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Sutton groaned and pushed up onto his elbows. Every muscle in his body ached in a way he’d never felt before and he’d been awakened by a pain in his lower back that was strong enough to rouse him. It felt like he’d been sleeping on a wooden plank or something. Looking around the dark room, it all came back to him. He was still in the club billiard room and he had, in fact, been sleeping on a wooden plank. He’d fallen asleep on the pool table after making love to his dance partner. He lifted his wrist and squinted in the dark at the face of his Rolex. It was four thirty in the morning.
He turned his head toward the spot where she’d lain beside him. The room was still dark, but he couldn’t make out the shape of her there. He stretched his arm out across the soft, felt surface of the table, but it just kept going. The surface was cold, with no trace of her warm, supple body beside him. Then his fingertips brushed against something.
Sitting up, Sutton slid off the table and crossed the room to switch on the light. He winced for a moment before his eyes adjusted and he could see what was left behind on the table. It was her mask. He walked over to pick it up and, once he did, he held it in his hands for a moment.
He knew then that Red was long gone. And he had no way of ever knowing who she was or how to find her again.
Dammit.
With her gone, the novelty of the darkness and anonymity of their encounter wasn’t as exciting. Now it was just frustrating as hell. That woman—that red-gowned goddess—was the greatest thing to happen to him in a long time. They had a connection unlike anything he’d felt with another woman before. And now he had nothing to show for their encounter but a stiff back and an ornate, black mask.
He sighed and tossed the mask onto the pool table. Then he focused on gathering up the rest of his clothes and putting them back on. His own mask was on the floor with his tie. He picked it up and threw it into the trash can. He wasn’t going to hide anymore. Not from the small-minded people in town who wanted to believe the worst of him and not from anyone else. His desire to escape from reality, even for just one night, had cost him his chance to have something...special. Maybe the kind of relationship he’d never had before.
As crazy as it sounded, somehow he knew it was true. His playboy reputation in Royal was well earned, but last night was different. She was different. He didn’t wake up satiated and ready to tackle the next challenge. Rather, he felt like he’d been robbed in his sleep. He’d already lost his home and fortune, but somehow this hurt even worse. He wasn’t used to this feeling. To losing. But it was all he seemed to do lately.
Sutton picked up her mask and looked at it again. A part of him wanted to throw it out along with his own. It was probably better that he forget all about tonight and about her. He and his family had enough to deal with right now without him adding unnecessary drama. But he couldn’t bring himself to toss it away. It was all he had left of her. Instead, he stuffed it into his pocket and headed to the door. He needed to take a cue from Cinderella and get out of here before he had to do the walk of shame through a lobby full of folks who were there to play an early-morning round of golf.
As he stepped out into the hallway, he found the rest of the club was as dark and quiet as the room he’d come from. The party had ended a long time ago. Some dim lighting around the bar area highlighted the broken-down tables and equipment that were stacked up to be carried off in the morning. It also highlighted a familiar, slumped figure sitting at the bar.
“Sebastian? Is that you?”
The figure turned toward him and lifted his mask up so that it sat on top of his head. Yes, it was his twin brother, Sebastian, looking exhausted and depressed as he clutched a glass of something in his hand. “Sutton?” He frowned i
n confusion. “What are you doing here so late?”
“I just woke up. I passed out in the billiard room. Why are you still here?”
His twin shook his head and sighed sadly. “I was with a woman tonight. An amazing woman. A dream in red that I would marry on the spot if she’d have me. But she disappeared before I could even get her name.”
Sutton frowned at the all-too-familiar story. What were the odds that both of them would have an incredible night with a woman in red that fled at the first chance? It was an uncanny coincidence, but perhaps it was just that kind of a night. Maybe there was something in the air. “Okay, but why are you sitting at the bar at this hour instead of going home?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Well, when I woke up alone, I came back to the bar to pour myself a drink and commiserate over my bad luck with women. So I’ve just been sitting here thinking about everything that happened tonight. About her and how captivating she was. I’ve never met another woman like her, Sutton.” He shook his head sadly. “And then I started thinking about everything going on with the company and the feds. Time got away from me, I guess.”
“We’ve both got a lot on our minds.”
His brother nodded and then turned to look at him curiously. “How did you fall asleep in the billiard room?” he asked, as though he’d finally processed his brother’s words from minutes before.
“I was back there with a woman. She ran off, too. Seems we both had amazing nights with women who would rather we not call them the next day.”
“Do you ever call them the next day?”
Sutton frowned at his brother. When it came to romance, he and his twin couldn’t be more different. “I resent that implication. There are many women around town that may have loved and lost me over the years, dear brother, but I was always a gentleman in the end. I’ve never left a woman scorned.”
Sebastian looked at him as though he didn’t quite believe Sutton’s version of events, but shook his head before saying so. “Well, it sounds like you got a little bit of your own medicine tonight. She left you wanting more for once, huh?”
That was an understatement. But it was too late to be philosophizing about dating karma and how it had made its way back to Sutton with a vengeance.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, changing the subject.
Sebastian shrugged. “I guess I could eat. All those appetizers didn’t really add up to dinner.”
He slapped his brother on the back and fished his keys out of his suit-coat pocket. “Come on, then. I’ll drive us to the Royal Diner and treat you to an early breakfast before we head home. Maybe we can beat the sunrise.”
Three
“Looks like someone had a good time last night.”
Lauren winced at the daylight that flooded into the food truck as Amy opened the door and climbed inside. She regarded her employee for a moment and then returned to her steaming-hot cup of coffee. “I guess.”
