Page 45

I can’t win this one. I saw her this afternoon and she made it clear… I know when to call it. And this bet is off. I lose.
She stared at the stack of pinot noir. Chief Jack Barnes, the Navy SEAL who never backed down from a challenge, who ran toward his attackers, not away, had said the word lose.
And it was a big fat lie.
He’d won.
She closed her eyes and her mind drifted back to her hotel room. Jack’s body hovering over hers…his thick, hard cock sliding inside her…his hips moving faster and faster…and the way he’d held her afterward. He’d wrapped his arms around her and asked her to stay.
She opened her eyes, and a waitress holding a tray lined with champagne flutes materialized in front of her.
“May I offer you—”
“Yes.” Natalie plucked a glass off her tray and raised it to her lips. The waitress’s eyes widened, but then she quickly disappeared around the corner to serve the rehearsal dinner guests.
Including Jack, the man who’d erased her excuse for following her desire straight into his arms. The bet had been her safety net. Without it…
Why had he lied?
She stared into her champagne flute. Did she want to know the answer?
Yes. I need to know. Even if the truth hurts, I have to find out why he threw the bet.
Maybe he’d had enough. One afternoon and he was ready to move on. Sure, he’d told his teammates—including Cade—he’d lost while they were in public. But Jack had probably called his brothers before the dinner and told them a very different story.
Maybe not. Maybe he wants me. Not the bet. Or the win. Just me.
And just like that, the hope she’d kept in hibernation for years peeked out and looked straight toward another night with her charming SEAL.
Not mine.
That hope was a double-edged sword. Because she didn’t want hope. She knew where that led. She’d open her heart to him, but eventually, he’d leave her. And she couldn’t—wouldn’t—let herself be abandoned ever again.
She downed the rest of her champagne. He couldn’t be hers. Not her lover or her boyfriend. She’d stopped relying on others so long ago. Sure, she had Cade. But their friendship worked because he never pushed for more than she could give. Cade understood that her trust had limits.
She lowered her empty glass. She’d had so much ripped away from her. Her parents. Her first two foster families—just as she was starting to let them in. And then Lucia. One bad decision on her part, an escape to hang out with the other teenagers in her new town, and Lucia ended up hurt. Then separated from Natalie as she was sent off to heal.
And Natalie had been left alone and struggling with guilt.
Never again.
She couldn’t return to that place where people could hurt her—leave her.
And Jack would leave. He had his career. She’d watched Cade deploy mission after mission, close to three hundred days spent God knew where last year.
Even if he stayed in Coronado, he’d walk away from her sooner or later. The things he wanted…the words he used to spell out his desires…
Black silk ties.
“Natalie?” Lucia peeked around the edge of the wine cellar divider. “Are you okay?”
Clutching her empty glass, she buried the dirty images in the back of her mind and smiled at her sister. “Fine. Just gathering my courage to face your friends knowing they spent the afternoon licking chocolate off the waiters.”
“It wasn’t that exciting,” Lucia said as she stepped around the corner and took Natalie’s free hand. “The manager came out and reminded us that no outside food was allowed. I think that was her nice way of saying the waiters are paid to flirt, but they draw the line at becoming human lollipops. I bet your afternoon was much more exciting.”
“It was fine,” she said.
Lucia raised a well-groomed eyebrow. Her sister’s makeup was perfect, drawing attention from the scars on her cheek. But the marks were still there. Not even the best makeup artist in Sin City could erase the past. It would follow them around forever.