Third Life - Noelle Adams Page 0,6

invisible to him anymore.

“I wouldn’t think so. But that leaves me with more questions. Because I have absolutely no idea what you could want from me.” A little flicker of an idea sparks painfully. “You’re not... I mean Ashley and Sean didn’t... didn’t hire you or something, did they?”

The idea is horrifying.

Utterly horrifying.

The confusion on his face would be hard to fake. “What?”

I shake my head. There’s no way. Ashley would never do that to me. She’d know how much it would hurt and humiliate me. She wouldn’t.

“What would I have been hired to do?”

“Nothing. It was just a random thought. Anyway, whatever you’re trying to do isn’t going to work. I don’t trust you, and I’m not going to believe anything you tell me. So would you mind sitting somewhere else? You’re getting in the way.”

To my surprise, he actually rises to his feet, but he doesn’t walk away immediately. He tilts his head down to murmur, “What am I getting in the way of?”

“That’s not your concern. So go sit over there and mind your own business.”

He laughs as he strolls to the other side of the bar with his glass of scotch. He takes the farthest stool and settles in with an expression of aggrieved resignation.

I try to roll my eyes and keep my expression lofty and disinterested, but I have a hard time not laughing in response.

Now that he’s gone, I turn my body to subtly study my backup guy. He’s still there, and he glances over when my eyes are on him. I give him a little smile, and he returns it in surprise.

I try to regain my momentum. My purpose. My excitement about having sex for the first time.

But I can feel Richard watching me. I can sense him sitting over there with his blue eyes and his sexy intelligence and his knowing smile.

And it’s distracting.

It’s hard to get excited about having sex with a geeky stranger when there’s a fantasy man sitting not far away, smirking at you.

Damn the man. I really feel like I could smack him. He might as well be doing it on purpose.

I was so ready to get rid of my virginity tonight.

For the next ten minutes, I try to make eyes at my backup guy and find the will to make a definite move. To close the deal.

But I don’t. I can’t. I just can’t bring myself to go talk to him, and he’s obviously not confident enough to come talk to me.

Despite all my plans, tonight is going to be a bust.

And it’s all Richard’s fault.

I empty my glass and then slump forward, leaning my head on one hand. I’ll try again tomorrow. Hopefully Richard Steele won’t be around then so I won’t be so distracted.

When the bartender brings me another full glass, I stare at the bubbly liquid in surprise. “I didn’t ask for this.”

The bartender nods in Richard’s direction.

I roll my eyes, tempted to refuse the drink for no other reason than his smugness.

I don’t. I could use another drink. I might as well relax since tonight’s not going to be my first time after all.

When I slant Richard a little look as I take my first sip, he grins and comes back to sit beside me.

“Seriously, Gillian,” he murmurs in a tone of exaggerated seriousness. “If you wanted to have a one-night stand, you could have just asked me.”

I almost choke on my drink. Partly because of what he just said and partly because it’s not the prosecco I was drinking.

It’s very expensive champagne.

“I don’t want—”

“Then what did you have those two men picked out for then? You could have closed the deal with the second one. He wasn’t going to make a move himself, but he definitely would have responded if you’d made the first move.”

I want to shake him. I really do. But it’s also impossible not to respond to his irrepressible little smile. “You’re kind of a dick, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I am. But just kind of. Not entirely.”

“I believe you,” I say, giving up and laughing even as I shake my head. “But the dickish part of you is the dominant one at the moment. Are you just bored or something? Is that why you’re set on driving me crazy like this?”

“Yeah. I am bored. And you interest me. More than I expected. Does that really surprise you so much?”

“Yes. It does. I’m used to being invisible.”

“Don’t you think part of that is because you don’t let many people see who