

“Fuck me, Chance.”