As Lost as I Get by Lisa Nicholas Page B

caught her eye. It had been years since she’d had a one-night stand, and she’d never gone out intentionally seeking one. She had no idea what to look for.
    Susan pulled her onto the dance floor, and between Susan’s tall, redheaded appeal and her own skimpy clothes (well, they felt skimpy anyway), they were soon the object of a lot of attention. One of the uniformed men asked for a dance and Zoe took his hand, waiting to see if there was any sort of spark.
    The music changed, slow and sultry, and she let the soldier pull her into his arms and lead the dance.
    “You are beautiful,” he said, in heavily accented English. “American, I think.”
    Out of habit, she answered in Spanish. “American, yes.” She smiled up at him, trying to remember how to flirt. “And you’re very kind.”
    “And a good accent for an American.”
    She kept smiling, not bothering to tell him she’d grown up speaking as much Spanish as English.
    The rhythm of the music was like slow, decadent sex, and he led her around the dance floor with just a bit of pressure to her back and the occasional press of his hips. “What should I call you? My name is Miguel.”
    “Zoe.” She kept his gaze until she felt a little uncomfortable, then rested her head against his shoulder. His smile was warm and he was absolutely gorgeous, but dancing with him was like sharing a cage with a hungry lion. Rather than putting her at ease, his smile unsettled her. It didn’t reach his eyes at all. Everything about him suggested he’d be a good time for just one night, but for that prickle at the back of her neck.
    When the song ended, she thanked him and tried to duck away before he could ask her anything else.
    He caught her by the arm, not enough to hurt, but more than enough to stop her. “Zoe, let me buy you a drink.”
    “No, thank you. I need to go. I came here with my friends . . .” Where the hell was Susan?
    “Please.” Once again, his warm smile went nowhere near his eyes.
    “I can’t.” She gave him a smile of her own, her heart pounding in her chest, and wrenched her arm, pulling it free. Sheturned for the bar in too much of a hurry to watch where she was going, and ran into a solid chest.
    “I was just coming to ask you for a dance.” Lee smiled down at her and for a single terrified moment Zoe thought she was having a hallucination, because how else could he be here, tonight of all nights?
    “What—” He had to be real, because she would never have imagined him in an open-throated shirt and jeans, no matter how good they looked on him. “What are you doing here?”
    “I just said. Asking you to dance.” He took a second look at her. “Are you all right?”
    “Oh. Yeah. I’m fine. Just, you know, had an overenthusiastic partner.”
    He frowned, scanning the crowd as if looking for a threat, but offered her his hand. She took it without thinking, and there was the spark she’d been looking for earlier, shooting up her arm and down her spine. When he took her in his arms, she didn’t really care where he’d come from, just that he was here.
    “I haven’t run into you here before,” he said. “What brings you out on a rainy night?”
    The way he moved with her was so self-assured, so smooth, she didn’t have to think about where to put her feet. Tension seeped from her shoulders. “It’s been a rough couple of days. Susan decided I needed a night out.”
    “The epidemic, I heard. How bad is it?” Concern was clear on his face—for her, or for her patients?
    “I think we’re past the worst of it, thanks.”
    “Sorry, you probably came here to get away from that.” He pulled her close and they moved together with ease, the pulsing beat carrying them along. Zoe felt as if she were floating, being carried away on a current she didn’t control.
    “I’m glad you came out tonight.” Lee leaned down to murmur in her ear. “I’ve been hoping to see you again.”
    She shivered and his arms tightened. There was music