Second Chance for Romance полностью

“So learn to win gracefully. An inch is as good as a mile. You’re winning with Christy and me. Who cares if it’s a shutout or a close score? For that matter, we shouldn’t even be keeping score. These are people’s lives we’re talking about here.” I stared her down until she nodded agreement.

Then I continued, “Now, meddling with Gina and me is only gonna make me do things to spite you. You don’t want that. I don’t want that. It makes me feel petty and childish.”

“Fine! All right.” She drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you Gina’s messages.”

“And you’re sorry you made it sound like I was on a date with Christy?”

“But you were! ”

“Wren, we weren’t.” I let that sink in. “We were working on her project.

A date is a lot more fun. Trust me, I know the difference.” I paused to add emphasis to my next words. “You wanted to make Gina doubt me. You did it deliberately to hurt her. That’s not a nice thing to do, no matter what your motives.”

I leaned forward and put my hands flat on the table. “And let’s get one thing straight… I’m very protective of my friends. I don’t like it when someone tries to hurt one of them. Do you understand?”

She avoided my gaze.

My palm hit the table with a sharp crack!

“Everything okay out there?” Trip called from his office.

I looked a question at Wren.

“We’re fine,” she said to him. “Paul was just… making a point.”

He stuck his head out anyway. He surveyed the tableau and waited.

Wren sat back and still wouldn’t meet my eyes. She looked at Trip instead. “It’s fine. I… did something mean. It was dumb, and I wasn’t thinking.” She met my gaze. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

I nodded.

“Well,” Trip said, his voice deliberately light, “I’m glad I could help.”

Wren looked at him and forced a smile. “Thank you.” Then her expression relaxed and she smiled for real. “We’ll be done in a minute. And maybe afterward we can have a drink together. All of us. I think I’m going to need it.”

“You good with that?” he asked me.

“Absolutely.”

He laughed at the relief in my voice. Then he disappeared into his office

and told us to call him when we were ready.

Wren smoothed the tablecloth and stared at her hands for a long time. “I know I don’t fight fair,” she said at last, “and I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better.

I… just get caught up sometimes.”

“I know,” I said gently. “It’s what makes you good at anything you do. I admire that. And like I said, I don’t mind losing to a better opponent.”

She smiled without lifting her eyes.

“But you have to make me think I lost fair and square, not that I was cheated.”

“I know.”

“Because I’m completely lost where Christy is concerned.”

Her smile peeked from behind the clouds.

“Yeah,” I said with a soft laugh, “I’m head-over-heels falling for her.”

“I told you so.”

My expression slowly fell at the thought of what I had to do next.

“What’s the matter?”

“Now I need to have a long talk with Gina.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t keep stringing her along. She’s a wonderful person and deserves a guy who’ll treat her right. I’m not doing that, so I need to be honest with her.”

“Yeah. Are you going to call her tonight?”

“I don’t think so. I want to sleep on it and figure out what I’m going to say.” I laughed at a sudden thought. “I’ll probably run ten miles tomorrow.”

“You’re always calmer after you do.”

“I know. It bugged the hell out of you until you figured that out, didn’t it?”

“It did. I hate not knowing what’s going on.”

“So… now you know what’s going on with Gina. Are you happy?”

She started to say yes but then thought better of it.

“Ah,” I said slowly. “The penny just dropped, didn’t it. For every win, someone loses. Real people with real lives, Wren. And someone loses. That hurts.”

“I… hadn’t thought of that.”

“I didn’t think you had.”

“I’m definitely gonna need that drink.”

I nodded. After a moment I stood and went to the kitchen, where I took

down three glasses and reached to the top shelf for a lozenge-shaped bottle, Rémy Martin XO.

“This okay?” I asked when I returned to the dining room.

Wren took one look and laughed. “You sure know how to drown your troubles.”

“Hey, when I do something, I do it right.”

“You do,” she said softly. “I’ll have to remember that.”

I set the glasses on the table and poured a healthy amount into each.

“You know that’s about fifty dollars of cognac, right?”

“We’re worth it.” I started to call to Trip, but she stopped me with a gesture.

She picked up two glasses and handed one to me. She lifted hers, and I did the same. “One day we’ll look back on this and laugh,” she said. “I hope so, at least.”

“I think we will.”

“You’re a nice guy, Paul. Thanks for reminding me. I…” She sighed. “I was so focused on winning that I forgot that.”

“Thanks.”

“And…” She couldn’t help grinning. “You and Christy are gonna owe me for the rest of your lives. But—!” She held up a hand. “I have to let it happen on its own. I will. I promise.”

I arched a skeptical eyebrow.

“Shut up! I’m really trying here,” she protested. “Let me have my illusions, all right?”