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“Okay, I don’t suppose it will hurt to take a night off.”
“Great!” Libby’s face lights up, making me glad I relented. “It’s Thursday at 8.”
“Should I bring anything? What about a gift?”
Panic seizes hold of me at the thought of trying to find the perfect present for a wealthy mobster who’s also kind of my boss at the moment.
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Libby waves a hand dismissively. “Andrew won’t expect anything.”
“Maybe not, but I hate to turn up empty-handed.”
“Well, he likes malt whisky and you wouldn’t know it to look at him, but the man’s a chocoholic.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, you can’t go wrong with chocolate.”
I doubt an ordinary chocolate bar is going to cut it, but at least Libby’s given me something to work with.
As Andrew saunters back over to us, I decide to make my excuses and leave.
“I’m going to call it a night,” I say as I shuffle along my seat and get to my feet.
“It’s only eleven thirty,” Libby protests.
“I know, but I’m tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Not working you too hard, am I?” Andrew asks. To his credit, he does manage to inject some concern into his tone. “You need to take some time off.”
“She’s coming to your birthday dinner next week,” Libby says
“Good.” Andrew nods approvingly. “Libby was hoping you’d be free. I think she feels outnumbered by us Donovans.”
I smile politely, but quite frankly, Libby could invite forty friends and they’d still feel as if they were surrounded. The Donovans, en masse, are a raucous bunch. I discovered that at the wedding.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I lie.
Leaning across the table, I have an awkward goodbye hug with Libby before I head for the door. I make it all the way out onto the street before I realize I left my purse behind.
“Shit!”
Whirling around to go back inside, I run smack bang into a muscular body. I recognize the intoxicating woody scent of his cologne before I look up to see Rory Donovan staring down at me, his lips twisted in wry amusement.
“Forget something?” he asks. He holds his hand up and I see my black silk purse dangling from his finger.
“I was just coming to get that.”
“Well, I’ve saved you the trouble, which was pretty decent of me since you’ve tried to ignore me all evening.”
“I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I was just busy checking there were no issues with the, eh, the lights or anything.”
Rory raises an eyebrow at my lame response. “The lights looked fine to me.”
From across the bar, his stare was intense, but up close it’s even more powerful. It’s as if he’s stripping me bare with his gaze. I lower my eyes, unable to stand being examined so closely.
“I like to be thorough,” I mutter. “May I have my purse, please?”
“Well, since you asked so nicely.”
