It was a bit of a leading statement, and sober Remi probably wouldn’t have picked it up, but this was Remi on two margaritas and the most expensive lemon drop in the world, so she felt like following the leading statements from the handsome man taking up too much space at the bar.
I held up my hand and ticked off my fingers as I answered. “My son, my grandfather, my best friend.” I pursed my lips as I thought of more people, more faces. “My neighbors. My coworkers. My grandfather’s neighbors.”
His lips curved in a barely there smile. “Quite a list. No boyfriend.”
“See, I had one for a little bit. Or I thought I did. Six dates is nothing to sneeze at, right?”
“I wouldn’t know,” he answered gravely. “He didn’t think so?”
“He was a money pit. You know those houses that have really good bones and you think if you can just work hard enough to get it to meet its potential, it could be awesome?”
“If you say so.” His brow lifted slowly. “So, the bones were good,” he added pointedly.
I huffed, but his shockingly direct gaze did a number on my composure, so I just kept talking. “I don’t know. We never got that far.”
“Poor guy.”
“Oh, please. He survived just fine with the other girl he was dating at the same time.”
He grinned, teeth flashing in the dim light of the bar. “So you didn’t worry about making him happy?”
“Hewasn’t one of my people.”
“Ahh.” His gaze was intoxicating. More potent than the alcohol making my head pleasantly fuzzy. “Did your friend tell you to take a shot?”
“No,” I said, drawing out the word. “But I needed that for courage because you’re very intimidating.”
“Why’s that?”
I snorted. “Please. You own a mirror. Plus, it doesn’t make a girl feel very welcome when you give her the big scary man glare as she takes her seat.”
“I did do that, didn’t I?” He dipped his chin in a deferential nod. “My apologies. That was past me, who wasn’t in a very good mood.”
“But you’re in a better mood now?”
Talk about leading statements. I couldn’t even dredge up a single ounce of shame.
“Yes.” His gaze dipped to my mouth again. “I find myself more inclined to stay, at the moment.”
A long-neglected part of me preened. This man was flirting right back.
His eyes were locked on mine. “While we’re being brutally honest,” he said, voice rough and just loud enough for me to hear over the thumping music, “your body is”—he wet his lower lip and stared unashamedly down at my heaving chest—“perfectly fine too.”
My nipples were probably tearing through the fucking shirt, flimsy little piece of material that it was. He smelled clean, a little bit woodsy, and my head was spinning like a top. Why was he so close? Why wasn’t he closer?
“I’ve never minded it,” I answered unsteadily. “Though I don’t typically wear clothes where so much of it shows.”
“A shame,” he said gravely. He rested his other arm along the back of my stool, because I’d turned to face him as well, my crossed legs slotted between his. His fingertips brushed along the side of my arm, and I sucked in a trembling breath. When I didn’t move away, he edged forward in his seat, dipping his mouth closer to my ear. “So if neither of us wants to be here,” he said in a delicious whisper, “why don’t we leave?”
My eyes fluttered shut. His nearness was intoxicating. Forget the alcohol—I was drunk off him. It was exactly the kind of interaction that terrified me, because the sheer power of chemistry like this could get you in all sorts of trouble.
Good trouble.
Very, very bad trouble. The kind I worked very hard to avoid. The kind I’d kept firmly away from the important parts of my life for years.
But tonight wasn’t my life, was it? It was a pocket of time with a person who didn’t know me, who had no power over my feelings, and who I’d never see again.
That kind of freedom was intoxicating, and it built, picking up speed like a snowball in one of those old cartoons, growing bigger and bigger until I was defenseless to stop it. For the first time in years, I didn’t want to stop it. I wanted to let myself be the fun girl at the bar who didn’t worry about paying bills or if her kid missed a test or if the air conditioner needed replacing before the summer.