Not a Second Chance Read online

  He reached for his wallet and—

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Ignore it,” she said, her breath heavy. “They’ve probably got the wrong door.”

  Well, he would happily ignore it. But when he was about to tear open the condom wrapper, there was another knock.

  “Are you sure about that?” he asked.

  Allison shut her eyes and reached for her bra.

  Shit.

  “Now I remember,” she said. “My friends and I are going out tonight. Which I hadn’t forgotten. But I did forget that I told them to come over before dinner for a drink. Fuck.”

  He swore too. Every damn word he knew. “Now what?”

  “I knew I’d end up regretting this.” She shook her head. “I should never have let myself be talked into it.”

  “Two years without any good sex, remember.” He zipped up his pants.

  “Screw my miserable sex life. Not worth it.”

  Sidney was insulted that she didn’t think he was worth it, but there was no time to argue. “What will you tell your friends about me?”

  “Want to camp out in my bedroom for the next hour or two? After we head out, you can go. Just leave the door unlocked.” She paused. “Wait—I’m not sure I trust you alone in my condo.”

  “I’d rather meet your friends.” Though it was a tough call. But a couple of hours alone in her bedroom would be pretty boring.

  “You’ve met them before. My housemates in university.” She hurriedly buttoned her shirt.

  There was another knock on the door. Louder, more insistent.

  “Coming!” Allison shouted. Quietly, she asked Sidney, “How do I look?”

  “Good. But not like you’re coming.”

  She held up her middle finger as she headed to the door.

  Goddammit. He was so not in the mood for this.

  Chapter 3

  Allison was so not in the mood for this. After her friends saw Sidney, she’d have to hear about it all evening. Meaningless sex was definitely a better way to end the week than being teased mercilessly about the meaningless sex she hadn’t quite managed to have because her friends didn’t have the courtesy to show up late.

  She flung open the door.

  “Hey!” Kristy held out a bottle of white wine. “How are you?”

  “I’m great,” Allison said, hoping she sounded normal. But her ex-boyfriend had been about to fuck her on the counter a minute ago. It was probably impossible to sound normal.

  Maya narrowed her eyes and skipped the pleasantries. “Why are you still in your work clothes? And your shirt’s not buttoned properly.”

  Allison looked down. The buttons were off by one; the last buttonhole had no button. And Sidney had told her she looked fine.

  She took the bottle of wine. “Thanks. Why didn’t you buzz?”

  Kristy shrugged. “The old man in front of us held the door open, so we didn’t need to.”

  “He’s not supposed to do that,” Allison grumbled.

  “Seriously, what’s up with you tonight?” Maya said.

  “Nothing.” But it was stupid to deny it. Just delaying the inevitable for a few more seconds. Unless it wasn’t inevitable. Maybe Sidney would climb out the window and down fourteen floors of glass, and Maya would stop pestering her.

  Yeah, right. No way would her friends let this go.

  “Are you sure?” Kristy asked, her face full of concern. “Maya’s right. Something’s off.”

  “Yeah. Out with it.” Maya put her hands on her hips. “And maybe you could move away from the door so we can come in.”

  Allison stepped back. As her friends entered, she tried to prepare herself for the moment they saw Sidney. Which should be any second now.

  Except Sidney seemed to have disappeared.

  Hmm. Maybe he’d decided to camp out in her bedroom after all.

  “You have a guy over.” Maya pointed at his shoes.

  Okay, that was stupid of him. Hiding in her bedroom was pointless if he didn’t take all the evidence with him. He better not have left a condom on the kitchen counter. There was no point denying the truth now, but that would make it even more embarrassing.

  “Yeah, I have a guy over.” Allison set the wine down on the counter. No condom. Good. “I forgot you two were coming over before dinner, so…yeah.”

  Kristy gave her a little push on the shoulder. “Where did you meet him? Tell us everything!”

  “It looks like that’s the last thing she wants to do,” Maya said.

  “You’ll meet him soon enough.” Allison glanced down the hall. The washroom door was closed. “I need a drink.”

  She motioned her friends toward the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living room. Then she walked to the cupboard and got out wineglasses. Three wineglasses.

  “I take it he’s not staying,” Maya said as she sat down.

  Allison was opening the bottle of wine when Sidney entered the kitchen. The sexy man who happened to be her ex-boyfriend. And who irritated the crap out of her.

  “Hey.” He nodded at her friends. “Kristy. Maya. Have I got that right?”

  Kristy and Maya just stared at him, eyes wide.

  Maya found her voice first. “Did Allison tell you our names? Or do we know you?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. You know him.” Allison pulled out the cork with a pop, then cast a sidelong glance at Sidney. Unlike her, he did not look like he’d been fooling around just a few minutes before. Damn him. She still needed to fix the buttons on her shirt.

  Kristy’s face lit up. “Sidney. Can’t believe I didn’t recognize you at first. I like the long hair.”

  Allison couldn’t believe Kristy had figured out who he was faster than she had.

  “Well, that explains everything,” Maya said. “Nice to see you again, Sidney.”

  “Same.” He turned to Kristy. “You figured out who I was faster than Allison.”

  Did he really need to say that? She poured three glasses of wine and slid two over to her friends.

  “Really?” Kristy said. “I know you’re not very good with faces, but—”

  “I’d blocked him from my memory.” Allison had a sip of wine.

  Maya snickered then looked at Sidney. “Why don’t you stay and catch up? Allison, get him a glass.”

  “He was just leaving.” She glared at her friend.

  “I thought I was staying until seven?” He winked at her. “It’s only six thirty.”

  Her traitorous body got a little excited at the thought of what they were supposed to be doing until seven. At the thought of his hard body pressed against her, his finger taking her toward climax…

  But seeing as none of that fun stuff was happening, it was best he leave ASAP before she tossed her wine in his face.

  “Yeah, I don’t think he was just leaving.” Maya crossed her arms. “Though I know he wasn’t going to stay overnight.”

  “Of course not,” Allison said. “I’m having dinner with you two—that’s my plan for the evening.”

  “Until we saw each other at the bakery,” Sidney said. “Well, I saw her. She didn’t recognize me. And then—”

  “Could we please not talk about this?”

  Maya’s gaze flicked from Allison to Sidney, then back to Allison. “I don’t think your dinner plans were the only reason he wasn’t going to stay over. I remember how much you two fought at the end. Hell, I bet you wouldn’t be able to spend a night together without killing each other.”

  “My thought exactly,” Allison said.

  “I told her she’d probably stab me in my sleep. Isn’t that right?” Sidney patted Allison’s shoulder and smiled; she shook him off. “And she admitted she would. We discussed it back at the bakery. But I didn’t tell her what I would do.”

  “I’m glad you two decided to have this conversation before you had sex,” Maya said. “Very sensible of you.”

  “Sensible. That’s what I said.” He nudged Allison’s hip. “Well, we
were talking about something slightly different when I used the word, but—”

  “Sidney.” Allison held up her glass. “I am very close to pouring wine all over you.”

  “White wine. That’s not so bad. Red wine on the other hand…”

  She downed half her glass rather than dumping it on him. This was not the time to waste alcohol. How had she ever thought that sleeping with him was a good idea? Of course, she could not have foreseen this, although had she actually remembered her friends were coming over, maybe she would have. But had she remembered, she certainly wouldn’t have invited him back to her place. Instead, she might have suggested the washroom at Temptations—they could have done it there in five minutes.

  Okay. She needed to stop thinking like this. Sidney was pissing her off. This had been an enormous mistake. That was all. Even spending another five minutes with him sounded like torture.

  “Hmm.” Kristy smiled faintly and swirled the wine in her glass. “I agree with Maya. I bet you two wouldn’t be able to spend a night together without committing any crimes. And I’ll buy you dinner if you prove us wrong.”

  “You’re joking,” Allison said.

  It had to be a joke, right?

  “Seriously,” Kristy said, her smile widening. “I’m pretty sure you can’t do it. If by some miracle you succeed, I’ll buy you both dinner. An expensive dinner. With wine.”

  “So as a reward for spending the whole night with him, I get to have dinner with him? That sounds like a punishment, not a reward.”

  “I can buy you dinner separately.”

  “Not worth it.”

  “Five hundred dollars,” Kristy said. “I’ll give you five hundred dollars, which you can split however you like.”

  What? Allison must have heard that wrong. Her friend was seriously offering her money to spend a night with her ex-boyfriend?

  But everyone else was speechless too. So maybe she’d heard correctly. Sidney looked at her and raised his eyebrows, as if expecting her to explain this. But she couldn’t. It made no sense.

  “Much as I would love to see this,” Maya said, “I don’t think you have five hundred dollars to throw around on stupid bets, Kristy.”

  “Actually I do. I got some unexpected cash recently.”

  Sidney turned to Kristy and held out his hand. “You have a deal.”

  This was happening too fast. And it was all wrong.

  “Wait.” Allison grabbed his hand and pushed it down onto the counter. “This doesn’t work unless we both agree. And I’m not agreeing.”

  “Why not?” he said, pulling his hand out from under hers. “Five hundred dollars just to have sex and argue and try not to kill each other for one night? Sounds good to me.”

  “You’d only get two hundred and fifty. If that. Maybe your share should only be a hundred dollars.”

  “You know,” Kristy said, “when you put it like that, it does sound a bit too easy, even for you two. How about I give you five hundred dollars plus dinner—separately if you insist—if you spend the weekend together. Forty-eight hours.”

  “Fine,” Sidney said. “But no more changing the bet.”

  “One more thing. If you two lose the bet, someone has to buy me dinner. Well, Allison has to buy me dinner. But you don’t owe me five hundred dollars.” Kristy reached out and shook Sidney’s hand.

  Forty-eight hours together? And Sidney wanted to do this? And Kristy was willing to blow five hundred dollars on it? Allison couldn’t wrap her mind around it all.

  “As entertaining as this sounds,” Maya said, “I don’t understand why it’s happening.”

  “It’s not happening. I haven’t agreed.” Allison turned to Kristy. “What has gotten into you?”

  Kristy whispered something to Maya, who covered her mouth with one hand and nodded.

  Great. Now they were keeping secrets from her.

  Sidney wrapped his arm around Allison’s waist, and before she could push him away, he whispered, “Don’t you want to have lots of sex and get paid for it?”

  “I have no desire to be a hooker.”

  He slid his hand down to her hip and caressed it lightly. “Lots and lots of sex with me? That doesn’t tempt you at all?”

  She felt his warm breath on her ear, and that warmth spread to other parts of her. Yes, a weekend filled with good sex was awfully tempting. But…“The idea of spending so much time with you horrifies me.”

  “I don’t have to talk,” he said. “Would that make it better?”

  “I doubt you could manage to stop talking.”

  “True.” He continued to touch her. Continued to stand far too close. “There are many filthy things I’d want to say to you. Many wicked things. And don’t forget, I know exactly what you like.”

  Why did that have to make desire pool between her legs? Now the idea of forty-eight hours together sounded less than utterly horrifying.

  She pushed those thoughts aside. It would be complete torture, she told her body. And don’t you think otherwise.

  On the other side of the breakfast bar, Maya and Kristy were having a quiet conversation of their own. Quiet except for Kristy’s giggles.

  “So you won’t do it, Allison?” Kristy said, picking up her wineglass. “It’s just one weekend.”

  “What is wrong with you two?” Allison shoved Sidney away and poured herself some more wine.

  “I know why you won’t do it,” Maya said. “It’s—”

  “Because it sounds like torture, and I don’t need money that desperately. The whole thing is idiotic.”

  “You won’t do it because you know you’ll fail.”

  Allison clenched her jaw. It might be a stupid bet, but those words still got to her.

  She didn’t like being told she’d fail. When she was told she wasn’t good enough to pass grade eight piano, she’d passed grade eight piano without any problem. She hated every damn minute of practice, but she did it. When she was struggling a little with physics, her father told her it would be okay if she didn’t get an A for once because he didn’t think she’d be able to do it. But Allison still got that A. And then there was hockey…

  “I could do it,” she said. “I just don’t want to.”

  “Then prove it,” Maya shot back.

  “Yeah.” Kristy leaned forward, her hands clasped on the counter. “Because I’m pretty sure you’ll never make it.”

  “We did it all the time when we were dating,” Allison said. “I don’t know why we need to prove it now.”

  “We didn’t really spend that much time together,” Sidney muttered. “You were always studying.”

  “And you should have been studying. You were in—what was it? Fifth year? Sixth year? I can’t remember.”

  “You can’t remember because you never gave a shit about me. I’m not sure you even knew at the time. Hell, you didn’t even recognize me today.”

  “You look completely different.”

  “Not that different.”

  “And I did recognize you. Eventually.”

  “Only because I told you we’d dated for a while, and you mentally went through the list of men you’ve dated.”

  “And this is why my five hundred dollars is safe,” Kristy said to Maya.

  “No. It’s not.” Allison held out her hand. “I accept your bet. We’ll make it. You’ll see.”

  “I doubt it,” Kristy said, shaking her hand. “But I can’t wait to see you try.”

  “Me too.” Maya grinned. “Forty-eight hours, remember. It’s six fifty-three now, so you’ve got until six fifty-three on Sunday.”

  This was going to be so much fun.

  Not.

  *

  Sidney wasn’t surprised Allison had agreed. She hated being told she’d fail and loved proving people wrong. He suspected her friends had said what they did because they knew it would get her to take the bet.

  But he didn’t understand Kristy’s motive. Why the hell had she made that bet in the first place?

 
; He’d agreed to it much faster than Allison because the thought of having lots and lots of sex—what else would they do with all that time?—had wiped all other thoughts from his mind. Plus, like Allison, he hated when someone said he couldn’t do something.

  He hadn’t always been this way. Back in university, people had regularly told him he couldn’t do things, and he’d just laughed and usually proved them right. But when he finally moved out of his parents’ basement after everyone had given up on him entirely, he started to enjoy proving people wrong. He liked the look of shock on their faces when he defied expectations and actually accomplished something.

  So he understood why Allison had taken the bet, even though spending a weekend with him was probably the last thing she wanted to do. Frankly, he wasn’t looking forward to most of the next forty-eight hours either. Just the sex.

  His eyes slid down her body. The buttons on her shirt taunted him; he’d had them undone not long ago, and now she was covered up again. He wished he could see what was underneath, wished he could hear her response as he brushed his hands over her skin. And he would—but not right now.

  Sidney walked over to the cupboard he’d seen Allison get the wineglasses from earlier. He pulled out a glass and poured himself the rest of the wine, which wasn’t much.

  “Does this mean he has to come out for dinner with us?” Allison asked.

  “Of course,” Kristy said. “That’s what spending the weekend together means. You have to spend every minute together.”

  “Surely you don’t mean every minute.”

  “Fine. You don’t have to shower together.”

  “No?” Sidney slipped his arm around Allison’s shoulders. “Sounds like—”

  “Get away from me.” She kicked his shin.

  The weekend sure was off to a great start.

  “Since Sidney’s having dinner with us, maybe I’ll ask Grant to come,” Kristy said.

  “Yes. Please do.” He had no idea who Grant was—presumably Kristy’s boyfriend or husband—but another man sounded like a good idea.

  “So I’ll be the only one without a date,” Maya said.

  “But you’re seeing Les tomorrow.” Kristy grasped Maya’s arm and shook her rather enthusiastically. “That’s exciting, isn’t it?”

  “Who’s Les?” Allison asked.