Never Say Never, Part One (Second Chance Romance, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

main course arrived on the arms of another snooty waiter, but she didn’t care about the disdain anymore.  
    Tomorrow, she’d meet Chase Newman, and discover if she was doomed to be attracted to assholes for the rest of her life.  
    Emily downed the last of the wine in her glass.

CHAPTER SIX

    Chase was awake. He sat up in the bed, surrounded by vases of flowers and cards, staring out of the window at the bottom of the private ward.  
    He had a jawline to match Thor and dark wavy hair which begged to have fingers run through it.  
    A jerk. He was a jerk! She had to remember that.  
    Emily clenched the pencil skirt she’d chosen for the occasion and straightened it. This was it. Either he’d prove her fears were founded or she’d find out that men weren’t as bad as she’d discovered thus far.  
    “Chase?” He started and turned in the bed, pulling the sheets around his waist.  
    “Do I know you?” He had a deep voice and it sounded better now that his sentences weren’t slurred with liquor.  
    “Kinda.” How the hell would she explain this one?  
    ‘Hi, I’m the stripper you fondled who also got you beaten senseless outside the club. How’s your head?’  
    She settled for stepping further into the ward, and a tiny self-conscious grimace.  
    “I don’t get it.” Chase reached up and ruffled his hair.  
    “Yeah, I’m not being clear, am I?” She blushed and walked up to his bedside table. The cards read ‘Get Well Soon’; some were signed with hugs and kisses. She turned to him and a flash of recognition passed over his expression like a cloud.  
    Maybe this was a bad idea.  
    “I shouldn’t have come, I suppose, but I wanted to check you were recovering.”  
    “Who are you?” He was arrogant, but in that self-assured, business-like way. It wasn’t as revolting to her as it should’ve been.  
    “I’m Emily.”  
    Chase raised an eyebrow at her and grabbed a glass of water off the table, then drank from it. “All right, Emily, do I know you?”  
    She was drawn to him. She wanted to reach out and touch him and it set alarm bells off in her head.  
    “If you call flicking nipples knowing someone, then yeah I guess so.”  
    Chase went pale – paler since he was already white from being ill. “You can’t be serious.”  
    “Yeah, I’m Candy Lane.” She despised that stage name. “The last time you saw me I was twirling around a pole.”  
    An awkward silence filled the hospital ward. She’d been idiotic to come here. She’d expected him to be kind, or different, and of course he wouldn’t be. He was the same arrogant ass who’d groped her, he just wasn’t as drunk at the moment.  
    “Kay, so I wanted to check in and I’ve done that now. I’ll be on my way.” She walked backwards toward the hallway and raised a hand. “Bye.”  
    “No, wait,” he tried to hobble out of the bed, and tilted forward slightly. She rushed forward and caught him before he could fall, then helped him back in between the white sheets. Touching him made her breathless. Sparks skittered across her skin and into her chest.  
    “Easy does it,” she managed to breathe it out.  
    “Thanks.” Chase rearranged himself then slumped back amongst the pillows and gripped his forehead. “I’m ashamed.”  
    “What?”  
    “I’m sorry about how I acted the other night. It’s no excuse, but I’d just found out something shitty and I decided to bury myself in alcohol. I wound up in the strip club at the end of the night. Sort of to dull my thoughts even more.”  
    “Gee thanks.” Stripping wasn’t exactly an art form, but she’d expected a little appreciation for her dance. He hadn’t been ‘dulled’ when he accosted her.  
    “Oh come on, you know what I mean.”  
    “How could I possibly know what you mean when you’ve shrouded yourself in gift cards, flowers and mystery?”  
    “You don’t talk like a stripper.”  
    “You don’t act like a jerk.”