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Norah took a big slurp of her fluffy drink and made a determined face as she clapped her hands. “Okay, we need a plan. I’m sick of us three moping.”
“I’m not moping,” I said. “I just don’t think it’s smart for me to be out late on a weeknight when I have to pound the pavement for a new job.”
She gave me a sorrowful look. “If you can’t handle going to bed after midnight once in a while at twenty-four, then maybe you need to look into multivitamins or something.”
“Okay, then take your own advice and go talk to that nice guy who bought you the drink.” When she pulled up her shoulders in trepidation, I hurried to encourage her. “They say the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.”
We all cracked up at my cheesy advice and finally Norah shook her head. “Not yet. Maybe later.”
That meant a hard no, but I let it go with a glance at Ella. “I probably won’t be going home with any of these guys either,” she said. “Too…” she drifted off, but we knew the men here weren’t too much of anything for her, just not enough of her professor. “Well, hang on,” she said, perking up. “Look at that guy. Damn, Violet, he’s your perfect type.”
We followed her open-mouthed gaze to see she was right. A little bit older. Tall, with dark, wavy hair and an air of confidence bordering on cocky. He had on a dress shirt that was perfectly tailored to his muscular physique, with his sleeves pushed up and his tie loosened as if he’d come straight from whatever high-powered job he held. His face looked like a chiseled statue of a warrior angel, but with the mischief of something not so celestial in his intense eyes. He looked straight ahead as he walked, snatching a shot from a passing server and downing it. The flashing overhead lights glinted off a heavy gold watch at his wrist. Even twenty feet away, I could tell it probably cost more than my rent for the entire year. This man didn’t have a care in the world.
Yes, he was exactly the kind of man I’d go for in the looks department, but he oozed entitlement.
“Look at her judgy face,” Norah said, tutting at me.
I relaxed my face, which probably had turned a little sour. Maybe because, deep down, I thought I was out of his league? “It’s not,” I argued. “He’s super hot, yes. But he’s probably an asshole.”
As if to prove my point, he completely ignored a woman who trotted after him like a lovesick puppy. When she finally got his attention, we all watched him snarl at her and shove her away before dismissing her as if she didn’t exist.
“Yikes,” Ella said. “Shame. He’s like fire.”
He was indeed and despite my disgust at the way he treated that woman, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. It caused a whole lot of mixed feelings.
“Come on now,” Norah said. “We don’t know the story behind that. He clearly knows her. Maybe she’s a psycho.”
I expected Ms. Feminism herself, Ella, to shoot that down, but she nodded slowly. “Yeah, maybe.”
Wow, the power of a handsome face and an amazing body. I shook my head, inwardly laughing at myself because I was still checking him out. He really made the other men around the bar seem smaller and paler in comparison. Then he turned and our eyes locked. With a gasp, I finally tore my gaze away, hoping my friends didn’t notice. But of course they did. They giggled and poked me like we were in seventh grade and, after I got them to calm down, I glanced up again.
“Okay, now you have to go over there,” Ella said when we all saw him still looking straight at me. “He’s basically drooling.”
“No, he isn’t,” I said. The look of interest was there, though, and he was extremely tempting. Ella kept nudging me off my barstool.
“Didn’t I tell you something bigger and better would come along?” she asked.
I snorted at that. “I thought you meant a job,” I said. “If I go over there, I’m just going to see his massive ego get more inflated.”
“I bet you want to see something else get massively inflated,” Norah said.
I stood up and walked over just to get away from their childish teasing. That was the only reason. When I got closer, someone bumped into me and knocked me straight into his chest, which was as hard as a brick wall. Flustered, I looked up, and we both laughed as he helped me onto the stool next to him that he’d just forcefully vacated. Maybe I had misjudged him?
He was even more good-looking up close, and I found it difficult to keep my mouth from hanging open.
I gave him the fake name I always give when I’m not being serious. For a second I wondered if it was a mistake because his roaming, appreciative eyes were weakening my resolve to get to bed early tonight. Alone.
“Eli,” he said, his voice a deep rumble over the thumping dance music.
I wondered what it would sound like in a more intimate setting, close enough to my ear that I could feel his breath. I reined it in, remembering what a jackass he’d been to that woman, even calling him out on it. He had a quick answer that was full of smug self-confidence. As I suspected, he was a very hot, very entitled asshole. He obviously oozed wealth, which was probably the main source of his cocky attitude. He was one of those men who thought so little of women that we were all up for sale and would overlook a lack of personality. I heard my friends’ voices admonishing me to chill out and give him a chance and tried to stop judging him by his appearance. Which, to be fair, I did like very much. He was definitely easy on the eyes.
We chatted for a few minutes, and he kept moving closer to me, his hands brushing against my thigh. The club had already been warm, but he was making it downright toasty. He had the audacity to get so close that I thought he was going to kiss me for a second.
And he wasn’t so bad, after all. He seemed to go back and forth between trying out cheesy pick up lines and asking sincere questions. He almost had me a few times, especially after he bounced back from the jabs to his ego that I kept giving. I admired the tenacity, and almost started to wonder if he was sincerely interested in me. And the way his fingers eased the edge of my dress up my leg was enticing.
Too enticing. I didn’t need to add something else to my already complicated life. My main focus right now was getting a new job that I liked as much as the old one and that would also advance my career. I saw my friends packing it in, ready to leave. I was a little disappointed, finding I was having a good time flirting with Eli. He knew what he was doing, I had to give him that.
Which was another reason I couldn’t risk getting involved with him. Players like him knew how to get a woman in bed, but they didn’t have the first clue what to do with them the next day. I didn’t want to end up in the broken hearts club with Norah and Ella.
