Daphne had never been more relieved to walk into The Players Club. Zach waved as soon as Daphne and Met entered the bar. The place wasn’t all that crowded, even for a weeknight. Daphne found a table right away where she and Met could sit together and still be able to hear each other without shouting over the music playing from the DJ booth.

“Why did you pick this place?” Met asked as he slid onto a high-top barstool.

Zach appeared with her usual beer and set it on the table. He also put down the same for Met. “Long time no see, kid. Where’ve you been hiding?”

Daphne smiled at her friend. It felt good to be back in familiar territory. Safe. That was why she had wanted to come here. Zach raised an eyebrow and pointed to Met. “Not that long ago you were trying to get rid of this guy. Care to explain what happened to change your mind?”

“So many things,” Daphne groaned. “Can I just say that Justin has inserted himself back into the picture and we’ll just leave it there?”

Zach whistled. “That sucks.” Then he turned and offered his hand to Met. “Zach Banks.”

“Met Hernandez.” Met took the hand and gave it a friendly shake. “You own this place?”

“No.” Zach tilted his head to one side. “But the owner does happen to be looking for another partner to buy in, if you’re really interested.”

“Shut. Up!” Daphne poked Zach in the shoulder. “When were you going to tell me that Ryan wanted to sell out?”

“You never stop by anymore!” Zach protested. “I was going to mention it the other night, but you might have noticed we were a little busy.”

“I like this place.” Met was looking around as though he were honestly considering the possibility of ownership. “What kind of business do you do on a regular night?”

“We’re within a decent distance of the college campus, so the business is steady.” Zach winked at Daphne. Then he looked back at Met. “If you’re really interested, just call the main number and dial nine. That will get you through to Ryan. He’s the one who will know how to best answer your questions.”

“Right. Thanks.” Met waited until Zach had retreated to his spot behind the bar. Then he gave a slow nod of his head. “I think I can understand why you picked this place even though it’s not exactly the best meeting spot.”

“I just needed somewhere where I know Justin will never show his face.” She sighed. Placing the balls of her hands against her eyes, she was nearly overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the last few days.

“Are you okay?” His low voice made her gut tighten up.

How was it that she could so easily recall what he smelled like? She could remember what it was like to have him beside her in bed and what it sounded like when he slept. The soft snores and the scent of warm, spicy male were embedded in her mind. And yet she could not get over the notion that she shouldn’t be anywhere near this man. What was really happening here?

“What’s on your mind, darlin’?” His voice was almost coaxing. What was he trying to get her to admit? That she was freaking out?

Fine. She could most definitely do that. “Were you trying to stir up trouble in the restaurant?”

“You were the one who went there,” he pointed out in a very reasonable tone. “Did you realize that you’d walked right into his territory?”

“No!” Even to her own ears she sounded defensive.

Maybe that was what bothered her so much! She had completely screwed up, and in the process, she had put herself right in proximity to Justin while simultaneously trying to avoid him! It made her feel incompetent. Even worse, she felt like she had put her naiveté on display for her friends and coworkers to see too. What were they thinking of her? Did they believe that she had done it on purpose?

“Do you think people believe that I enjoy this kind of drama?” Daphne suddenly asked Met. “Do you believe that I encourage it or egg it on?”

“Do you get the idea that I’ve ever thought that?” He sounded strange, and it occurred to Daphne that he might believe she was trying to put him in one of those no win girl traps.

She sighed and fiddled with her beer bottle. She didn’t want the thing. She didn’t even feel like it would be a good idea to drink it. A clear head was a must here. For pity’s sake, she was supposed to be telling Met that she had sent Carson some additional information that Met hadn’t included in the interview. She was supposed to be carefully setting the stage for that. She wasn’t though. And at the moment, she could not even imagine trying to tell him something like that. She had screwed up bad enough already.

“Want to dance?”

Daphne looked up from her bottle in surprise. What was he suggesting? Dancing? The music was not what it had been at Cody’s that night. It was different. There wasn’t any country dancing here. It was faster paced and sort of—intimidating.

“I can’t dance to this stuff,” she said helplessly.

There was that smile again. Did the man ever not manage to charm away her inhibitions with that smile? He stood up and plucked the beer bottle from her hand. Then he set it down and tugged her out onto the dance floor.

Couples were moving and gyrating around them. It wasn’t crowded, but there were easily twenty other people or more out there who looked far more competent than Daphne ever would be.

“Just stop worrying about it,” he told her gently. “Let your body go with the beat.”

Let her body go with the beat? She felt ridiculous! And then he pulled her close to him and put her arms around his neck. His hands settled on her hips, and he began moving her in rhythm with the music.

She closed her eyes. Initially it was so that she could stop feeling like everyone was staring at her. Maybe if she could not see them staring it would not matter that they were. Then she stopped thinking about it at all. The only thing on her mind was the feeling of his body next to hers. The heat of him, his scent, and his touch were all familiar.

He kept her close. They moved. She didn’t know where. It didn’t matter. He turned and pivoted. She felt her feet moving as though they were no longer attached to her legs. The beat thrummed in her veins. Her heart settled into rhythm. Her fingers tingled where they touched his neck. He pressed his lips to the pulse point just below her ear.

“Feel. Don’t think.”

She wasn’t thinking. She was feeling. It was a tidal wave of emotion that hit so hard that it left her gasping without even knowing that she was trying to breathe. She let her head loll back. Her hair came loose from its knot and swung side to side against her shoulder blades. She felt every muscle and sinew in her body as though it were attached to one thought and one mind.

The music swelled. Her heart thudded against her ribs. Met laid his palms against her sides. He swung her hips side to side and moved his body so close to hers that she felt every single breath he exhaled as a whisper across her skin.

She was flying. She was soaring above the dance floor, the building, the earth itself. Stars wheeled overhead, and Daphne felt as though she could somehow touch each one. Her muscles relaxed. They flowed with the beat of the music and the gentle prompting of Met’s hands and body. He locked his arms behind her back, and she felt herself bending backwards as she swayed and dipped to the music. The tips of her hair brushed the floor.

He was lifting her. Her legs locked automatically around his waist as he spun and dipped her body with the rhythm. The sensation of riding him right there in the club was heady. She felt wild and wanton and so very, very in love with this man. Her heart swelled as she felt her fingers pressing into his skin.

He bounced her up. She unlocked her legs and felt them fly before her feet settled back to earth. Met wrapped his arms around her body and pressed his lips to hers. Daphne slid her fingers through his hair and sighed as he deepened the kiss. His hands cupped her face. He gently pressed his thumb to her lower lip and urged her to open her mouth. His tongue slid inside her mouth to mate with hers. She wanted him so badly right now that she would not have balked at the idea of making love right here on the dance floor.

She hungrily devoured everything that he could give her and more. Her hands slid across his cheeks and chin. She sucked his lower lip into her mouth and gently bit down. He growled and took utter possession of her mouth. The two of them grappled for control, but in the end, she eagerly surrendered to this man. She would always surrender to him.

“I want you,” he whispered in her ear. “I want to make love to you. I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life. Will you be mine, Daphne? Will you?”

The barriers between them were astronomical. They were worlds apart. Being with him would create so many roadblocks and difficulties in her life.

Why did none of that matter?

“Yes,” she whispered against his lips.

Daphne gently used her tongue to trace his upper and lower lip. She teased and tickled and finally moaned as she explored his mouth with an eagerness that surprised even her.

“Take me home,” she murmured. “Take me to your bed, Met. I want to be yours.”

He sighed, and suddenly their kiss became an embrace that was both warm and desperate in nature. He held her as he swayed back and forth to the music. There was no hurry and no push to get her to the nearest horizontal surface. It was more than that. Daphne could feel that it was more. When she finally went to bed with this man, it would not be just sex. This would be a defining moment.

“I want you to be sure,” he whispered against her ear. “I want you to know me. I want to know you. I want this to be more than just a one-night thing. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

“I understand.” She could not speak anymore. The strong feeling of love for this man was wiping everything else out.

He took her hand and kissed her palm. Then without another word, Met led Daphne toward the front door of the club. She waved to Zach on the way out. He was shaking his head. They were like teenagers leaving a dance to go make out behind the gymnasium or something equally silly. She didn’t care.

She climbed up into the passenger side of his truck and then watched him run around and get in the other side. Anticipation was making her feel almost giddy. Her insides were warm, and she felt as though she could barely wait the few minutes it might take to get back to Met’s borrowed house.

But how did you go from being hot and heavy on a dance floor to being inside a car and driving back to someone’s place? Daphne was afraid the urgent ardor between the two of them would have cooled. She sat in the front passenger seat of his truck and watched him expertly handle the wheel.

“I want to thank you,” she said suddenly.

He glanced over with a vaguely confused expression on his face. “Thank me?”

“Yes.” She felt silly saying this, but it was a really big deal and she knew it. “For making such an effort to tone down the drinking. I know that you use the alcohol as a kind of self-medication. I don’t want you to think that I don’t realize what kind of effort it takes to change that behavior. It’s a big deal.”

“Oh.” He looked uncomfortable for a moment.

His hands were moving around and around the wheel as though he were rubbing the leather-wrapped surface to try and discover answers to the many questions plaguing him. She wondered what he was thinking. In the green glow of the dashboard, his expression was pensive and almost angry.

“Met?” She could not help but worry that she had gone too far. “Are you all right?”

“I just don’t want to misrepresent myself. That’s all.” He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. “I’m not some saint who hits AA meetings three times a week now. I just want to be clear about that.”

“Right.” She hadn’t been expecting that. “Is that what you thought I meant when I asked you to cut back?”

“I don’t know what I thought.” He was sounding more and more uncomfortable.

“Met, this wasn’t my attempt to make things awkward between us,” she told him softly. “I just want to be with you. I want to help you. And that includes helping you with your physical issues.”

“My physical issues?” He gave a bitter laugh. “You make me sound like I’m disabled or something. It isn’t that bad, you know?”

“I know it’s not.” She struggled to regain their earlier ease in communication.

He was just pulling into Laredo’s upscale subdivision. Finally he sighed. “Let’s just drop it. All right? I don’t want to talk about my physical infirmities. I don’t want to think about the fact that I don’t have a friggin’ clue what kind of career I might be suited for at this point in my life. I just want to try and enjoy the rest of my evening with the most beautiful woman in the world.”

She felt her cheeks heat up as she felt the jolt that always seemed to accompany his assertion that she was beautiful and exactly what he wanted. The guy could have anyone. She’d seen that firsthand with just about any female that came within ten feet of him. The fact that he had picked her was a compliment she would never grow tired of.