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Not to mention eating what she wanted, wearing comfortable clothes, ditching makeup sweat, and telling her mother she may not get grandkids and she’d just have to deal with it. But that seemed a bit much to dump on him after only a day.
“What about kissing hot bartenders you met the night before? Is that out of the ordinary?”
“Oh, most definitely. And I noticed you slipped hot in there again.”
As much as she liked the sweet, swooning Adam, she enjoyed the playful, cheeky version of him as well.
He gave her a sly grin. “You have no one to blame for that label but yourself, Birthday Girl.” He reached out and gently tucked her hair behind her ear as if he were proving he could be sweet and sassy at the same time. “And I’m honored to be counted among your revolutionary acts, assuming kissing a hot bartender is in fact a good thing.”
“It is.”
“Excellent.” He gave her a dimple-popping smile that turned her belly weightless. “All those other things sound like they’re in the win column to me, even if they may have initially sucked.”
She snorted. “Yes, some of them did suck big-time. I’m waiting to hear back from Deadline about the outing-of-the-boss thing, and I can guarantee the fallout won’t be pretty.”
“I think you’re brave, and I’m sorry you have to deal with it at all, especially on your birthday, but I hope for the best outcome.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course. And if things go awry, I’ve got an uncle in Calabasas who’ll bust this guy’s kneecaps if you want.”
Lucy burst out laughing. “Don’t tell me you’re in the mafia or something; I’ll have to revoke the too good to be true thing. What’s your last name, Gambino?”
“De Luca, but don’t hold it against me. I’ve never busted any kneecaps; I just know guys who will.”
“Hmm. Can we send them after my ex-boyfriend too?”
“It would be my pleasure. Just say the word.” He held out his arms with a chuckle, and Lucy couldn’t help thinking of a face-off between him or anyone in his family and Caleb going in a very obvious direction.
“That won’t be necessary, but thanks for the offer.”
“Sure. So, what’s your last name?”
She coyly eyed him like she was keeping secrets. He was clever, slipping it into their playful conversation like that.
“It’s only fair. We’ve run into each other what, three times now? Not counting the time you came to my bar looking for me. You’ve coerced my whole name out of me, as well as a free ride, and you know my place of work.”
“You know my place of work too, thanks to the free ride,” she countered with a smug tilt of her chin.
“Not true. I know the building you work in, but that’s it.”
“Fair. But I assume you’re smart enough to deduce which company based on our conversation and find my office.”
“Fair assumption. But I would never do that unless you invited me to. I find the whole showing up at your place of work uninvited like the dudes in supposedly romantic movies a little creepy, don’t you? I mean, it’s essentially stalking.”
She considered it and realized he made an excellent point, but that she wouldn’t mind if he showed up at her office unannounced.
“Green.”
“What?”
“My last name. My name is Lucy Green.”
He gave her a knowing grin and couldn’t hide his happiness. “You just wait, Lucy Green. Next time we run into each other, I’m gonna get a phone number too.”
“We’ll see,” she said with a laugh.
Just then, her phone let out two sounds in such quick succession, she couldn’t tell which came first: the ding from Lily’s text message or the chime from Monica’s email.
