bartender came by and I ordered a Grey Goose martini, straight up. He handed me a menu, too. I looked it over. Everything looked good…and pricey. I decided to get what I wanted and just expense it. Half the time Parker just signed whatever I put in front of him, barely glancing at it. He could sign off on my dinner, too.
The martini hit the spot and I downed it pretty quickly, then signaled the bartender for another. I people-watched as I sipped the second drink. It was interesting, watching the interaction between the single women and men, playing the game, flirting, hooking up…
I sighed, suddenly wishing I was anywhere but in New York. I wondered what Ryker was doing, and if he’d thought about me since our date Saturday night.
A woman sat down on the stool next to me, and I glanced over. She looked to be about my age. Strikingly pretty, she had a really unusual hair color—strawberry blond—and I found myself staring slightly enviously at her long, wavy locks.
“A manhattan, please,” she ordered from the bartender, “on the rocks.” She caught me staring.
“Really need a drink,” she said, smiling somewhat sheepishly.
“Oh, yes, I completely agree,” I replied, indicating my martini. “Same here.”
“Rough day?” she asked.
I nodded. “My boss is driving me batty.”
She smiled. “That’s as good a reason to drink as I’ve ever heard.”
“You from around here?” I asked as the bartender set her drink in front of her. I thought I could detect a bit of an accent in her words, though it wasn’t very pronounced.
She shook her head and took a long swallow before replying. “No. I’m a tourist. I swear, we’ve trekked the entire city today.”
“We?”
“Me and my husband,” she clarified. “He’s outside on his cell. Said he couldn’t hear a thing in here with all the noise.” She took another drink just as a man stepped up behind her.
Wow.
My eyes about bugged out of my head. He was hot, in the capital-H-double-T kind of way. Inky black hair fell over intensely blue eyes framed with thick dark lashes. He had wickedly arched eyebrows, a square jaw that defined “chiseled,” and shoulders wide and deep enough to make a woman weak in the knees.
“I knew I shouldn’t leave you alone in a bar,” he teased her, resting a hand on the small of her back.
“I’m just nervous,” she said. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen him.”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” he replied. “You’re overthinking it. Besides, he drove up from D.C. to have dinner with us, so it’s not like we can back out now.”
“I don’t want to back out. I just needed a little…liquid courage.” She took another big swallow of the manhattan.
“C’mon. It’s just around the block,” he said. Taking the glass from her, he downed the rest of the drink.
“That was mine, you know,” she groused, but she was smiling.
“I’ll buy you another when we get there.” Leaning down, he kissed her lightly on the lips.
I sighed, watching the two of them. They seemed real sweet together, and judging by the size of the rock on her left hand and the way he was touching her as if she were made of glass, he was smitten. I wondered who they were meeting for dinner that made her nervous.
“It was nice meeting you,” she said, turning to me with a smile while her husband tossed some money onto the bar to pay for her drink.
“Same here,” I said.
Her husband glanced at me, a slight frown on his face, and I abruptly decided that while he was one of the best-looking men I’d ever seen, something about him made me not want to meet up with him in a dark alley. Taking her hand, he led her away just as the bartender set my dinner in front of me.
I made quick work of the filet, au gratin potatoes, and asparagus, switching to wine once I was through with my martini. Probably not a good idea to mix my liquors, but I was past caring.
I didn’t know what to think about how this afternoon had gone down and what Parker had said. It hadn’t occurred to me not to tell him about Tania. I thought that he would know what to do—Parker always knew what to do. To have him tell me that it wasn’t our problem and to stay out of it and just do my job was like a slap in the face.
Millions would be made off this deal; I