Page 9 of The Hookup
And sometimes, she needed comfort. Comfort interspersed with some tender, and some downright dirty moments, too.
It felt good to be wanted.
Savannah had warned her then but she had ignored her. Her problem was that she never learned, and she wished she could. If only she could exercise restraint.
Maybe Savannah had a point when she had advised her not to come across and look so desperate.‘You’ll earn more respect if you play hard to get.’
She looked up, and caught the bartender’s eye. Her lips automatically flashed him a slow, provocative smile, and pushed her cell phone away. Maybe she would take Briony up on her offer, and go and sit with her and her girlfriend; at least she wouldn’t be in any danger of being tempted by Dean. A culmination of pink champagne and too many cocktails was making her feel light-headed and the last thing she wanted to do was sext Dean something stupid while slightly tipsy.
She lifted her head, sensing that she was being watched, and found herself staring directly into the bartender’s sparkling eyes.
“Trouble?” he asked.
Adrenaline flooded her brain, and she momentarily forgot how to think, or speak. Freaking hell, this man with his broad, broad shoulders, now held her transfixed with his pointed stare. Her heart did a funny jig inside her chest.
“Something wrong?” he asked, when she didn’t reply.
She swallowed, and managed to compose herself. “A nuisance, more like.”
“A nuisance?”
“An ex-boyfriend.”
“Anex-boyfriend?” His question, the way he asked it, suddenly made her feel warm and tingly.
He was making small-talk, and bartenders were good at that kind of stuff, but it didn’t hurt to have someone to listen to her, least of all, someone who looked like he did. How had she failed to notice him before? “He’s bugging me.”
“He’s here?”
“No, he’s back home.”
“And he’s bugging you all the way from there?”
“He wants to know how the wedding went.”
The bartender snorted. “I didn’t think it was such a big deal for a guy to want to know that kind of stuff. My sister’s curious about it, which is to be expected. Girls are nosier.”
“Curious, I think, is the word you’re looking for.”
“You’re putting words in my mouth,” he replied, “I’d go with nosey.” He was making her heart fill up with his soft, low voice. Because even though he was saying normal words, his eyes…freaking hell, those glittering blue eyes, they were looking and making her skin prickle with excitement.
Unable to resist, she answered, “I wouldn’t dream of putting words in your mouth.” Something else, maybe. Freaking hell. Either he’d doubled up on the alcohol shot in the cocktail he’d made for her, or he was flirting like crazy. For a moment his cool expression seemed to slip, and she didn’t miss the jolt of surprise in his features.
She smiled, enjoying the power she had in that moment. Savoring the effect her words had on him. He coughed, than ran his hand through his hair, moving the longish hair away from his face. It settled back in place, for a while but sooner or later was going to fall over his face again, and he’s lift his arms and do that whole movement all over again. And it would give her another shot of his glorious flexed bicep. “If you knew my sister, you’d go with nosey.”
She smiled at his quick recovery. Usually, she’d have a good retort, some flirty-dirty words to volley back at him, but he hadn’t reciprocated. He hadn’t flirted back. Maybe this one was going to take some extra work, after all, he wasn’t Xavier. The thought of taking up the challenge excited her. “Your sister’s already called you for an update?” she asked, deciding to take a teeny weeny bit of Savannah’s advice and holding back on the innuendo. Although this probably wasn’t what Savannah had in mind when she’d advised her to not come across so desperate, but as far as Kay was concerned, this was a good alternative.
“She’s super-nosey, wanted pictures and all. I didn’t take any, on account of Tobias’s NDA. The reason she’s interested is because she’d getting married soon,” he explained.
“She is? Awww, that’s nice. When?”
“In the new year, sometime.”
“Awesome.” She finished her cocktail, felt her head slightly spinning, though she wasn’t sure if it was the cocktail, or the effect of having this man’s total attention, and basking in it. “Is she older or—”
“How comes your ex is calling you?”
She smiled again, a fluttery feeling dancing in her chest at the presumption that he might be interested. It didn’t matter that he’d cut off her question.
