Page 19 of Party Favors

Then my ovaries went up in flames when he ordered his drink in Italian. It was so sexy I wanted to faint like one of those sickly girls from Victorian times. She responded to him in Italian and I didn’t know what she was saying, but based on her body language and tone, I wasguessing it was something like, “So, fellow sexy person, would you like to get out of here?”

But he shook his head and just said, “Grazie.”

That I understood.Thank you.

Was it athanks but no thanks?

It seemed to be, given that waitress’s look of disappointment as she left.

“I told her I’ll have what you’re having,” he said. I guessed there was more to it than that, but he didn’t elaborate and I didn’t ask for specifics. He went on, “But if someone had asked me to guess your favorite drink, I probably would have picked chardonnay.”

He didn’t need to know that my drink of choice was usually whatever was on sale at the bodega two blocks from my apartment. I found myself preening a bit that he thought I was more sophisticated than I actually was.

“I’m from a small town in Alabama, and drinking beer was the only thing to do there.”

His eyes crinkled in amusement, and heaven help me, I wanted to kiss those sexy little creases. “But you don’t have an accent.”

“I worked hard to get rid of it. It comes back out when I’m drunk or around other southerners.” I lifted my beer up, intending to take a drink because I definitely needed the liquid courage, but I hesitated because I didn’t want to risk getting sloppy. Not that I was ever going to see this incredibly hot man again, but when I looked back at this night as one of my fond yet unbelievable memories, I didn’t want my throwing up in a sewer grate to be part of it. I set the frosty bottle back down on the table. “When I started at my job, people would make fun of my accent, and it seemed like my superiors didn’t take me as seriously. I wanted to move up the ranks and thought that might be a way to do it.”

I briefly thought of who I had been at eighteen, how much more driven I’d been then, willing to eradicate my southern accent to get ahead. I wondered where that girl had gone.

He leaned toward me, looking at me like I was the most interesting woman in the entire world. “That’s a shame. You should be allowed to be yourself.”

His words were so innocent, the sort of thing one kind stranger would say to another, but it made me feel understood in a way that I hadn’t for a while. It was disconcerting.

Out of total nervousness I smiled at him and said, “Speaking of accents, I noticed yours, too. You’re Monterran, right? My roommate and I came here tonight specifically to meet someone from Monterra.”

“Why is that?” he asked, genuinely curious.

I hadn’t had a man pay this much attention to me, well, ever, and I started to gush. “I have this birthday party I have to plan that’s based on your culture and I’ve never actually spoken to somebody from Monterra before and it feels like divine intervention that you’re here and you just made my whole night.”

As if my mouth were a horse, my brain pulled at the reins to get it to slow down. When I was nervous like this, I either babbled or clammed up completely, and right now both of those reactions were bad. I told myself to try to act like someone who had actually spoken to another human being.

“I’m glad I’m here to help. I see you met my favorite girl, Basta.”

Oh my, I had completely forgotten about the dog curled up on my left side. That spoke to the power of his hotness, because I never forgot about adorable furry friends.

“Is she yours?”

He nodded. “She is.”

“What kind of dog is she?”

“A Spinone Italiano.”

“I’ve never heard of that breed before. She is one beautiful dog, though.” Basta put her head in my lap so that I would keep scratching her ears.

“She knows it, too. Do you have a pet? Are you a dog or a cat person?”

“I’m an everything person. I’d pet an alligator if the little jerk wouldn’t try to bite my hand off.”

He laughed, and it was the most glorious thing I’d ever heard. I actually got chills from it.

“No wonder Basta came over to say hello. She must have sensed that. She’s been starved for attention lately. She just got out of quarantine and I didn’t want to leave her home tonight. Fortunately, they’re dog friendly here.”

“Quarantine?” I repeated, wondering if she’d been sick.

“I just moved to New York.”

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