Page 46 of The Christmas Fix
“Well, ma’am. I had gotten a little handsy, and you fairly warned me before punching me square in the face.”
“That does sound familiar. How are your hands now?” Cat asked.
Paige choked on her Cosmo. “Went down the wrong pipe. Sorry,” she gasped.
“These hands don’t wander anymore. I can promise you that. I was feeling particularly low that day, had too much to drink, and acted a fool,” Regis announced. “But thanks to that bell ringer I’ve cleaned up my act.”
“Well, I am happy to hear that, Regis,” Cat said.
“I was wondering if I could buy you ladies a round as an apology?”
Cat eyed her companions. “Apology drinks accepted.”
CHAPTER NINTEEN
Cat was at the bottom of her third Cosmo and feeling no pain. She’d given up not staring and watched Noah watch her. The Workshop was busy, crowded and noisy with neighbors finally able to blow off a little steam now that the figurative cavalry had arrived with hope for the future. Her mother and Paige were exchanging stories about Gabby’s day, but Cat had trouble dragging her blurry focus away from those green eyes across the bar.
When Cat finally returned her attention to her empty glass and its “Nothing Says Christmas Like Merry” cocktail napkin, Noah rose from his stool and shrugged into his wool coat. He shook hands with Henry and then Drake and headed for the door. He stopped at nearly every table between the bar and the door, exchanging greetings, shaking hands. And when he got to the door, his eyes found hers.
Was she imagining the subtle nod? The pointed look?
Noah Yates was inviting her outside. Perhaps shewouldhave the opportunity to kick his ass in an alley tonight. She’d save the hit and run for when she was sober.
“Excuse me, ladies,” Cat said, sliding off her stool. She didn’t bother taking her coat. She didn’t need witnesses. She headed in the direction of the restrooms and then doubled back toward the front door when she was sure Paige and Angela were distracted.
The night sky was a navy-blue carpet of stars in the crisp cold. Cat crossed her arms over her chest and stared up. The noise and company of the bar behind her, nothing but the silence of a winter night in front of her.
“Hey.” Noah leaned against the brick façade, hands shoved in his coat pockets. The word came out in a cloud of breath.
“Hey yourself.”
“Got a minute?” he asked.
She couldn’t read him. Cat didn’t sense any indications of the righteous anger he’d hurled at her earlier in the day. But he wasn’t exactly friendly either.
“Depends.”
The door to the bar opened behind Cat, and a couple, laughing and handsy, stumbled out onto the sidewalk. Noah nodded his head toward the skinny stretch of alley next to the bar and Cat followed him.
“Why were you having drinks with my friends?” she demanded once the darkness of the alley closed around them.
“They were attempting to educate me.”
“Oh? On what?”
“You.” He listed a bit to one side.
Noah Yates had a buzz going.
“Whatezatlyabout me?”Okay, maybe Noah wasn’t the only one a few sheets to the wind.
“They think I’m wrong about you.”
“Youarewrong about me. Su-u-uper wrong.” To emphasize her point, she stabbed a finger in the direction of his chest. It caught him at the base of the throat.
Noah made a grab for her stabbing hand. “I’m starting to wonder,” he admitted.
He hadn’t put his gloves on, and his hand was warm over hers.
