Page 18 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

5

Laine

Just Live

“Hello!” Holding a short glass of vodka tonic in my left hand, I raise my right when the handsome stranger steps into our group on the dancefloor.

“Hey.” He flashes a beautiful smile and looks me up and down with an appreciative smile. Not all men can be beautiful, but this man with the fancy haircut, short and neat, and gleaming white teeth can. Fit, with broad shoulders and narrow hips, he’s handsome in a way I’m not used to knowing. “I saw you.” He nods back in the direction he came. “I saw you dancing and I just had to meet you.”

My girlfriends continue to dance around us as I accept his hand with a grin. This isn’t our first rodeo – or in our case, he’s not the first man in the history of the world to approach our group to try his luck – but it becomes somewhat commonplace when your best friends are as beautiful as mine.

When our hands touch, he squeezes and pulls a smiling, “I’m Laine,” past my lips.

I can feel warm eyes burn the back of my head, the band playing on the stage, my brothers watching us as they play deep, gritty music that makes it easy to fall in lust and get carried away dancing in a man’s arms.

The stranger wears all black except a shiny belt buckle, and a surprised gasp shoots up my throat when he pulls me in until our hips clash. “I’m Graham.” He slides his hand around my hips and begins swaying to the music as fluidly as if we’ve been dancing together forever. “And you’re so unbelievably beautiful, I nearly choked on my drink when I saw you.”

“Oh.” With a nervous laugh, I step in closer and hide my face near his neck. I’m beautiful in the traditional sense; long, sleek, platinum blonde hair. The real platinum, not the bottle kind. I have bright blue eyes that my daddy likes to call vacation eyes – because they remind him of the ocean – and a slim hundred and forty pounds on a five-seven frame.

I’ve spent my life skating in my friend’s backyard, so I’m fit, and I spent all that time with boys – brothers – who always told us we were beautiful.

I don’t suffer with low self-esteem, but this handsome man makes me blush.

His hand slides lower on my back.

Lower.

Lower.

Until the tips of his fingers slide over the swell of my ass and his firm hold pulls my dress up half an inch. “Don’t brush my words off.” His lips touch the shell of my ear. “You’re stunning. I’m new to town, and I could really do with a friend.”

I chew on my bottom lip and meet his eyes. “I could be your friend, I guess.”

“You guess?” He flashes a pretty grin. “You guess? I’m lonely! I have no friends. I get lost in my own house, and I still haven’t figured out where the grocery store is. I need a friend, or I might starve to death.”

Laughing, I step back in and hold on tight when a piano solo plays through the club. “Okay, fine. We can be friends. I’ll help a pal out.”

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Slitting my eyes open, I study the shadows in silence and process the never-endingbeepsin the air.I don’t move. I don’t let on I’m awake, because I’m not alone.

Ifeelmy company, and the warm body that takes up space near mine.

With my eyes only, I study the shadowed room. Windows line the wall opposite me, but curtains block everything except the square of light around the edges. The door is closed, but another rectangle of light moves around it. Flashing colors from the machines illuminate a recliner chair on my right, and turning onto my side, slowly, silently, my eyes meet an awake and watchful Angelo Alesi.

Tears rush forward when I remember.

What I did.

Who found me.

The angel.

Curled on the open recliner with his legs pulled to his chest and his coat draped over his body, Ang watches me watch him. Slowly, as a tear slides over my cheek and soaks into my white pillow, he brings his finger to his lips. “Shhh. You’re okay. It’s just me.”

The frantic beeping coming from the machines around me give away my building panic. “What are you–”

“Shhh…” He reaches out with a permanently grease-stained hand and thumbs the moisture from my cheek. “You don’t have to talk. I won’t ask questions you don’t wanna answer. I’m just sleeping, and you can go back to sleep, too, if you wanna. I won’t tell anyone you woke.”

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