“Ayako, please give me my phone back.”
“Why, so you can mope over that asshole and his stupid baby?” I gasped at the infant slander, but Ayako kept going. “Camilo, don’t you remember how much of a jerk he was to you?” She sighed squeezing my hand. “Babe, Paul was not baby-daddy material. If you’re going to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for the poor bastard who’s now stuck co-parenting with him for the next twenty years. He already looks like he wants out and that kid is only like three days old.”
I chuckled at her attempt to make me feel better but still felt annoyed with myself. Paul and I had been over and done with a million years ago. Why was I letting this ruin my night? A nightat an amazing event for a cause I was passionate about, where I could drink as much as I wanted.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I took a deep breath and tried to shake off my funk then turned around to give Ayako my best smile.
“You’re one hundred percent right. Fuck Paul and his perfect baby. I have unlimited champagne at my disposal tonight, and two days to recover before work on Monday. So Imma put that open bar to good use.”
“Attaboy!” she said enthusiastically then held up her hand. “I solemnly swear to monitor your alcohol intakeandphone use if you want to take your drinking to the next level. You held it down this summer when we went to that beach party in the Hamptons, and I owe you.”
I saluted her, remembering the very wild night in question. “Anytime, babe. Let me finish this one and I’ll go get myself another.” I sipped from my glass, looking around the room. It really was beautifully decorated, with gorgeous centerpieces laden with lilies and roses in fall colors.
Each place setting had a menu printed on bloodred card stock and gold font. On one side we could read the courses we’d be enjoying during dinner, and on the other the story of one of the young people who benefited from the center’s services. It was a smart and touching way to get people to pull out those checkbooks again before the end of the night.
After a few minutes, the servers started coming around with bowls of delicious butternut squash and apple soup and to pour more champagne for us, and we got busy eating and moaning over how good everything was. Gorgeous courses kept coming as Ayako and I chatted with the other people at our table. Before long, dinner was over and the lights in the room were dimmed to begin the more formal part of the evening.
Between the couple of glasses of bubbly I’d had and the delicious meal, I was feeling pretty relaxed. As the speeches started to get on their way, I stood up and touched Ayako’s shoulder to get her attention.
“Hey, do you want to go with me to the bar for one last glass of bubbly?”
She looked up at me smiling and pointed at her half-full glass. “No thanks, hon. I’ll wait for you here.” She turned around and went back to the conversation with a woman sitting next to her.
When I got to the bar I found it empty again, so I got the bartender’s attention immediately. He poured me another glass of Moët without asking and pushed it toward me across the bar with a flirty smile. I thanked him but could not muster up the energy to flirt back. I stood by the bar sipping slowly and listening to the person speaking on the stage.
“Still enjoying the open bar, I see.”
Thomas.
His voice was coming from behind me this time, and I felt a flutter in my belly. Suddenly my lack of enthusiasm was replaced by a burst of energy. I smiled to myself before turning around.
“Yes, I am. How is your evening going so far?”
I gazed up at him and saw him lift a shoulder, as he asked the bartender for a Zacapa on the rocks. “It’s another gala. This organization’s mission is particularly important to me, so I try to push through. Once you’ve gone to enough of these, they all sort of blend together.” He took a sip of the amber liquid in his glass, his eyes fixed on me. “Nothing terribly memorable ever happens at these things.”
He paused then and tipped his glass at me, a very suggestive smile on his lips. “Although I must say, this year’s attendants have been particularly impressive.”
We stood there with a charged silence between us for a few breaths. Thomas looked me up and down with hungry eyes—like he wanted to rip all my clothes off and maul me where I stood—while I kept sipping from my glass and staring at him. I noticed a little bit of gray on his temples I hadn’t seen earlier, which only made him that much hotter.
As Ayako pointed out earlier, hewasone hundred percent my type.
It had been a while since I’d been with anyone, even longer still since someone had looked at me the way Thomas was right now. Like he wanted to pounce. Anonymous sex was probably not the cure to whatever was niggling at me about seeing my ex’s new family. But itwouldget my mind off it for a while. I let my gaze slide down to Thomas’s big hands and wondered what they’d feel like.
Suddenly an insane urge took over me and I grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the ballroom and towards a sitting room I’d seen on an earlier trip to the men’s room. To my surprise he let me lead him away without much resistance. Just as we crossed the threshold and turned in the direction of the restrooms, he asked offhandedly. “Where are we going?”
“To make this gala memorable for you.” He didn’t respond, just laughed quietly and squeezed my hand tighter.
When we got there I walked through the door, pulling him in with me. As soon as we were both inside, I locked the door, walked over to where he was standing by the wall on the far side of the room, and went down on my knees.
chapter two
tom
All the air left my body when I saw Milo gracefully kneel in front of me. From the first moment I’d seen him at the bar, I’d wanted him. I couldn’t remember the last time someone captured my attention the way he had.
He was so beautiful.
