Jared said. “They would.”
Sam looked up, the bleariness in his eyes cleared and for a second, he seemed as sober as a minister. “You think we all get second chances, Jared?”
Jared’s chest tightened. He hoped so. If his father had lived longer, Jared knew now, with the wisdom of age and experience, that he would have given him a second chance, too. “I’d like to think so.”
O’Malley cleared his throat. “Cab’s here.”
“That’s my cue,” Sam said, rising. He put out a hand to stop Jared from paying the tab. “I’ve got it from here. You’ve done enough. Go after her. Don’t wait too long, like me.”
Jared watched Sam leave. The words “we all get second chances” rang in his ears. Maybe it was possible.
Jared scrambled off the stool, tossed a few more bills onto the pile for the tip and moved to grab his clipboard. As he picked it up, a germ of an idea sprang to his mind.
What if…he combined a little research with the answers he wanted? What if he found a way to not only peek inside Callie’s mind but also use their time together to analyze her reactions? He could do his research—
And find his answers to the past, all at once.
It would solve his problem perfectly. Give him exactly the kind of intimate knowledge his game research needed.
What harm could come of a few days with Callie Phillips? Not a real relationship, just a few dates. After all, Callie hadn’t been divorced for very long. Surely she wasn’t interested in anything permanent. And neither was he. Once his research was done, he’d be hip deep in work anyway, which meant no time for a life—
Again. Which was what he had done in his last two relationships. Yet, even as he told himself this was the perfect solution for both of them, a tiny bell of doubt rang, telling him things with Callie always had been more complicated than that.
Jared ignored the warning signals and strode out of the bar. Had to be the buzz of beer. Or the part of himself that wasn’t interested in signing up for Broken Heart Duty a second time in a decade.
But seeing her, for just a little while—
He couldn’t resist that, no matter how much he tried.
He caught up to her a little ways down the sidewalk, her arms wrapped around herself, to ward off the evening chill. He slipped off his jacket and slid it over her shoulders before she could protest.
“Thanks,” Callie said. “You were always Sir Galahad.”
“That’s me. The nerd in waiting.” He tipped at his glasses.
“You’re not so nerdy, Jared. Just…nice.” She smiled. “And that’s not so bad, or so easy to find.”
Damn, he was tired of her thinking he was nice. Tired of being seen as “just Jared.”
Nice guys finished last. And Jared had been left in Tony and Callie’s dust.
For one brief moment, she had seen him as something—someone else. Maybe he could give her that peek again. His mind scrambled for a way to connect, to find a path back to who she used to be, to the people they had been nine years ago. And in the process find out what had gone wrong. Why she had found him so lacking and Tony, the heartbreaker, such a better choice.
Then maybe that continual ache would stop hurting.
Music drifted out of O’Malley’s bar as the door opened and closed, releasing the fighting couple, who had apparently made up and were now holding hands and snuggling as they left. Other people headed in, the place finally beginning to fill as the night deepened. The music’s volume swelled, bass nearly drumming the sidewalk.
Jared took a step forward, and leaned close, his pulse ratcheting up with the nearness of her. “Do you still do that one thing you used to do?”
Her eyebrows arched. “What one thing?”
Jared took another step closer, invading her space now, inhaling her perfume, his research forgotten, his reason for being here long since left by the wayside. “You know what I’m talking about, Mariah Callie.”
Callie took in a breath, her chest rising with the movement, and it was all Jared could do not to bend forward and kiss her, just to see if she would still taste as she did. Feel like she used to, her mouth beneath his, her sweet lips against his.
Damn. What kind of game was he playing?
“Yes,” she said.
He grinned. “Good. Then let’s go do it now.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Maybe,” Jared said. “But since when did that ever stop you?”
Callie returned the smile, hers now curving up into one filled with a bit of a dare, a challenge. “Are you sure you can keep up with me?”
Jared leaned forward. His lips brushed against the edge of her hair, nearly kissed the delicate curve of her ear. “Absolutely. I’ve been practicing.”
Callie laughed, the deep, throaty sound Jared remembered, sending his mind roaring down a heady path he thought he’d forgotten. Clearly he hadn’t forgotten it. Not at all.
Telling him his plan had one hell of a serious flaw.
CHAPTER THREE
CALLIE hadn’t laughed this hard in years. She sat back down at the table in O’Malley’s, the bar much more crowded now, clutching her stomach. “Do you really think you had to go that far?”
Jared grinned. His blue eyes captured hers and Callie’s pulse quickened. “Absolutely. What’s a good Madonna performance without adding in the high-pitched ‘oops’ at the end?”
“For one, I don’t think that’s what she says and for another, the whole gyrating thing was more than enough.” Callie shook her head, chuckling. “You have to be the worst karaoke singer in the universe. And contrary to what you told me, you have not improved since the high school talent show.”
“Which is why I have you.” He waved a hand in her direction, then at himself. “Baby, you make me look good. You are the Cher to my Sonny.”
Callie groaned. “Jared, even your karaoke jokes are bad.”
He laughed, then flipped open the menu and slid it her way. “Time for some appetizers. We need fortification if we’re going to do the Ike and Tina Turner catalog later.”
Callie looked away. Twice, Jared had gone and made references to them as a couple. She hadn’t seen the man in nine years and now, wham, it seemed as if they were picking up like a knitter who’d started again on a forgotten afghan.
But wasn’t that what her body wanted to do? Heck, every part of her was reacting as if not a moment had passed between the last time she’d seen him and now. Every time he looked at her, every time he smiled, the room seemed to disappear.
And
