The One Who Got Away Read Online Free PDF Page A

for motorcycles over cars, but it was true. There were only so many chances a person could take in life, and she wanted to make her gambles count.
    Like her personal agenda for this trip, for example.Sleeping with Ben wasn’t so much a gamble as a last-ditch attempt to get herself back on course. She was twenty-eight, for heaven’s sake, and dammit, she wanted to get married. Have kids. Two, to be precise. And she had no intention of settling.
    Sure there had been nice guys, and she’d liked one or two a great deal. But it hadn’t been enough. Perhaps her friends from Eve’s Apple were right: she was too picky. She wanted a fairy-tale hero, not a real-life husband. What Taylor didn’t understand was why she had to have one or the other. And no, she didn’t feel as if she were reaching for the moon.
    The truth was, she liked her life. She didn’t sit around and mope because she wasn’t married. She had lots of things she loved doing, including her bike, shooting pool in her league, going to flea markets, reading, a secret addiction to the Food Channel. She never felt bored, she always had a full plate, and for the most part, she was happy. All she really wanted was someone to share it all with. And, oh, God, how she wanted to have kids.
    The Apple gals had suggested she consider doing that on her own, but Taylor had dismissed the idea. In her opinion children needed a father. Not that women couldn’t raise kids successfully solo, but it was tough on everybody. Taylor had gotten along incredibly well with her father, and that relationship had formed her in so many ways. A lot of her independence had come from her father’s attitude toward her. He’d always told her she could do anything, be anyone she wanted to be.
    She couldn’t imagine having grown up without his influence.
    So, okay, maybe by the time she was thirty-five, if she still hadn’t found Mr. Right, then she’d seriously consider it. But for now, she was determined to go for the brass ring. Being with Ben was an important part of the equation, and she still believed with all her heart that once this week was over, her life would change dramatically. She’d be able to date with new eyes, not always comparing the men she met to Ben.
    She already felt better about things. His looks, for example. Yes, it was true he was stunningly gorgeous. But she’d been able to put that fact into perspective. There were lots of gorgeous men, but frankly, she would have been drawn to him even if he wasn’t so handsome.
    And that was the whole point. By the time Steve and Lisa got married she would have everything about Ben in perspective, and then she would be able to move on.
    It didn’t hurt that the task was going to be such a pleasant one, either. She grinned, but her mood deflated the next second. Perspective was well and fine, but the end result also meant she was going to lose something kind of special. A long-held fantasy was going to disappear in the light of those new eyes, and that was kind of sad.
    He’d been her superhero, her perfect guy for so long, it was hard to imagine that standard falling away. But it had to.
    Someone bumped her right shoulder, and she turned to face a nice-looking, white-haired gentlemanin a really snazzy tuxedo. He smiled, bowed his head gently and apologized. She nodded, then headed toward the elevator, but stopped just before she left the casino floor. There was an Elvis slot machine which would play a song if you hit the jackpot. She pulled a five from her purse, and slipped it in the slot. Instead of a handle, she pressed a button, playing maximum coins. Nothing.
    Nothing the second hit, or the third. In the end she only got one cherry. Her five was gone, and she hadn’t heard “Love Me Tender.”
    C’est la vie. Her real gamble was up in his room, sleeping by now. Dreaming of her?
    Â 
    B EN STARED AT THE CLOCK on the night table, the minutes