“I’m a stock broker.”
Of course you are.“That’s nice.”
“And you?”
“Pharmaceutical sales manager.”
“Cool.” He grinned. “You enjoy it?”
I shrugged before downing my drink. “It pays the bills.”And then some.
“I can’t believe a gorgeous girl like you is single.”
I barely suppressed an eye roll. Why did men always assume every single woman was desperate to be part of a couple? I was single because I liked being single. I was set in my ways, according to my best friend. I was only thirty-three, so I wasn’t sure about that, but I knew I had zero desire for a committed relationship. Ever.
“I like being single.” I bared my teeth in more of a snarl than a smile, trying to send him a message. I’d been told I’d perfected the don’t-mess-with-me vibe, but I blamed that on my drive to succeed in a male dominated profession. I couldn’t afford to be a pushover.
“You do, huh?” He leaned in, smirking. “Maybe you just haven’t met the right guy yet.”
And if he thought he was my Mr. Right, he’d clearly been smoking a little wacky tobacky. “And maybe I don’t want to.” I knew I had to play nice unless I wanted to go on the hunt for more bait, but I wished I could have zeroed in on someone a little more fun. “But to each his own, right?” I propped my chin in my upturned palm. “How ‘bout you, Tate? Are you looking for your future wife?”
He flashed a bright white smile, shaking his head. “Uh, no. Much to my parents’ dismay.”
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. I touched my glass to his. “Here’s to making new friends then.”
I glanced at Rhett, who was still spitting fire from those sexy gray eyes. Those eyes. Lord, have mercy. I’d never met another man with eyes that color. But if I had to choose his best feature, it would have to be that lop-sided grin. Or maybe his delicious scruff. His body? Hmm, that was yummy too. And those shoulders—
“Briar?”
I shook my head when I realized I’d been staring at Rhett and ignoring my newfriend. “Sorry, did you say something?”
“I asked if you knew Rhett Lennox.”
“Uh, yeah. I do. He’s a friend of my brother’s.” I realized that meant Rhett probably knew my drinking buddy too. Ugh. I hadn’t counted on that. If Rhett knew and trusted Tate he probably wouldn’t care if I went home with him. “You know him?”
He shook his head. “No, I just know of him. He owns this place, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” Rhett’s financial interests were pretty varied, from what I understood, but I’d never cared about that. When we were together it was all about mutual gratification, when we weren’t busy spewing hate.
“You said he’s a friend of your brother’s?”
“His best friend.” Which meant he was practically like family. My parents loved him. Little did they know all the ways he’d defiled their baby girl over the years. “I’ve known him twenty years, at least.” But I didn’t lose my virginity to him until I was eighteen. I would have been good to go before that, but he insisted he wasn’t messing around with jailbait.
“Nice to have friends in high places, huh?”
He probably thought I could get us free drinks, but I knew better than to call in favors from Rhett. Except for the big favor attached to my current nightmare. If he shot down my plea on that I was seriously screwed.
“Enough about Rhett,” I said, waving to the waitress working our section with my empty glass. That earned the stink-eye from Rhett again, a look he’d perfected over the years. “I want to hear more about you.” In my experience men loved to talk about themselves and little else. Another reason I was blissfully single.
The harried looking waitress rushed over to our table, promising to return with our drinks in a few before Tate excused himself to use the restroom. My best friend picked that moment to call.
“Hey, Gia. What’s up, girl?”
“Why didn’t you text me? I’m dying to know! Did Rhett take the bait or what?”
The bait being the short dress and CFM heels that were supposed to lure him back to my place tonight. “He blew me off.” I huffed a sigh when I saw him dancing with blondie. Hey, I was a blonde too, so I wasn’t judging. “But I haven’t given up.”
“You can’t.”
