Read Online Husband Stay (Husband #2) by Louise Cusack - Free Book Online

of the crowd in Bohemian
Brew , he was close enough for me to smell his aftershave. It could have
been pond slime and I would have thought it was sexy, but the fact that it had
a faint undercurrent of sandalwood caught me down low.
    He was big,
towering over me in my low heels, and without the terrible facial hair, he
looked impossibly handsome in his charcoal suit with a beautifully understated
silver tie.
    “Hello.” He smiled
tentatively, as if he wasn’t sure how I’d react. “Finally we meet when I’m not
full of drugs.”
    My breathing was
suddenly choppy and I could feel my face warming up, from embarrassment or
arousal, I wasn’t sure.
    “Jack,” I said
faintly, then I had to swallow because my throat felt dry.
    “You’re
beautiful.” He said it as if he’d only just realized. Then he started nodding
to himself. “And I had no idea you were friends with Noah Steele. So you’re a
celebrity—”
    “And you’re an
Olympic medalist, I hear.”
    There was a beat
of silence before he said, “Shooting. My dad taught me.”
    I nodded back. “My
dad encouraged me to sing.” Talking about our parents calmed me down. It was a
million miles from the idea of sex.
    “I’m glad. You
were amazing.” He nodded again. “But of course, you know that.”
    I shook my head. “I
don’t normally sing with Noah Steele. That’s the first time I’ve met him. I
just sing in a club—”
    “Where drunks
vomit on your shoes.”
    That made me
smile, despite the pulsing tension between us. “You weren’t drunk. I have that
on good authority.”
    “No I wasn’t. I only
ever have one drink.”
    “Just one?”
    He shook his head
and smiled, and my breath caught somewhere in my upper chest. Sweet Shiva ,
the man was breathtaking.
    “And no illegal
drugs. I’m boring that way.” His gaze slid over my face, lingering on my lips
before meeting my eyes again, and some crazy part of me wanted to say I’ll
bet you’re not boring in bed but that would have been outrageously
flirtatious and nothing like the Angela Lata I knew.
    Besides, it didn’t
need to be said. Anyone looking at him could see he was so hot he should come
with a combustion rating. In that moment I wished I didn’t drink either,
because the daiquiri that Jill had given me was making my head spin.
    Or he was.
    “I came to apologize,”
he went on. “The club owner said you lost your shoes, and the nurse at the hospital
told me about your medical bills. I’ve got insurance that will cover those
things. It’s the least I can do.”
    I nodded at that.
It made sense. But… “How did you find me?” I hadn’t spoken to Bernie since I’d
left the club. They wouldn’t know where I was.
    “I Googled your
name.” He shrugged in apology. “You were making an appearance here. I thought…it
was opportune.” Someone jostled him from behind and he leant toward me. “Can we
go somewhere quieter to talk?”
    I’d barely noticed
the crowd since he’d stepped in front of me. My concentration had been so
intense. But as soon as I started looking around, I was thinking of escape. I
felt so overwhelmed in his presence.
    When I didn’t
answer, he touched my fingers poking out of the cast. “I’m really sorry about
this.”
    I shivered with
reaction, thinking about all the times in the last twenty-four hours that I’d
imagined his fingers on my body. I seriously had to get control of myself or I
might do something embarrassing. I’d had so much attention focused on me by the
crowd, the last thing I wanted was to look like a fool in public. Especially over
a man I knew so little about.
    “I appreciate
that,” I said, turning back to him, willing the tingling in my fingers to stop.
My breasts felt as if they’d grown larger and were straining against my bra. It
was uncomfortable and exciting and completely inappropriate in the middle of a
crowd. “I’m here to support my friends,” I said plainly, because the longer I
stood in front of him being