While I was glad I had someone in my life who cared about me the way Suri cared about myself and Aurora, my mind plagued me with thoughts that I couldn’t shake. My daughter and I were less than six months away from not having anything, and none of my applications had gotten any bites. If people from the businesses I had applied to bothered to call me to come in for an interview, the interviews were less than ten minutes long before I was dismissed.
Even I knew that a ten-minute-long interview was never a good thing.
I threw back the rest of my margarita and signaled to the bartender for another one. I had just enough money allotted for three of them and a cab ride home, so that’s what I wanted to limit myself to. However, as the bartender handed me my second drink, I heard my phone’s email sound dinging from the bottom of my purse.
And when I checked the notification, only one thought crossed my mind.
Tonight requires a celebratory drink.
I checked my email only to find that someone had messaged me personally, asking me to come in to speak with them about a job. And that had to be good, right? It was good when they contacted someone personally instead of through the resume website, right?
“Yes,” I hissed.
The title of the email read “Possible Interview for Friday,” and I was ready to message back and proclaim that I was free to do whatever was necessary to get this job. I mean, anything, too. Not that I condoned office trysts or shit like that, but I was at a point where I could have sucked my way into a job if someone had offered it to me.
“Fancy seeing you here again.”
The second I heard his voice, I froze. I’d know that timbre anywhere, even only after one night. I had used that voice for months as I rubbed one out every night. I conjured that cheeky little grin and those long, strong features to help throw myself over the edge whenever I felt a little too feisty for my own good.
And as I slowly swiveled around, I was met with those same amber-shaded brown eyes from months and months ago.
“Mind if I have a seat?” he asked as he sat beside me.
I watched his movements as a shiver rushed down my spine. “Evening.”
He raised his hand and nodded. “Evening.”
My gaze dropped down his form. “Rough day?”
The bartender came over to us with a drink in his hand for the man. “Can I get you anything else?”
He pointed to me. “Another one of whatever she’s having for the lady. I think it’s time I treat her this time around.”
I waved my hand in the air. “I’m good. I can’t afford another drink right now.”
Then, I felt his eyes whip in my direction. “I didn’t say anything about you paying, now, did I?”
I narrowed my eyes as I studied him while the bartender got to work. I didn’t like how arrogant he seemed, but there was something behind his cheeky little smile that struck me directly in my gut. I wasn’t sure what it was, and I sure as hell didn’t have the sanity to take the time to figure it out. But, the way his body heat reached out to me caused my toes to curl against my heels.
“Hard day at work?” he asked.
Being a mom is always hard work. “Seems like that’s the going rate for living nowadays.”
He chuckled. “Truer words were never spoken. Cheers.”
I picked up my fresh margarita and clinked my glass against his. “Cheers.”
He threw his drink back as I sipped on mine and the bartender quickly brought him another. He eyed my empty glasses on the bar that hadn’t been picked up yet and quickly threw his second one back, then gestured for a third. Which was, as he probably wanted to make it, the numbered drink I was currently on.
“There,” he said as he held up his whiskey, “all caught up.”
I nodded. “Cheers.”
He clinked his glass against mine. “Cheers.”
I cleared my throat. “Rough day on your end, too?”
He snickered as he gazed into his drink. “I don’t know, you tell me. Do thirteen hours in a stuffy-ass office seem like a rough day?”
