Caitlyn stared at a pair of dog tags resting against a black button-down shirt covering a man’s chest. Her heart thudded too fast for her to find the courage to actually meet his eyes. He’d called her beautiful. Pretty. Was this that masculine attention she’d both coveted and dreaded? She was pretty sure he was hitting on her. Wasn’t he? She’d never dated much before she’d gotten married. She wasn’t sure how this worked.

Oh God, what was she doing here? If she made eye contact would he expect her to have sex with him? Could she go through with this? “You’re very perceptive,” she managed to say.

“I was wondering why the most attractive woman in the room was sitting by herself in a corner. I thought maybe the possessive, hot-tempered, black-belt martial artist you were with was in the bathroom or something, but I watched you for a while and figured out why you’re not surrounded by admirers. It’s those men-suck vibes you’re giving off.”

“So why didn’t they scare you away?” She lifted her eyes, and her breath caught. Not only was he the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on, he was young—in his midtwenties. His dark blond hair was lightly gelled into a devil-may-care style that matched the twinkle in his blue eyes. Those eyes were a mesmerizing contrast to the warm tanned hue of his skin. A small hoop pierced one eyebrow, and he wore round cylinders in both earlobes—plugs or whatever they were called. She’d have thought he was an actor or a model if not for those accessories marring his otherwise perfect features.

“I don’t scare easy when I see something I want.” He grinned at her, flashing even white teeth and self-confidence that made her believe he didn’t want for long. No, this one attained. “What’s your name, beautiful?”

He’d called her beautiful again. She’d never needed a man’s praise to make her feel good about herself before she’d caught Charles with his pants around his knees while he thrust his pathetic cock into that nubile nineteen-year-old vagina on his desk. Sure, that vagina had been part of a person, but watching it engulf her husband’s cock was an image Caitlyn would never be able to scrub from her memory. With all the long hours she’d been working, their sex life had gotten a little stale, so she’d thought to surprise him in his office. Oh, she’d surprised him all right. And gotten the shock of her life as well.

The attractive man’s fingertips lightly brushed the back of her wrist and drew her away from her thoughts. That slight contact had emotions warring within her. She was flattered yet skeptical. Tense and uncomfortable, yet relieved that someone had noticed her. Grateful that he had called her beautiful. Thankful that he was either a great actor or actually was attracted to her.

Shoot, maybe he just pitied her for being alone.

“I’m Caitlyn,” she said, remembering that he’d asked her name.

“Why did you come here, Caitlyn?”

Because I’m lonely. Because my husband left me for a younger woman and I feel ugly. Old. Oh God, it’s been so long since someone has made me feel attractive that I don’t even know what to say to you.

“I was curious,” she said.

That was partially true. She had wondered what went on in places like these. Jenna’s husband was friends with the club’s owner and when Jenna had jokingly said Caitlyn needed to go there to get laid and work Charles out of her system, Caitlyn had surprised even herself by insisting she did. But she wasn’t going to start spilling her guts to strangers. She scarcely spilled them to her closest friends. She’d come to visit Jenna, her college roommate, in San Antonio on a whim. Mostly because she couldn’t stand to sit alone in her big house on the bay for another night. A house she’d once dreamed of filling with a loving family. Back when Charles had led her to believe that he wanted that too.

Stop thinking about him. Stop thinking about him. Just stop. Caitlyn squeezed her eyes shut and gave her head a hard shake. She then opened her eyes and shared her most dazzling smile with the hottie in black sitting across the bistro table from her.

“What’s your name, gorgeous?” she said, doing her damnedest to keep her men-suck vibes under control, because wouldn’t it be spit in Charles’s eye if she hooked up with this good-looking man—this young man—and fucked him all night.

“Owen.”

“Why did you come here, Owen?”

“I thought that was obvious,” he said.

She crinkled her brow in puzzlement.

“I was looking for you.”

She laughed. “I’m pretty sure the only reason you came to talk to me is because all the good ones were already taken.”

“Good ones?”

“The young, pretty ones.”

“She was younger than you, wasn’t she?”

He stroked the back of her hand gently and held her gaze. Caitlyn quickly found herself lost in his startlingly blue eyes.

“Caitlyn?”

She blinked and took a deep breath, trying to remember what he’d asked. “Who was younger than me?”

“The one he cheated with.”

“How do you know he cheated?”

“Men-suck vibes. They’re usually caused by a cheating asshole.”

She wondered how many women he’d seduced this way. He was very good at it. She especially liked that he called Charles an asshole, even though he had no idea who Charles was.

“She was younger. Twenty-five years younger than him. I think what hurts the most is that I was just like her when I met him. I was her age when he left his first wife for me. Took my virginity on the exact same desk he plowed her on. I’m going to send his first wife flowers. What an awful, awful wretch I was to her. I even called her old.”

Caitlyn cringed. When Caitlyn had married Charles, Gladys had been a year younger than Caitlyn was now. That made Caitlyn really old. She wondered if the poor girl he’d seduced was as proud of stealing him away as Caitlyn had been when she’d been in the same position. Had his little co-ed been a virgin? Had Charles told her she made him feel alive and that his dried up old wife had lost her spark? Caitlyn had been referring to Charles’s latest ego-booster as “that little tramp” for months. Caitlyn needed to direct all her anger at the truly guilty party. Charles Theodore Mattock, you’re a fucking, lecherous bastard.

“So you seduced a married man? I guess you’re not as sweet as you look in that sexy white lace.” Owen winked at her.

“Well, no. I didn’t realize he was married at the time. And for the record, he seduced me.”

“Perhaps he could offer me a few pointers.”

“You’re doing fine so far.” He smiled again, and her heart flopped down into the pit of her stomach.

“Would you like a drink?”

She was a tad overheated but said, “I think I’d better keep my wits about me.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?”

“I’m not going to send you away if that’s what you’re worried about. I came here to get laid, just like everyone else.”

His eyes widened, and he laughed. “I guess that is why everyone is here, and everyone knows that’s why we’re all here, but we don’t really discuss it. It’s more fun to pretend there’s a challenge.”

She felt like a fool because she didn’t know the rules. Didn’t know the rules because she’d never played the game. “Oh. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“I’m not offended. Just a little surprised by your straightforwardness.”

“Why?” No one she knew was surprised by it, but then she wasn’t exactly dressed for her usual role as CEO and head engineer of Starpower Industries. There she was unequivocally confident and master of her domain. Here she was nervous, out of place, and utterly attracted to this guy. Maybe he didn’t like strong women? She hoped she didn’t intimidate him. Perhaps she should pretend to be meek, timid, and afraid, because she was feeling all those things at the moment and it rattled her to her core.