Page 260 of The Spider Queen
Ryan shook the martini shaker and then poured the cocktail into a frosted martini glass. He set it in front of me. “I’ll wait. I want to see your eyes close in rapture when you taste perfection.”
I cocked an eyebrow but reached for the glass. I brought it to my lips and took a sip. “Good.”
His mouth dropped open. “Good? It’sfantastic.”
“Maybe.”
“Say it, Stella. Tell me how fantastic it is.”
“You need your ego stroked, do you?”
He groaned. “You’re killing me.”
“The Dark Prince is fantastic.”
Ryan turned away from me to face the room. “Did you hear that?” Heads swiveled to him. He pointed in my direction. “Stella—the lady who will not go on a date with me—thinks my cocktail is fantastic!”
I tried to burrow into the brick wall, wanting to make myself as small as possible. I hid my face behind the curtain of my black hair, glaring at Ryan.
Most people were unconcerned and ignored the vocal bartender. Thank goodness for blasé New Yorkers.
When Ryan looked back to me, his grin was wide and self-satisfying.
I pointed my half-empty martini glass at him. “You owe me another drink.”
I was nursing my second Dark Prince when she walked into the bar. The woman was slight, and even in the dim lighting I could see her pallor. Defeat was written in the hunch of her shoulders; in the way she cast her eyes down when she moved.
She was the type of woman who never ventured out alone, preferring to be insulated with friends or a boyfriend. She didn’t think too highly of herself and thought she got whatever she deserved.
Broken.
I identified her instantly, without having to know anything personal about her.
“Two shots of Patron,” I said to Ryan who was in the process of washing rocks glasses by hand.
“Which one?” he asked.
“The blonde who just sat down in the corner.” She was staring at the wooden table like it might give her answers.
Ryan poured two shots and set them in front of me. “How do you do it?”
He asked me this every time.
I shrugged. “You’re a bartender, aren’t you? Don’t you recognize the downtrodden and needy?”
“I can’t do what you do.” His eyes were on the blonde. “What do you see that I don’t?”
“In all the time you’ve known me, when have I answered these types of questions?”
“You’ve always just answered my questions with a question.”
My mouth twitched in humor. “Send another two shots in ten minutes?”
“You got it.”
He reached out as if to take my hand but stopped himself. I’d made it very clear early on that I didn’t like to be touched.
I grasped the two shot glasses and walked over to the blonde in the corner. She didn’t even glance up. Either she didn’t hear me or she didn’t care.
