Page 13 of Stolen Fate

“No, Ethan. Please. Leave me be. Just… not today, okay? I can’t see you today, not on his birthday.”

I slammed the door shut and walked back into the bar. I didn’t look back to see if he was following me, I knew he wasn’t.

I opened the door to the dimmed bar and looked around. I wasn’t going back to the blond stranger, because, honestly, I didn’t want to take home a man who scared easily. That was a huge turn-off.

Plus, he had brown eyes. Nice brown eyes, but they were disappointing nonetheless.

I skimmed the room, my eyes landing on a man’s broad back. I startled back a step.

Jesus, he was huge.

Built like a professional swimmer, from what I could see, and with dark hair. I didn’t know what he looked like, and I didn’t really care. I was instantly drawn to him, and I knew he could be the kind of man to take my mind off of the day. To make me feel good about myself, if only for a little while, and that was exactly what I needed. Plus, he looked clean, if his expensive clothes were any indication, which begged the question, what the hell was a man like that doing in a place like this, filled with blue-collar men and drunk has-beens.

I walked over to him in that disconnected way I had been feeling for more than half a decade and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and…

I didn’t feel so disconnected anymore.

No, I felt hot.

Attraction buzzed across my skin, down to every last molecule of my being, and I was left utterly speechless.

Holy shit, the man was sinfully beautiful.

My eyes made a slow perusal of his body, from his long powerful legs spread causally apart—a power stance if I ever saw one—to his defined pecs that couldn’t be hidden by his white dress shirt and dark gray vest, his suit jacket hanging off his forearm.

He was tall.

Really tall. Certainly taller than my five-foot-six-inch frame.

My brother was around six foot three, and I estimated the man to be about the same height, if not taller. And he was built like a linebacker from the NFL, too.

His biceps were bigger than my thighs alone, and the thought somehow made me want to squirm. A light dark scuff along his jawline made me wonder how it would feel against my soft skin, neatly cut dark brown hair with the sides buzzed down and a bit of length on the top.

And he had blue eyes.

The most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen on a man, the color unique in its hue. And they were surrounded by thick dark eyelashes that should have made him look feminine but didn’t.

I could easily get lost in his eyes.

I was a sucker for blue eyes, and his were out of this world. They stood out in stark contrast against his golden tan skin. They were absolutely hypnotizing…

And he was alone as far as I could tell, which was perfect.

I offered a small smile.

I wasn’t going to act coy or flirtatious because I couldn’t do it to save my life, so why bother.

Plus, I was usually much more straightforward than that, and something about acting coy didn’t sit right with me.

“Hi,” I said.

The man’s lips curved up into an arrogant smirk, and though it should have turned me off, it didn’t. Nothing about this man could turn me off, even if he was a little too arrogant for my taste.

Good thing I wasn’t looking for a lifetime.

Just one night.

“Hello there.”

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