Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Um . . . “Sure,” I lied.
A frown slid across her lips. “I’m going to have to pull out.”
The bartender delivered my pint, and movement caught my eye. The guy sitting beside her held up his empty glass and proclaimed it loudly for everyone to hear. “I’ll take another.”
Rather than move, the bartender evaluated the man critically. “How about a water or a Coke instead?”
Confusion contorted his face, quickly followed by offense. “What?”
The bartender crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not serving you another drink.”
“Why the hell not?”
The bartender’s eyebrow lifted into a sharp, upside-down V. “Come on, man. You know why.”
The tension between them was thick, and I didn’t want it to escalate any further. “Hey,” I announced, “let me call you an Uber.”
The man looked at me like I’d just offered to spit in his face. “What?”
Everyone except the man knew this was only going to end one way—which was with him leaving. I didn’t care where he went after he left the bar, but I didn’t want him driving. “Hey, it’s no big deal.” I tried to sound friendly, even though I felt none of it. “I’ll even pay for it, if you’d like.”
Yet the man continued to look offended. His gaze narrowed on me before turning toward the bartender, whose expression was steely. No amount of convincing was going to change the guy’s mind and get the man another drink.
So he hopped down off his bar stool and wobbled on his unsteady feet as he pulled out his phone. “I can call my own damn Uber.”
The girl said nothing as he shuffled his way toward the front of the restaurant, but as he disappeared out the front door, she let out a heavy breath. The bartender returned to his other customers, and she leaned close to me, lowering her voice. “What the fuck was his deal? Was he on something?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “He was high as fuck.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “Well, thanks for coming over and pretending to be my boyfriend.”
“Don’t you mean Daddy?” I teased.
She grinned, and I pretended not to see the heat in her eyes as she took another sip of her martini. “Right.” Then she set her glass down and extended her hand. “I’m Charlotte.”
“Noah.” I took her offered hand. “And you’re welcome.”
We lapsed into silence, and I wracked my brain trying to come up with small talk, because I couldn’t imagine we had much in common.
“What you said about signing a new client. True?” she asked.
I nodded. “It was.” I left out that it was my first official client since starting my new role.
She picked up her martini and held it toward me. “In that case, cheers.”
I obliged, clicking our glasses together.
We both took our customary sips, and she glanced across the way to the now empty table where I’d been seated. “Your . . . friends didn’t want another round?”
She was fishing for information, and I held back my smile. I couldn’t blame her for being curious, but I wasn’t going to tell her about my ‘date.’ “No, we just wanted to grab one drink together.” I needed to shift the conversation away from that. “How about you?”
Her expression was suddenly guarded. “What about me?”
She obviously hadn’t come to the bar for a drink. “When you showed up, you were already carrying a martini.”
Charlotte made a face, and it looked like she was considering whether she should tell me. Once the decision had been made, her shoulders slumped. “Okay, so, I was on a date.”
“Uh-oh.” I hesitated. “That bad, huh?”
“Yeah,” she said flatly. “I mean, he just got up and left.”
Warning alarms triggered in my head. What on Earth had she said that sent the guy running? I hoped my expression looked blank and not judgmental. “He walked out in the middle of your date?”
She stared at her drink and traced the stem of the glass with a fingertip. “It wasn’t during the middle, it was right at the beginning. We’d just sat down at the table, and I’d ordered my drink when he suddenly got up and hightailed it for the exit.” Her tone was embarrassed. “He sent me a text message right after, saying that something came up and he was sorry.” She tossed up a hand. “Whatever. The whole thing was super weird, and I shouldn’t have said yes to that date in the first place. I didn’t know the guy, and even before he bailed on me, I knew it wasn’t going anywhere.”
It just fell out of my mouth. “Then why did you say yes?”
“He was cute, and . . .” She glanced at me and licked her lips, nervous. “I’ve had a rough few months. It was nice to have someone interested in me for once.” Her eyes abruptly went wide. “Oh, God, that makes me sound pathetic, doesn’t it?”