Fuck.
It wasn’t just that she was hot. Even though I never really spoke to her, I’d gotten to knowher. I’d listened to all her witty,sarcastic jibes at her awful dates, and all I’d wanted was to join in with her.
She was fiery and gorgeous. Her eyes sparkled, glittering with mirth. They were dazzling, like staring into the sun.
Take her. Make her mine. Just fucking kiss her.
She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, so why was I so determined to believe that she wasn’t for me?
Could I handle it if the reputation of my bar went up in flames? Honestly, it would be a pain in the ass, but I could rebuild. It would be tough, but I had managed through worse.
But could I live with myself if I let Avril date another fucking idiot, just letting her be the one who got away? Without even saying a word?
No.
I didn’t want to go another day without at least letting her know how I feel.
CHAPTER 11
AVRIL
As soon asI stopped literally running like my life depended on it, I sort of felt stupid.
Okay, so at the time I felt like I needed to run for my life. But now that I was out of sight and away from the smell of the traumatizing hand towel, I awkwardly stood in the middle of the sidewalk catching my breath.
So… now what?
I kind of had already set out to have some fun tonight… and wasn’t ready to go home. Emotionally, I’d just ridden the highs of a good date, before everything crashed hard.
I swear that hand towel was traumatizing. Technically, I don’t know if hand towels could officially be considered a form of trauma… but then again, none of the psychologists studying the causes of complex trauma had probably ever been inside a bathroom likethat.
I needed a drink.
I didn’t want to think. Didn’t want to look up a new place and hope that they knew how to make my favorite drink. All I wanted right now was to be someplace familiar where I could drown my feelings a bit.
I whipped out my phone, logging into a ride-sharing app.
Luckily, I knew just where to go, where at the very least, there was one handsome face I’d be happy to see.
By the time I got back to the Pearl, I felt a little more composed. My driver did give me a concerned look when he’d first picked me up, but I was a lot less pale now. Nothing that a little bit of alcohol couldn’t cure.
The moment I stepped back into the Pearl, Sexy David did a double-take.
There was something in his expression… he was looking at me like he was seeing a ghost. Which, oddly enough, made me kinda spiral for a second as I considered whether it was possible that I had died. Maybe I was still back in the bathroom of horrors and all the accumulated toxins and mold spores or whatever killed me—I just hadn’t realized it yet.
Okay, now I wasreallybeing stupid.
I strode over to the bar, and took a seat at one of the stools directly in front of David.
“Hey,” I smiled sheepishly.
Oh, damn. Was this going to be awkward? Iwasjust here less than half an hour ago with some other guy, who I’d obviously left with. Was David going to make this weird?
“Hey.” The smile on his face was steamy as sin—clearly pleased that I was back.
Obviously, David wouldn’t do that to me. He wasn’t going to make me feel anything other than amazing.
Those cool blue eyes stared at me with burning heat, so hot that I could feel it all the way down to my core—gazing deep into my eyes, like I was something that he clearly wanted to see.
