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JENNY PACED THE LENGTH of their balcony, spike-heeled red sandals clicking against the concrete. “Chance refused to have sex with you?”
“In a word, yes.” In more words? It was sooo sweet. Yet, it wasn’t part of her plan. And it left Anda thoroughly confused.
Whirling around, Jenny asked, “But you do plan on making him have revenge sex with you? Here? Before you leave?”
“Yes.” To hopefully cover her lack of conviction, Anda tightened her robe before leaning forward to top off their coffees. “Well, hopefully. Probably. If I go through with it.”
“I’m reeling. First, you tell me the big, bad wolf is here and you want to do him.”
Jenny kept harping on being kept out of the loop on the change in their plan to fix Anda’s life. “I wanted to tell you after I saw him the first night, but you stayed out at the casinos so late that I was asleep when you got back.”
“Did you ever think I stayed out so late so you’d feel free to do the nasty without checking in with me?”
Ugh. Anda hated it when Jenny referred to sex that way.
Hookups might be on trend, but Anda still didn’t want to think of them as faceless, emotionless deals. Or anything dirty. If she’d gone through with the original plan, it would’ve been with a man with a good sense of humor, who could talk to her through dinner and drinks before things progressed.
“No. I didn’t logic out you gambling at a casino until four a.m.,” she said sarcastically. “Because it’s, you know, Vegas. But, um, thank you?”
With a sniff, Jenny sat down on the padded chair and picked at the fruit tray. “Why wouldn’t you go through with it with Chance?”
Anda didn’t want to confess the real reason. That things with Chance were sooo good. As good as before, when they’d been on the show. So good, in fact, that she was quickly losing the urge to punish him. So good that a teensy, tiny thought about them actually being able to rebuild their relationship was chasing around her brain like a firefly in a dark garden.
That would make her look weak. No, that would make her weak. A woman who caved. A woman who changed her mind from a single orgasm.
She could give herself an orgasm, damn it. She could go down to Sunset Boulevard and visit a plethora of sex shops and buy herself a vibrator even bigger than Chance’s amazing, satisfying penis.
Anda needed to remember that no matter how nice he was....how he’d honestly tried to save her life...he was the same man who’d kicked her off the show once he got his fill of her. That he’d wanted access to the smorgasbord of other beautiful women being handed to him on a silver tray.
That he’d already given up the chance at a relationship with her once. Without so much as the courtesy of a heads-up, let alone an explanation.
Looking out at the lake where they’d shared such a perfect date yesterday, Anda murmured softly, “Well, it feels a little crass. A little bit skanky. To use him like that.”
“You were fine at the idea of hooking up with a stranger,” Jenny shot back.
“Fine might be an overstatement. I was more...resigned. Like how you know a flu shot will hurt, but is ultimately the smart choice. Yes, I truly believe that a super-hot, no-strings attached hookup would rebuild my self-confidence.”
Displeasure hung around Jenny like a swarm of flies around potato salad. “But instead of heading down to that bar right now and picking out a man, you’re sticking with this idea of revenge sex.”
With a resolute nod, Anda said, “Yes.”
Because...it was, well, also a second chance. The night they’d shared together in Colorado had been the best sex of her life. It had been the closest connection she’d ever shared with a man.
A connection that felt almost one-hundred percent rebooted after their time on the lake.
Damn it. She’d let herself forget how badly he’d hurt her. The fact of how he’d dropped her.
Instead, Anda had enjoyed being with Chance. It was as if no time had passed. No doubt she’d go to her grave remembering the hot, fast, raunchy orgasm he gave her under that bridge. So, she couldn’t regret what happened.
She needed to tap back into her reservoir of anger and pain to fuel her plan to seduce him. Without opening her heart again.
Without falling in love with him again.
Jenny bent in half to lean forward, forearms on her knees. “You don’t seem sure.”
“I am. I am sure.” Mostly. Topped off with the fact that she didn’t have a better plan or any other option to get over Chance.
“Revenge sex won’t make you happy,” Jenny warned with a patronizing tightening of her lips at the end.
“Maybe it won’t. Well, I mean, it absolutely will, in the moment.” Little aftershocks of pleasure tingled under Anda’s skin just remembering Chance’s touch. “That man has skills, Jenny. Like you wouldn’t believe. He knows exactly what to do with a woman’s body.”
“Right. Because he’s had so many of them. Remember? He’s a total player?”
Would a total player really compliment the color of her cheeks during an orgasm? It was so hard to reconcile Chance-the-man-she-was-with-now and Chance-the-man-who’d-dumped-her. Anda picked up her second lemon cranberry muffin and plucked off the top. Fruit, carbs and sugar would make this unexpectedly difficult conversation a bit easier to bear.
“Right. Player extraordinaire. Flings-R-Us. Chance DiMarco is not compatible with commitment or caring. I get it. I’ve been there, gotten hurt by that.”
Not to mention that if she were ever tempted to forget, Anda could watch Man of Her Dreams and see him lie to her face about how much he cared, how special she was...right before ousting her.
“I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t make sure that you’re clear on it.”
Fat chance that Anda would forget. She was the one with the broken, barely-healing heart, compliments of Chance. “I’m just saying, if I’m going to have calculated revenge sex, I might as well have amazing, earth-shaking, mind-blowing revenge sex. That part will make me happy. And in the end? It’ll make me whole again.”
“When is this going to go down?”
“We have another date tonight. He wanted to give me time to do my own thing.”
His not glomming onto her was so thoughtful. Chance insisted that he still wanted Anda to have time to chill and veg out by the pool so that she got the relaxation desired. Because that’s the excuse she gave him for her trip. Not perusing the man-candy buffet for a healing hookup. No, she’d alluded to the need to relax and clear her head about the job choices, and that she’d fill him in on those tonight.
Squinting suspiciously, Jenny asked, “Or is that code for him getting together with a different woman here at the resort?”
“No. It couldn’t be.” The response popped out automatically. Because Chance had been so solicitous, so engaged, so darned into her. Jenny angled her a long, searching look. “Fine. Perhaps it could be, given his history. It doesn’t matter. He’s taking me to tour a distillery in town and then we’re coming back here for dinner.”
“You think you can get him to drop his fake moral stance and get into bed with you?”
“I mentioned the distillery, didn’t I? We’re Ubering. I’ll be sure that he tastes everything. That should be enough to get him in the mood and completely ready for seduction.”
“So, you get your wild ride, or three, out of him, hopefully get him to beg you to come back, and then tomorrow you cut him loose and cut him down?”
“Tomorrow...or the next day. I’ve got until we leave. The more into me he gets, the more painful it’ll be for him.” Ouch. That sounded so calculating. Anda knew Chance deserved to have his bad behavior turned back on him. It was just hard to contemplate being the one to actually do it. More to soothe herself, she said, “Besides, it won’t be a cruel, public humiliation like what he did to me on the show. Only the three of us will ever know.”
“You’re doing this for every woman who ever got treated like a disposable napkin by a man.”
“Yes. I am taking a stand for all of womankind with my impending, knee-melting night of orgasms.” There. Anda was back in the proper mindset. “Thanks, Jenny.”
***
“CHANCE? WHY DID SPAGO call to ask what time I’d like dinner delivered?”
Chance grinned at the FaceTime app showing his sister pacing her kitchen. “Because you said you didn’t want to go out and leave Brielle alone. So dinner is coming to you tonight.”
“That’s exactly what I gleaned from the nice man who called and told me you’d arranged it.” She shoved her fingers through her hair; a much longer version of Chance’s dark curls. “The question is, why?”
“When I took you there before you got pregnant, you said it was the best meal you ever had. It felt like the right way to thank you.”
“Don’t get me wrong. You can thank me like this until I’m forced to go up a pant size from all the smoked salmon and caviar pizza.” Chelsea set her iPad on the granite-topped island to wave both hands at it. “Wait. I take it back. Keep doing it until I go up two pant sizes. I just want to know what I did so that I can make sure to do it for you at least once a year. Preferably near my birthday or Christmas. Or right after I’ve perused the Tiffany’s lookbook for the season.”
“You told me to go down to the bar the other night, instead of drinking in my room.” He waved a hand to indicate the living room to his suite.
It was why he’d upped their call to video. Last time Chelsea had said she wanted to experience the resort vicariously. So, Chance planned to show her everything from the shower with eight heads to the fleece-lined silk robe and the butler button out on the deck.
“Wow. That’s barely even good advice. Way too easy to replicate to deserve a thank you this big every time. What life-changing event occurred to you in the bar of a Las Vegas resort?” Chelsea snatched up the iPad and brought it to within an inch of her face. “OMG. Are there slot machines in it? Did you win a sick amount of money?”
“No. Something better.” Chance sucked in a deep breath. “I got a do-over with Anda.”
“The woman who broke your heart? She’s there? Hey, do I need to worry about you turning into a stalker?”
He filled a tumbler with ice and poured in a lime seltzer. “We’re both using the gift certificates we got from doing the show. They expire soon. It’s simply a coincidence.”
The best one ever.
“And what...she let you buy her a drink? She took one look at you and realized she’d made the biggest mistake in her life walking out on you?”
Chance shrugged, unable to contain his triumphant grin. “Hopefully.”
“Whoa.” His sister slammed down the iPad on the top of her couch. Good thing it was a squishy one. “Are you sure you want to give her a second chance? This woman hurt you once already. What makes you think she won’t walk away again?”
Nope. He wouldn’t consider that possibility. Chance wouldn’t let that happen again. They were too good together.
He’d be more open, more honest. He’d laugh at cat videos, if that’s what it took. But he was mostly banking on it working better this time around because there wasn’t the pressure of a camera crew and all of freaking America watching them get to know each other.
“We’re taking it slow. Going on dates. Talking. Talking a lot. It’s been amazing.”
Chelsea hooted, hands on her cheeks like she was channeling that brat from Home Alone. “The talking has been amazing? Did that accident turn you into a eunuch? Is that why Maven Studios gave you so much money in your payout?”
If she kept up like this, he’d cancel the Spago order. “Hell. I don’t want to talk to my sister about...everything works, okay? And if things go according to plan, after tonight’s date, Anda will be able to vouch for it.”
“Whew. You had me worried there for a second.”
Chelsea could tease all she wanted. As long as she understood that what was going down this week with Anda was...huge. Momentous. On another level.
“You don’t get it. I used to be in it for the fun, for the sex. With Anda, though, it’s different. I feel like I want everything with her. Hell, I even want to her to meet you.”
“Huh.” Tapping her finger on her chin and pursing her lips, she said, “I’ve never met your flavor of the week.”
“Very funny.” If he’d called them that, Chelsea would’ve taken off his head. And called him a pig. “There’s nothing wrong with casual sex. Nobody ever got hurt. I never hid my lack of interest in relationships.”
“You really want me to meet her?” His sister looked as skeptical as when he’d announced he was going to jump off the roof of their ranch house on his bike. To be fair, he’d hedged the truth in the announcement. The plan had always been to aim his descent to land in the family pool, injury-free.
It had worked.
So would his do-over with Anda.
It had to.
“If Anda and I get through the week here at the resort? If we come out the other side still crazy about each other? Yeah. I’d want her to meet you as soon as possible. Because you both matter to me so damned much.”
“Interesting...”
Okay. She’d require a little more of a push. Chance could swallow his pride, if that’s what it took. “I know I’m going to lose points by admitting this, but it was Anda’s idea for us to have brunch every week. She made me see that I’d let my priorities get skewed. That family should come before everything else.”
“Reaaaaally?” Chelsea drew out the word until it became its own sentence. “Then I guess I do need to meet her. Thank her. Because you getting more involved with me and Brielle has meant everything.”
“Okay. Great.” In theory, anyway.
He’d been riding on the high of finding Anda again, and being so sure that this do-over would work. Now Chelsea had put it in his head that maybe it wouldn’t. That maybe he wasn’t entirely sure what Anda wanted out of this week with him.
Shit.
“Now show me everything,” Chelsea demanded. “Especially the bath products. I adore fancy tiny soaps.”
That triggered a memory of the bathtub he’d shared with Anda in Colorado. Would he be able to get her all wet again? Tonight? And why did their looming date, winning her back, feel like the riskiest stunt he’d ever attempted?
Why hadn’t he worried about her motivation? She’d ghosted on him very publicly six months ago. Why was she so willing to pick right back up?
Suddenly, Chance wondered if the thank you dinner he’d given his sister would be the only good thing happening tonight...