“Hey there, sleepyhead.”

Juliet had just blinked her eyes open. Her head was lying on something firm, someone’s chest. It took a moment to register where she was and who she was with. The night before came raging back to her head and she cringed at the memory.

She looked down to find herself still wearing the white dress from yesterday. Chance was still in his shirt and jeans as well.

So that answered that question. Apparently, all her data was wrong and Chance didn’t have a 100% chance of getting laid last night. On the other hand, her initial calculations certainly hadn’t included her throwing up in the bathroom.

“What time is it?”

“Almost checkout time. At least one of us got a pretty good night’s sleep.”

Juliet sat up and wrinkled her face. “Really? I slept that long?”

“Yep, and can I say it’s a pleasure to find out that you don’t snore?”

“Chance, I don’t know what to say. I thought—” she blinked up at him then darted her eyes away.

“Yeah, I thought too,” he said with a slight uptick of one side of his mouth. Then he chuckled. “Hey, at least I get to tell all the boys back on the rig that I got to sleep with a beautiful woman.”

Juliet laughed. It was nice of him to not take it so seriously. She could think of a few of her prior dates who would have been pissed about getting a room at the Hotel ZaZa only to have their date hurl and then fall asleep on them. It made her like him all the more, if that was even possible.

“We could still….” She offered and not entirely out of guilt. Even after sitting up half the night he looked like sex on a stick that morning. Juliet would have been more than happy to indulge.

Chance actually laughed, which made her frown. Perhaps she didn’t look quite as appealing as he did the morning after. She reached up to smooth down her hair.

He reached out a hand to stop her. “You look positively, sinfully delectable. It’s not that. It’s just the last thing I want is a pity fuck from you.”

He cocked his head to the side and gave her a coy look. “Besides, I gotta leave something to have you comin’ back for more. Who knows what the next Simon might bring to the table these next two weeks I’m gone.”

Juliet went through her mental portfolio of men from eHarmony, OkCupid, and Match. Not a single one even came close to competing with the one sitting on the bed next to her.

“So today’s your last day here?”

“Yep. Two weeks on, two weeks off. That’s how it works.”

Juliet felt her heart sink with disappointment. Two whole weeks before she even had a chance at seeing him again. It felt like a lifetime.

She had clicked with men before but never like this. Even beyond the pure lust she felt yesterday, there was something about this man that was not just different, but amazingly different.

“I would actually like to see you again when you get back.” There was no point in being coy about it, despite his teasing remark. Everything that had gone down in the past 48 hours told her that he maybe felt the same, and not just for the sex.

“I’d like to see you again, too,” he said, giving her that lopsided grin that made it seem more cocky than it should have been. “Maybe we can pick up where we left off. Meet at the usual place, two weeks from now?”

“Sure,” she said smiling happily.

That lopsided grin transitioned into something softer and more thoughtful. “How about I buy you breakfast. You probably need it.”

She smiled brightly at him. “Only if you let me buy. I owe you that much.”

* * *

They were waiting in line at the Breakfast Klub. Despite the heat outside, the line was wrapped around the building. The two of them fit in well with the diverse mix of people standing outside the well-loved soul-food restaurant.

“So what’s the plan in two weeks…or should we just play it by ear again?”

“Well, it’s summer and I’m on sabbatical anyway, so the whole time is free for me. That’s long enough for almost anything.”

“Hmm,” he said, then put his hand to his head and closed his eyes in concentration. “I’m imagining a world map and a dart in our future.”

Juliet laughed. “Not that kind of anything.”

He opened his eyes and smiled down at her. God how she loved that face!

“How about we just stick to the plan of meeting up at the usual place two Saturdays from now and see where it goes. Who knows, maybe by then you’ll be open to the idea”

“Yeah, don’t get your hopes up,” she said, laughing.

“Hello there, Chance.”

They both turned at the interruption, which had a heavy dose of a Russian accent tied to it. The man attached to the voice was short with closely shaved black hair. His face would have been attractive enough but was scarred with the result of what was once a horrible case of acne. The eyes were what really ruined it, dark as coal and in a permanent state of intensity, as though they were trying to hypnotize the object of their gaze.

He was a perfect stranger to Juliet, but he obviously knew Chance well based on the smile he was pointing in his direction. The smile had a tinge of something sinister and almost taunting in it. She looked up at Chance searching for an answer there.

“Alexi,” Chance replied, his face cool and unreadable. “Don’t tell me you were just in the neighborhood.”

The man laughed as though Chance had said something hilarious. Something in that laugh caused Juliet to instinctively inch closer to Chance. He brought a protective arm around her shoulders and drew her in even more.

“As a matter of fact I wasn’t,” he shrugged with a guilty smile on his face. “But I was close enough, I thought I’d be the one to give you the good news personally.”

Juliet felt Chance’s hand instinctively tighten around her shoulders.

“Well, as you can see I’m here with someone. Perhaps this good news can wait.”

“Ah,” Alexi said, now looking at Juliet. She instinctively shivered. He put an apologetic hand to his chest. “Forgive me. I did not mean to ruin your little date.”

He turned to Chance with that taunting look again. “She is a very pretty lady. Perhaps she would like to hear the good news as well?”

As quick as a viper, Chance brought his arm away from Juliet’s shoulders and grabbed the man by the shirt. There was an almost comical look of surprise on Alexi’s face. He exclaimed something that sounded like “Chto za huy” as Chance began dragging him away.

“I’ll be right back,” he said calmly to Juliet, as though excusing himself to the restroom.

By now, everyone in line was watching with fascination as the much larger man dragged the other down the sidewalk and around the corner out of sight. Juliet was one of them, even more open-mouthed than the people around her.

What in the world was that about?