One Night with a Stranger

“How about that hottie at the end of the bar? If this were my one-night stand, he’s the guy I’d pick.”

Lisa Randall followed her best friend’s gaze. Courtney had good taste. The man swiveling on a black leather stool had dusky brown eyes, the enticing shadow of a beard along his hard-planed cheek, and broad shoulders that narrowed to slim hips. But… “I didn’t say I was going to do it. Just considering it.”

“Well consider fast, Girlfriend, before someone else scoops him up.” Courtney licked her lips. “Possibly me.”

“What about Jared?”

Courtney shrugged. “What about him?”

Lisa rolled her eyes. Since they’d moved to L.A. from Texas, Court had been involved in four relationships–five if you counted the guy they’d met driving out here and stayed with for a couple of weeks until they’d gotten settled. Fun-for-the-moment guys, but not husband material. Courtney wasn’t looking for long-term.

But Lisa was. And in the last two years, all she’d met were Mr. Wrongs.

“Well?” Courtney nudged her shoulder.

Lisa slid toward the edge of the booth for a better view. “I’m thinking.”

“Stalling, you mean.”

Her heart hammered with the same intensity as when she’d had to sing a solo for fifth-grade graduation. “What if he isn’t interested?”

Courtney sipped her pina colada. “Only one way to find out.”

This was crazy. But sometimes, after a bad breakup, it is good to ‘cleanse the palate,’ right? At the thought of partaking in that delicious specimen of maleness, Lisa’s mouth watered.

You deserve this. She swung her legs over the side of the bench. And at that moment, Mr. Hotter-than-Midland-in-August stopped swiveling and met her gaze.

Holy macaroni. His eyes were pools a woman could drown in. Though they remained fixed on her face, his intense gaze had the effect of slowly, painstakingly undressing her.