Page 16 of Single Girl in the City
Thankfully, Abi was off men.
Back in Mobile, she’d been in a semi-serious relationship when the crash happened. Lance friend-zoned Abi faster than the plaster on her cast had dried, citing that hospitals gave him the willies. Abi cited that he had a small willie and took herself out of the dating game until further notice.
Livwas giving all signs that she was firmlyinthe dating game and gave Owen a blatant onceover. When Owen smiled, showing all his perfect white teeth, she pulled a pen from her purse, scribbled something on a coaster, and slid it across the bar. “In case you want to blow off some steam.”
He pocketed the number, then went down the line, pulling his little party trick for each woman, but Abi was too busy glancing over the menu to care.
“Now, what can I get you?” a soft and sexy voice asked.
She rested her elbows on the table and looked right into those mesmerizing blue eyes. “I thought you’d be too busy blowing off steam to get me anything.”
He leaned in too, getting uncomfortably close, especially since he was holding her gaze. “Is that an offer?”
“No one likes a bragger, Owen. No one.”
“Ah, so we’re back to first name basis, Abilene.”
“Fun party trick. I read the same article inBartender Monthly, by the way.fifteen clues to accurately guess someone’s drink.”
“That’s luck. I’m the real deal.”
“Really? Then let me break it down for you. Olivia was in a vintage dress, 1920s jewelry, and Mary Janes. Hence the martini. The extra dirty was because she kept looking at the olives as you put them on a toothpick as if wanting more.”
He gave a Cheshire grin. “Not bad. Although when I hear Mary Jane I don’t think of shoes, but you still haven’t figured out how I knew vodka versus gin.”
“You had a fifty-fifty chance to get it right and even if she did prefer gin, she’d rather give in to your charm than admit that you didn’t accurately guess her.”
“You think I’m charming?”
“I think you know how to work a crowd.” It was a gift they both shared. There wasn’t a room of people Abi couldn’t make laugh or party she couldn’t crush. It was her superpower, forged from a childhood of being invisible. Nowadays though, she had a hard time being around anyone, let alone sitting in a crowded bar.
The way people accidentally bumped her chair or brushed up against her made her chest tighten and her palms sweat.
“You’ve tended bar,” he said. It was a statement. An accurate one.
“I’ve done a lot of things. As for the charm, you can turn it off, it doesn’t work on me.”
“Then it looks like I have to up my game.”
“Or you could drop the game altogether. It looks exhausting.”
She wasn’t sure what she’d said, but his game face cracked a little and his expression went fromHow you doin’?to one of genuine surprise.
“It can be,” he admitted, putting a coaster in front of her. “What can I get you?”
Abi studied him, intrigued by how quickly he went from being “on” to just being. It was as if she’d given him permission to slow down and take stock. Then something she wasn’t expecting, something beneath that earlier playboy swagger, tugged at her heart. It was a vulnerability, she was learning, that only came to the surface when he was too tired to camouflage it.
“How about a smile.” She could tell her answer caught him off guard. Fair, since it had caught her off guard as well.
He flashed her a warm smile that made her insides turn to goo. “Now it’s your turn.”
She didn’t have to try. Just like that, her grin returned big and full.
In a move that was all manly and sexy, he rested his palms on the edge of the bar top, sending his biceps winking her way. “I like your dimples.”
“I like yours,” she said.
“My dimples? I don’t have dimples. Maybe a rugged jawline or chiseled abs.” He waggled a brow. “But dimples?” He scratched his chin. “Nah.”
