Roll the Dice: Part Two. A Second Chance Romance Novella. (Between the Rescued Series Book 2)

by Lyndsay Marie

  Warren shook my hand as we said our hellos, then moved on to Katie, and good lawd, she was all red-faced and heart-eyes when he moved his attention to her.

  While the other guys caught up and did their hugging and handshaking, Rowan broke up Warren and Katie’s little moment. “Warren, Shane, y’all come in, sit, get comfy. I know Kat and Chloe have had a long day. I imagine you have too.” Then she called out for Wesley to fix everyone a glass of wine. So much for the tequila.

  Warren moved around the kitchen, pulled out a few long-stem glasses, and lined them up on the counter, filling each one a little more than half full. I knew then he was going to make Rowan a really good husband. He could cook and knew how to fill up a wine glass.

  Kat grabbed two glasses and slid one over to me. “Drink, bitch.”

  I picked up the glass and took a hefty gulp. “Wow, that burns. But I needed it. Thank you, Wesley.”

  “Anytime.” He turned his back to the room and put his attention back on the food in front of him.

  I stuck my tongue out at Kat. “See,” I whispered. “Not pregnant.”

  She clinked her glass to mine. “Cheers to that.”

  It’d been a long day and I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was enjoy my little glass of wine, maybe consider a second one, smash through a gluttonous amount of Wesley’s homemade lasagna and garlic bread, then call it a night. I knew Rowan had the next two weeks crammed full of wedding planning and finalizing, so there wouldn’t be much resting going forward.

  I took a few sips from my glass and caught a glimpse of Daniel over my shoulder. He’d made his way to the couch and was now sitting comfortably next to Warren, who was chatting it up with Shane. All of them had quickly made themselves at home on the sectional with their feet propped up on the coffee table. It was exactly the life I’d envisioned for myself. One day.

  Rowan grabbed the other three glasses of red wine, made her way into the living room, and offered them to the guys.

  Kat turned toward Rowan. “And what’s with you, Row? Where’s your wine? Are you not drinking?”

  “Um. No, not tonight.”

  “Good grief. Since when did both of y’all quit drinking?” Kat rolled her eyes to me.

  I shrugged.

  “Y’all realize you’re both the reason I even drink?”

  “Well, I can’t,” Rowan said. “I’m on antibiotics for a UTI.”

  “Suuure. Whatever you have to tell yourself. One glass won’t kill you.”

  “So,” Wesley asked the guys from the kitchen as he pulled a massive pan of lasagna out of the oven. “What’s the plan? Warren? Daniel? Are you two staying for dinner or what? I know Shane is. He never turns down food. There’s plenty here for everyone.”

  “You know me. I’m going to eat,” Shane said.

  “Ah, I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it yet.” Warren looked at Daniel whose, eyes darted between him and me, from clear across the room. Don’t look at me. I wanted no part of this.

  Before either of them could come up with an answer, the doorbell rang. This time no one yelled for the mystery visitor to enter. Everyone looked at each other.

  “I wonder who that is?” Rowan asked, making her way to the door. She checked the peephole. “It’s Camilla,” she called out, letting in the next guest.

  All the guys echoed “hey” and “hi” and “what’s up” as Camilla walked in.

  Rowan introduced her new friend to me and Katie first. “Y’all, this is Camilla. She’s a co-worker and friend of Wesley and Daniel’s.”

  Camilla sauntered over, her ass swaying back and forth as she stuck her hand out to shake Katie’s hand, then mine. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

  Without ever having to see the look on Katie’s face, I was one hundred percent sure she and I both were on the same page about Camilla. Not that either one of us had any reason to feel threatened by her, but holy shit, she was gorgeous. And in a very over-the-top kind of way. She had jet-black hair that hung all the way down to her perfect bubble butt, which was only further accentuated by her skin-tight, gold satin dress. Her figure reminded me of Jessica Rabbit. I could only imagine what was going through the guys minds as she walked by. Compared to her, in my current unkempt state of pajamas with my post-shower hair a complete mess, I felt like lukewarm, dirty dishwater.

  “So what brings you around?” Rowan asked her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until next week. I thought you were out of town for work?”

  “I was. I came back a bit early.” Camilla flung her long, flowy hair over her shoulder. “Wesley said friends would be flying in today. I wanted to go ahead and meet them, say hello.”

  “Oh, yeah. I didn’t know if he’d told you or not when they were coming. Well here they are.” Rowan looked Camilla up and down from head to toe. “You’re dressed up awfully fancy for the occasion.” Yeah, boy, was she ever.

  “Oh, I’m not staying. Just passing by. You know? Places to go, etcetera. I thought I’d stop in for a minute. Plus, I saw Daniel’s car parked in the front of the garage.” She looked at him. “Still on for tonight?”

  Wesley cleared his throat from somewhere behind me. “So, dinner? Anyone? It’s ready.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  DANIEL

  I always figured I’d be single forever. Not because Icouldn’t get a woman. Shit, that was the easy part. I’d learned very early on that all I ever had to do was slap on one of my panty-dropping smiles—one that I’d spent a shit-ton of money on to maintain–toss out the whole I’m a doctor line, and bam—women were on my dick like flies on shit.

  But after that stint with my ex, being single seemed like the appropriate thing to do for myself and for anyone who’d remotely shown interest in me. I knew like hell I wasn’t ready for any kind of relationship. But on the other hand, I also knew deep down, beneath my well-kept superficial lifestyle, that I would eventually want to settle down. My problem was, I’d yet to cross paths with anyone who remotely held my interest for the title of being my girlfriend, much less the title of wife.

  Until now.

  I knew from the beginning that Chloe was different from any other woman I’d met. Not because she said so or had to do anything to convince me of it. I felt it in my bones—not just the one in my pants either. That was a bonus. But I felt right about her with every fiber of my soul, a place where I hadn’t felt anything emotional in a long time.

  Truth be told, I’d never once thought in a million years Chloe would have agreed to marry me. When I told her to—because, yes, I told her, I didn’t ask—it was half joke, half why the hell not? So when she’d said yes, I had a split-second decision to make: tell her I was only kidding, that I just wanted to see if she’d actually do it, or dive in head-first. I assured her it could easily be undone with an annulment. I only knew that because of a Google search I’d done when I ran to the bathroom at one point.

  Either way it wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done. But I didn’t really give a shit at that point. Challenging her was worth the risk—then and now.

  We were just getting started.

  ***

  “Yo, Shane.” I gave a few knocks on my guest bedroom door. “I’m running down to the coffee shop to grab some breakfast. You wanna go?”

  Shane showing up was a pleasant surprise for everyone, myself included. As far as I knew, he hadn’t been in town since he’d moved away for a new job. Him showing up without anyone knowing also meant he got the pleasure of staying with me because I was the only one with any space left once Wes and Warren’s family and out-of-town friends had arrived.

  “Nah,” he called out from behind the closed door. “I’m straight here.” The door cracked open and he barely stuck his head out. “I’m gonna take a shower, but would you mind grabbing me a large, black coffee and maybe a muffin or something?”

  “Yeah, sure. Any particular flavor?”

  “Anything but chocolate.”

  I craned my neck trying to get a peek inside my
guest room. Shane stood blocking my view into the bedroom. It was pitch-black, thanks to the black-out curtains, so it didn’t matter. I couldn’t see shit. “Who you trying to hide in here?” I asked jokingly.

  He held his stance firm, pulling the door tighter shut. “Huh? Nobody. I’ve just made a mess of your room. Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up after I get out of the shower.”

  “Umm-hmm. You know I don’t give a shit if you brought someone here. I was just screwing with you.”

  “Cool. Well, thanks for the coffee and shit.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be right back. It’s just around the corner.”

  I left my apartment without further incident, smiling and shaking my head at the thought of Shane bringing someone back to my place. I hadn’t known Shane nearly as long as Wesley and Warren had, but for the time I had known him, I’d learned he and I were a lot alike.

  I grabbed my keys and wallet and made my way down to the coffee shop. It was one of my favorite places to go. Not only was it convenient but they made their pastries fresh daily and ground their coffee per order. It was almost always packed, no matter the time of day, but worth my time to stand in line for sometimes twenty minutes or longer.

  After I’d placed my order, I stood to the side of the room and skimmed through work email on my phone. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Boring, boring, boring. Could one hospital possibly change their policies anymore in one week? Once the girl at the counter called my name, I grabbed Shane’s and my stuff. As I turned to leave, someone caught my eye and I froze in place.

  “Chloe?” I said it like a question, but I knew damned well it was her.

  “Dan—Daniel? Hi. Hey. What are you doing here?”

  I held up two coffees and a paper bag. “Breakfast. You know I live just right around the corner?”

  “Oh! Yea.” Of course you don’t know that. How could she? She fidgeted with her bracelet. “Yeah, I mean, no, I didn’t know that. Rowan wasn’t feeling great this morning, so I told her I’d go grab some stuff for everyone. Plus I needed some fresh air.”

  “Right. You know you passed like two coffee shops to get here?”

  She moved up in the line. “I know. But according to Google this place had better reviews. It was only a few blocks over.”

  “Gotcha. Hey, do you have time to talk? I promise I won’t keep you long.”

  She looked around, then checked the time on her phone. “Sure. As long as I get back soon. I don’t need the girls sending out the cavalry to look for me. They already didn’t want me coming here alone.”

  “Okay. I’ll go grab us a table.”

  Chloe had finally made her way to the counter, and I found one empty table tucked in the back corner, away from the line that went out the door.

  The cafe was loud and alive with morning conversation, but this table was far enough away that we could probably hear each other without having to yell at each other.

  I sipped my coffee as I waited for Chloe. I didn’t know what the hell I was going to say to her, but we needed to talk.

  She finally came over and sat down in the wooden chair across from me. “I clearly wasn’t thinking when I volunteered to get coffee and breakfast for four people, knowing I have to carry it all back by myself.”

  “You’re a good friend, Chloe. I’ll help you carry that back to Wes’s if you want.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll manage.”

  I decided not to let the silence between us last any longer than it needed to. “Listen, Chloe, I—I really want to apologize to you for what happened in Vegas. I was way out of line.”

  Her shoulders lifted, then dropped as she sank back into her chair. “It’s okay. We both were.”

  “Maybe, but I never should have put you in that position. And I damned sure didn’t mean to ghost you. That was entirely unintentional.”

  “I get it now. We’re both equally responsible for what happened that night. Now that I’ve had some time to process everything, I’ve pretty much pieced it all together. Between Wesley’s accident, you somehow ending up being his friend, and now he’s going to marry my best friend, I’m still having a hard time believing any of it’s real. It’s a lot to process.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. “Tell me about it. If it makes you feel any better, I did go back looking for you.”

  She shifted. “You did?”

  I smiled at her. No way she believed I didn’t. “Of course I did. I mean, after the night we had? Why wouldn’t I? And we were less than sixty seconds away from officially sealing the deal when Warren called me to tell me about Wes’s accident. I had no choice but to leave you…I just didn’t realize until after I’d made it to the hospital that we hadn’t swapped phone numbers.” I let out a long breath. “By the time I made it back to the hotel, I had like less than three hours to pack all our stuff, look around for you, and make it to the airport.”

  She reached into one of her bags, picked a piece of danish, and ate it. “In your defense, you did tell me you’d be in touch. Never thought it would be like this.”

  “No shit. Again, I am so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Just so you know, I looked for you too. Well, I fell asleep in the lobby waiting for you to come back. You should have seen the look on the bellboy’s face who had to wake me up and tell me to go to my room and go to bed. Then I overslept and by the time I woke up, it was later in the morning than I would have preferred before I finally made it back downstairs. I’m sure you were long gone by then.”

  “Yeah, I probably was.”

  “Well, I guess now that we got that all figured out, I’m sure you know then that we were never legally married.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. “I do know that. That was a crazy night though.”

  We talked some more about how each of us had found out on our own that our marriage wasn’t legal. Crazy as it sounded, that was a hard pill to swallow. A part of me had kind of hoped it were real. Though I don’t know what difference it would have made.

  “I have a question for you,” she said.

  “Anything. Shoot.”

  “Do you prefer to go by Dan or Daniel?”

  I let out a soft laugh. I knew she wasn’t trying to be funny, but of all the questions she could have asked me, she wanted to know my name preference? “Everyone calls me Daniel. The only person that goes by Dan in my family is my dad. I don’t know why that came out, but it did, and I just stuck with it.”

  “Interesting.” She took a sip of her coffee.

  “Let’s just start over.” I reached across the table and offered her my hand.

  She tried to hide her smile as she gave her hand to me. “Okay. Sounds good.”

  “I’m Daniel Brown. Nice to meet you.”

  “Well, Daniel Brown, I’m Chloe Hill. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Chloe Hill, it’s nice to meet you, too.”

  She looked me in the eyes, quietly waiting, her hand still in mine. It’d been what felt like a lifetime since I’d seen her or been this close to her, and I wanted to savor each second with her that I was given.

  She pulled her hand away. “So how did your date go Friday night?”

  What the—? Friday? “My date?”

  “With Camilla?”

  I laughed at the thought. “Camilla?” Our conversation had taken a drastic turn in the opposite direction I’d liked for it to go. “Oh man. We didn’t—. I mean, we did go out together after we left Wes’s, but it wasn’t a date or anything like that.”

  “She sure looked like she was ready to go on a date.” She stared down at her coffee cup, picking at the paper sleeve wrapped around it.

  Unable to hide my amusement, I smirked, waiting for Chloe to look back up at me. “Do I sense a little jealousy?”

  “No.”

  “No? Are you sure? Am I wrong?”

  “Yes.” She stood up to leave and started grabbing her stuff. “Look, I really need to go. Thanks for the talk, but we’ve been sitting here way too long and I’m pretty sure everyon
e’s coffee is cold.”

  I stood up with her. If she was going to walk out on me midconversation, I was going with her. “At least let me help you carry all of that back.”

  “Thanks, but I can manage.”

  “Chloe, stop.” I grabbed her wrist. “Listen. I’m not gonna lie. I fucked with her a long time ago. But not in years and damned sure not Friday night. Camilla is relentless in her chase. I’m used to it.”

  She relaxed in my grip and I let her go. “So y’all don’t have anything going on?”

  I shook my head. “No. Nothing. Camilla is just a drug rep that comes into the ER to sell us shit we don’t need. That’s her job. It just so happens that we sometimes see each other outside of work too because she and I hang out with the same people and sometimes at the same place to get away from the day-to-day corporate bullshit.” A group of people pushed past us. “Besides, I already told you, I don’t settle.”

  “Good to know. So what’s it going to take then to get the ‘forever and habitually single’ Daniel Brown to drop anchor and settle down with one woman?”

  She had a smirk on her face like she was taunting me, but I already knew Chloe wasn’t ready for my answer, but I was dead serious. “You.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  DANIEL

  You? You? Jesus. Of all the answers I could have given to Chloe to her question regarding what it would take for me to settle down, I tell her you.

  The look of shock and confusion on her face told me all I’d needed to know. My answer was way out of line and had hit her out of left field, rendering her completely speechless…and not in a good way.

  Without another word between us, I helped stack her two cup holders of coffee and two bags of food into her arms, before walking her out the door. She mumbled under her breath that she’d see me later tonight at Rowan’s and disappeared in a sea of people.

  In a matter of seconds, Chloe had me second-guessing what I’d thought would have been her appreciation for my straightforwardness. Maybe I’d completely misread her from the beginning. The only way I was ever going to find out would be to spend more one-on-one time with her but how the hell that was going to happen, I still didn’t have a clue. But I was going to try.