Page 10 of Love Beyond the Illusion
“Let’s not be strangers then.” Jack clasps his hands together and rests them with bent elbows on the table. “I already know your name and what you do for a living. The next logical thing for me is to ask what your favorite color is.”
I suck in air through my teeth. “I don’t know, I feel like my favorite color is a little too personal.”
His eyebrows raise. “Can I guess?”
“Sure.”
He bites his bottom lip before speaking. “Blue.”
I scrunch my nose. “Obvious choice, that’s everyone’s favorite color.”
“Red?”
“Nope.” I sit back against the chair, crossing my arms at my chest to match his. Just then, the waitress comes over. Jack and I decide to order dinner, then another glass of wine each.
When our waitress brought the check, we’d been talking about the most random things for the last few hours. If someone asks me what we spoke about tomorrow, I won't be able to tell them because it’s been utter nonsense.
“What time is your flight out?” I ask, suddenly becoming aware of the time.
“It was at 6:05.”
I straighten in shock. “Oh my god, Jack, it’s 6:41! You missed your flight.”
“I’ll catch another one.” He calmly bends forward with a slight smirk. “What about your flight? What time was yours leaving?”
My ears burn. “My flight left two and a half hours ago,” I bashfully admit, folding my arms on the table in front of me and forcing us closer together.
“It looks like we’re both going to stay in Vegas for the night.” Jack loosens the thin silk tie that hangs tight around his neck. “What should we do?”
Fuck yes!I’m infused with a surge of adrenaline. I’ll enjoy a fun night with a tall, sexy man with blue eyes and an energy I feel in my bones.
My weekend just got a hell of a lot better. I can’t say that skipping my flight to spontaneously stay in a random city with a man I’ve just met—or, according to him, who I’ve already met isn’t out of character. But this is the most fun adventure I’ve had in a long time.
I polish off the rest of my drink. Dipping my head forward, I meet Jack’s eyes—which is much simpler now that I’ve had a few glasses of wine. “Let’s go have some fun, Jack Bradley.”
“Check!” He calls out to our server. A satisfied smile moves across the perfect bone structure of his chin and face.
Chapter Five
Piper
“I’venevermetanyonelike you before! You know wine, and you’re good at the slot machines,” I say in my high-pitched voice that increases in elevation with each passing alcoholic beverage. “No one is good on the slots!”
Jack laughs, slipping another player card into one of the penny machines we can’t seem to leave. “Trust me, I’m not. You’re just good luck.”
I flush. “Maybe.”
Foggy-eyed, I grab the light green martini from the side of my Jurassic Park-themed game. And to think I loved dinosaurs as a kid? I’ve only played on it twice since I’ve had myself shoved into Jack’s space while he plays on his. He’s not bothered by my lack of personal space and has even wrapped an arm around me a few times to nudge me closer.
My eyes fall closed as I take a sip from the oddly shaped glass that holds an apple-flavored beverage. Wait.How did I get this drink?Is this what I ordered?It tastes like shit. “Why is this green?” I ask, haphazardly pushing it less than an inch from his face.
Chuckling, Jack draws his head back. “It’s a green apple martini. I told you not to get it. You hate green apples.”
I pull my mouth to the side, creasing my forehead. “How do you know I don’t like green apples?”
Jack wraps his hand around the back of mine, drifting the glass away from the front of his face. “When we were talking about the fruits we don’t like, you gave me an extremely passionate speech about how green apples are the worst fruit and should be removed from every grocery store permanently.” His hand wraps around mine, placing the martini back down on the side of his game. “You even listed three reasons why.”
I nod. “Oh yes, I forgot that. And yours are blackberries.”
