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“Do you make it a habit of going into restaurant kitchens to check on orders?” she teased as she drained her glass.
“The ones I own, yeah.”
Olivia fought to keep from choking on her martini and hastily set the empty glass down on the bar as she coughed and tapped her chest. His eyes followed where her hand lay.
“You’re the owner?”
“Yeah. Well, one of them.”
“So is your last name Flannigan?”
“Noooo,” he drew the word out with a laugh. “This place has been here since I was a kid. We just bought it a few years ago.”
Wejust bought it.Oh god, was he married? Not that she’d done anything inappropriate—but she’d thought about it.
She blinked at him. “You and your wife?”
That made him burst out laughing as he held up his left hand and wiggled his ring finger, void of any jewelry. “Divorced—going on ten years. I wouldn’t suggest getting into trouble with you if I were.”
“No?”
“Not my style, darlin’. I’m as faithful as they come.”
His admission made her belly strangely warm. “So, who iswe?”
“This is really my brother’s place. I’m just the silent partner.”
“The guy with the money.”
He gave a modest laugh. “Something like that.”
“So, what do you do?”
“I’m retired from the Navy, but I have a few other businesses I’m invested in that keep me out of trouble.”
“Wait,” she said with a smile. “I thought you wanted to getintotrouble.”
His mouth turned up in a crooked grin she found sexy as hell. “That was only after I met you.”
She bit her bottom lip but didn’t look away. She was having too much fun flirting with him. Their chemistry was off the charts.
When the bartender had directed her to the seat next to the guy she’d immediately noticed, she thought that had been a sign from the universe. After chatting—okay, flirting—with him, she was more certain about what she was planning. He ticked all her boxes: tall, handsome, appeared fit, nice smile, charismatic, and he was turning out to be an intelligent conversationalist. He was—to quote her favorite nanny—practically perfect in every way, at least for what she had in mind.
“What about you? Where do you work?”
She blurted out without thinking, “Boston General,” then winced internally when she thought of her conversation with her brother in the car.
Evan had practically dared her to do this. In fact, she was going to blame her actions tonight on her twin.
What she was considering doing made her a hypocrite in every sense of the word. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d lectured her patients about having unprotected sex with a stranger. But her biological clock wasn’t just ticking—it was clanging like cymbals in a marching band.
The handsome man sitting next to her might be the solution she was looking for. She'd get to know him a little better, of course. Maybe try to sneak in a few innocent family history questions, but right now she had every intention of asking him to have unprotected sex with her in the hopes of getting knocked up.
Then never calling him again.
No harm, no foul, right? People—hell, her brother—did it all the time. What Pete never knew wouldn't hurt him. She'd never ask for anything from him. Just his 23 chromosomes tonight.
It seemed like the perfect solution.
