Page 5 of Scandalous Lover

“Great. Perfect. Well…” I glance around the bar at the people milling about. “It’s over, right? Can we just leave?”

I look back at Sam and he smiles. “I doubt they’re going to try to keep us here.”

“Right. Okay. Tacos.”

And just like that, I’m leaving the bar arm-in-arm with an adorable ghost from my past.

Chapter Three

Sam

Of all the women I imagined sitting across from at a bar in Austin, Naomi wouldn’t have even crossed my mind long enough to make the list.

I try to think back to the last update I heard about her life or whereabouts, but I come up blank. To say it’s been a decade since I saw the woman would not be an understatement.

And woman she is.

I still have an image in my mind of the little sister who always followed us around and demanded to be included in things Dom had zero intention of including her in, but I see none of that little girl sitting across from me now.

What I see is a bold, smart, confident woman.

One who I'm pretty sure is trying to get me drunk.

Not that I mind. I can’t remember the last time I felt free enough to relax like this. Or the last time I was in the presence of a woman who lit my insides on fire quite the way Naomi does. Every look from those sparkling green eyes makes my breath catch. Every glimpse of her tongue darting out to trace her lower teeth as she grins makes my heart beat a little faster.

I’m on shaky ground here but somehow, all I want to do is dance.

Just the thought makes me feel like an old man, considering how long it’s been since I actually did dance. With a woman or not.

I’m forty-two, not exactly ancient, but my job requires me to be on-call all the time, and I wasn’t the biggest partier even before I started managing The White Sands. The other guys would always let loose, but I had so much to lose it never felt like the right move.

Even now, when we’re all part owners and theoretically on even footing, I still feel like I have the most to prove. It didn’t help when the guys fell in love, one after the other over the last few years, leaving me to be the actual odd man out at every gathering.

They all managed to find someone on the island, but I just don’t see how that’s possible for me. I have an image to maintain—the trustworthy, approachable General Manager of a multi-million dollar property in the Caribbean. No matter what the guys say, I can’t shack up with one of the employees or guests.

“I got you hibiscus, or as the locals call it, Jamaica.”

“Thanks.” I accept the much too tall cocktail from a grinning Naomi.

She’s starting to get a bit pinker in the cheeks, so I know she must be feeling the alcohol. And yet here we are, settling down to our drinks and not nearly enough food.

“I think this might have to be our last stop. Maybe we should order a few more tacos and chill for a bit.”

Her mouth drops open in indignation. “Last stop? I have, like, eight more taco places I want to take you to. And it’s only…” She lifts her phone to her face. The sparkly pink device never leaves her hand. “Eleven? Dang. How did it get so late? Well, regardless, I know a couple of the places are open till midnight. There’s still time.”

She’s adorable in her eagerness to show me the city she so clearly loves. And she’s getting more and more eager as time goes by and drinks go down.

I’ve considered a handful of times over the last few hours whether I should be doing more to dissuade the fervent looks and smiles that I see her shooting my way.

Because all I’m doing is returning them.

She smiles, I smile.

She giggles, I bite my lip.

She leans against me as we stroll down the sidewalk, and I pull her arm into mine.

It’s a slippery slope, and one I’ve been on since we walked out of that first bar together.

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