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“No, I insist.” Adam grabbed my arm to pull me to the bar when a blonde woman I remembered from the marketing team intervened.
“Don’t hog Nathan, Adam. I’ve been dying to talk to him about a project I’m working on,” she said.
“Fine,” Adam relented before pointing at me. “But I’m coming to find you later.”
I sighed as the team retreated. Social interactions like these had my senses on high alert. I could never relax in this setting.
“You looked like you needed saving,” the blonde whispered. “I’m Hannah, in case you forgot.”
“Hannah from marketing,” I said, so she’d know I had been able to place her.
“Right.” She beamed and took a sip of her sugary pink drink. She licked her bottom lip and looked up at me through her thick eyelashes. “I’ve been dying to get a moment alone with you.”
Great.Flirting. This interaction proved even less promising than the last two.
“There was a project you wanted to discuss?” I rolled my ice cube around in my glass, hoping against hope she would turn this conversation back around to work.
“Oh, how boring.” She waved off my comment. “I only said that to get rid of Adam. That accounting team is wild. Hard workers, but wild.”
“It seems the idea of professionalism is out the door nowadays.”
She threw her head back and laughed at my statement. I didn’t know why everyone always laughed at that. I was serious. I had only worked in casual tech start-ups, but I longed for the professionalism of the older days—suits in the office, no personal talk, encouraging hard work. Everything was so informal now.
“Where have you been in Denver so far?” she asked, leaning even further into me.
“Nowhere,” I said, meaning it. I had hardly been anywhere outside the office and Oliver’s house.
She swatted my arm. “Ihaveto show you around. I know all the best restaurants.”
I avoided her stare as she rambled on about the hottest places I needed to check out. My mind raced for an excuse to extract myself from this conversation as quickly as possible.
Scanning the small bar, my eyes stopped at the brunette in the corner—Charlie. She was talking to some guy I barely remembered meeting. She tossed her head back, laughing at something he had said. Something about their interaction caused an unfamiliar feeling to spawn within my chest. I couldn’t even imagine making someone laugh like that. As she resumed their animated conversation, I couldn’t help noticing how perfectly her soft green sweater complemented her skin.
“Yoo-hoo.” Hannah snapped her fingers to get my attention. “Thought I lost you there for a second.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about the new product launch,” I lied.
“It’s so impressive how dedicated you are to your company,” she gushed. I tried not to roll my eyes at her obvious attempt at flattery. “You sold part of Pulse, right?
“Mmhmm.” I nodded, hoping the shorter my answers were, the faster she would leave me alone.
She touched my arm and whispered, “How much did it go for?”
My eyebrows shot up at her bluntness. “That’s a bit crass to discuss, don’t you think?” Especially since she could google it and likely already had.
Instead of noting my disgust, she giggled. “Come on, you can tell me.”
I blew out a breath. Glancing over to the other side of the bar, I found Ben staring at me and giving me a thumbs up. Shaking my head, I narrowed my eyes at him.
This was the last time I let him drag me anywhere.
Chapter Ten
CHARLIE
“And then themutt had the nerve to tear off running all the way down the street, and I had to chase it down in my boxers,” Liam said, shaking with laughter.
“Oh my god,” I said through tears as he continued to describe the scene.
