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Sure, his date was apparently the type to let loose dancing, but I couldn’t say that was a good thing. His glasses were falling down his nose, and I was pretty sure those moves were borrowed from Elaine onSeinfeld.
Hudson needed an opposite, that was for sure. But someone more…charming and fun, less goofy.
“I didn’t know Ronnie could move like that,” James said beside me, grinning as he watched his friend…or whatever.
“Yeah, he’s very…entertaining.”
“He sure is.” The look on his face told me he was dead serious, too.
Weird.
I went to drain the rest of my drink, but when all that came out was ice, I frowned at the empty glass. I didn’t even remember drinking all that, but my head was starting to buzz pretty good, so at least I was feeling the effects.
Another couldn’t hurt. I wasn’t driving.
“You look like you wanna go out there,” I said to James, nodding at the dance floor. “Go ahead. I’m gonna grab another drink. You want one?”
“No, I’m good with this. But are you sure it’s cool if I go? It’ll just be a couple of songs.”
Yeah, sure, why not. It’ll piss off Hudson, and that’s always fun.
“Yeah, I’ll go talk shop at the bar; you go…kick and flail or whatever.”
James grinned and began to walk backward to the dance floor. “Make sure you watch.”
I glanced over at Hudson still standing nearby, then back to James, and winked. “Yeah. I will.”
As if he sensed me watching, Hudson looked my way and not-too-subtly scratched his face with his middle finger.
Message received. Asshole.
Growling, I headed back to the bar but somehow managed to turn on the charm to stop and greet my colleagues along the way. Small talk I could do, though all anyone wanted to gossip about was Viper’s deal. He hadn’t been in touch like I’d hoped, but it didn’t seem like anyone else had gotten a call either. I’d figure out how to win him over if I didn’t hear anything early in the week, but tonight I wasn’t gonna worry about it. As long as Hudson didn’t have the deal, then all was well in my world.
“Another round of margaritas, heavy salt, sir?” the bartender asked as I set my glass down.
“Just the one for now.” A good memory plus a heavy pour of the good stuff had me pulling out a large bill and stuffing it into the tip jar.
As I waited, I figured I should see what kind of moves my date was busting out, but as I turned to look, I found myself looking in a different direction. Only Hudson was no longer there.
“The same for you, sir?” the bartender said.
Thinking he was talking to me, I started to answer, only to realize he was looking at whoever was beside me.
“That would be great, thank you.” The deep voice was at once familiar but still surprising, considering where I stood. Hudson could’ve chosen the bar on the other side of the room, but apparently he wanted to annoy me tonight.
“Is that you crossing over to the dark side, Montgomery?” I said, turning to face him just as the bartender slid my drink toward me. “Let me guess, the sight of my lips devouring a margarita was too much to resist.”
“If anyone could drive me to drink, Edwards, it would be you. I’m afraid you’re out of luck, though.”
“Oh yeah? Then what’s that he’s pouring into the shaker, ’cuz it’s not water.”
The bartender glanced up at me as he popped the top on the shaker. “A little club soda, some muddled cucumbers, lime juice, simple syrup. A pretty good virgin cucumber gimlet, if I say so myself.”
As he went to town shaking the ingredients, his words registered in my getting-kinda-fuzzy brain.
“Did he say…virgin…cucumber?” An uproarious laugh burst out of me. Those two words associated with Hudson suddenly seemed like the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard.
The bartender gave me a strange look as he poured the contents into a glass and topped it off with a cucumber-laden cocktail pick.
