Second Chances by Christle Gray Page A

to go public. She can be a little intense when dealing with things not entirely within her control.”
    Intense was an understatement. Kristin couldn’t imagine having to pretend to be with someone you weren’t in love with anymore. It didn’t seem fair that something like that could affect someone’s career, but she had seen how brutal the British tabloids could be. Yes, that’s why Sophie acted out of control. That had to be it.
    “And no one knows any of this?” The corners of her mouth lifted in a grin, she couldn’t stop.
    The bartender brought David another beer, set it down on the table in front of them, and then returned to his post behind the bar.
    “No one, except you.” He took a swig of the beer and played with the label.
    Kristin stared into her wineglass for a moment, letting everything she’d been told sink in. What did she want? Could she start a new life? Could she be friends with David?
    Her heart fluttered with a mixture of fear and excitement. Maybe friendship could be that small step toward being able to share something more with someone.
    When she looked up again, David stared at her expectantly.
    “So why tell me?” Her wine barely touched, she finally took a sip.
    David’s eyes shifted to the label on the beer bottle in front of him. “I can’t explain it, but lying to you about it felt wrong, somehow.” He glanced at her once more. “I hadn’t anticipated meeting someone during all of this.”
    Kristin took another sip of wine as she weighed their conversations over the last couple of weeks. A large part of her was overjoyed at his admission that he was actually not engaged to Sophie Miller. But that fear of trusting others still held her in its grasp.
    What did David expect her to say? What was she supposed to do with this information? Did he think she would be willing to play along with this absurd game? She had barely decided to move on with her life and didn’t need to deliberately make it more complicated.
    But with the deliberate way he tilted the beer bottle to his sensual lips, Kristin thought complicated might be just what she needed. “David—” he held up a hand.
    “I’m not being presumptuous enough to ask for anything besides a chance for us to be friends. The situation is too shambolic for anything more.”
    Kristin crinkled her nose. “What’s shambolic?” Asking something mundane seemed easier than to feel anything.
    “It’s slang for chaos, Kristin.”
    He dropped his hand and his shoulders slumped, the action diminishing his tall frame. “I’m just so tired of lying to my friends. I thought it would be nice to have someone I could be completely honest with.”
    Kristin perked up her eyebrows. “Friends, huh?” One step at a time, isn’t that what Ingrid said?
    David smiled and released the white-knuckle grip around his beer. “That’s it, friends. Buddies. Mates. What do you say?”
    He appeared as eager as a schoolboy for her answer. The tug of attraction she felt whenever she stared into his eyes for too long stirred up images in her mind better left dormant. Could she keep that under control in order to build a friendship? Perhaps it would be a good test of her newfound resolve to move on with her life.
    Kristin tilted her head. “Well, I guess I don’t really have many friends myself here in London, and we do seem to frequent the same places lately.” What the hell, friendship helped her take a leap out into the world.
    She raised her glass. “I say, let’s toast to new friends then. Cheers.”
    “Cheers,” he smiled and lifted his beer.
    The clink of their glasses joined the other jovial sounds of people socializing in the pub. David relaxed his shoulders and leaned back in his seat, in what she assumed to be relief.
    “You were really nervous about telling me all of that, weren’t you?” She snickered at his apparent relief.
    His forehead wrinkled adorably as his eyebrows arched. “Aye, wouldn’t you be? For all I knew, you