said again.
He cocked his head, amused at her fussing. “It’s fine, really.”
“This was probably just dry-cleaned, right?” She did the nose-wrinkling thing she’d done in the car the other night. “You look very… well-pressed.”
“I’m not sure if that was a compliment or not.”
She laughed, a pleasant sound that he decided he wanted to hear more often. “It is! Just ’cause I hang out with these jokers doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a man in a nice suit,” she said with a wink.
“Hey,” another one of the old men spoke. “You wear a suit when you’re dead.”
“Or you work in a cubicle,” Marty said.
“Same thing,” Baojia added, and all the men laughed.
“Natalie, I like this guy.” One of the old cops slapped his shoulder. “Sit down and let our girlwaslet our here buy you a drink.”
“Oh thanks for offering.” Natalie turned to Baojia and said, “Sorry for the peanut gallery. Join me for a drink? It’s the le
ast I can do since I messed up your suit.”
He smiled. This was far easier than he’d expected.
“I’d love to.”
CHAPTER FOUR
You look well-pressed? Are you kidding, Natalie?
She mentally kicked herself. First, she ran into the incredibly attractive man who’d been sitting at the end of the bar, then she spilled his drink, then she started dabbing what was probably a thousand-dollar suit with cheap coffeehouse napkins and calling him “well-pressed.”
She really needed to get out more.
Natalie was beginning to think Kristy’s assertions that hanging with “the old guys” did not, in fact, constitute a social life might be right. Still, Incredibly Attractive Suit was smiling at her, so that was something. He hadn’t run screaming from Marty and Howard, either. And he was gorgeous. Black, black hair and brown eyes you could fall into and never find your way out. You wouldn’t want to. He was taller than her, but not by much. She’d put him at five ten or eleven, maybe. And his body… Well, if the suit made the man, then this suit—nice as it was—didn’t have much work to do, in her opinion. The man was all there.
He said, “I’d love to.”
“Love to what?” She blinked, coming out of a daze. Was her hand still on the front of his chest? Yes. Yes, it was. She pulled back and mentally cursed when she realized her hand had been resting on his muscles like she was grabbing a new toy. She could already feel the blush staining her cheeks. Damn her pale skin. Now Attractive Suit was looking at her like she was crazy.
“You asked me to join you for a drink.”
“Yes.” She shook her head a little and smiled, motioning to an empty stool at the bar. “I did. What were you drinking?”
“A vodka tonic.”
She held a hand up to grab Connie’s attention. “So, I make it a point to know the names of everyone I drink with. What’s yours?”
Natalie noticed the slight hesitation before he said, “George.”
Liar.
“George, huh?” She only smiled and sat down next to him. “I totally pegged you for a ‘George.’ Come on, is that really your name?”
He shrugged and leaned an arm on the bar, angling his body toward hers. “My given name is Chinese and really hard to pronounce. So I go by George.”
“Chinese, huh? Are you from China originally? What part?” She finally caught Connie’s attention. “Hey, can I get a Grey Goose and tonic?”
“Sure thing, honey.” The middle-aged woman turned to mix the drink. Connie didn’t put up with crap, and she treated her regulars right. George-who-wasn’t-George would get a good drink.
She turned to see him giving her a look. Natalie shrugged. “Was that right? You look like you have premium tastes. I guessed.”
“You guessed correctly.”
“I’m smart like that.” She sipped the beer Marty handed down to her. Luckily, the guys were keeping their opinions to themselves, for once. Their attention had turned to the game. She glanced over her shoulder. “Sorry. You were watching the game. You don’t actually have to talk to me.”
“I thought you were smart,” he said. She narrowed her eyes, but he looked like he was about to laugh. “You seem far more interesting than a baseball game.”
Smooth. That was almost too smooth. Almost.
“Thanks, George. Same to you.” She took another sip of beer.
“And what is your name?”
“Natalie.”
“Natalie, it’s nice to meet you. Do you come here much?”
She couldn’t stop the snort. Okay, maybe not so smooth. “Um… yeah.”
“Sorry.” He had the grace to look embarrassed and shook his head. “That sounded like a bad line, didn’t it?