“Nice to see you again, too, Lexi,” he chuckled. “I was dropping something off at Nathan’s, and this is on the way home. Just came to grab a beer.”
“No fucking way you randomly ended up atmybar?” There was no fucking way.
“It’s almost as if fate led me here,” he said with a straight face.Was this motherfucker for real right now?
“Don’t start that shit again, Brando.” Diane set a beer down in front of him, and I must have looked as shocked as I felt, causing Brandon to let out a laugh.
“Start you a tab, Brandon?” Diane asked. “Or just the one tonight?”
My jaw hung open, my eyes wide. There was no fucking way that he’d been coming here, and we never ran into each other.How was that even possible?
“Seeing as how my good friend Lexi is here, you can start me a tab,” he answered, and then turned to face me fully. “So, I guess you come here often?”
4
BRANDON
The look on her face was priceless. “So this isyourbar?” I asked, amused as shit at how frazzled she seemed.
She ignored my jab. “How do you know Diane? If you were a regular, I’d have seen you before today.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart, I’m not stalking you or anything. Diane is a client of mine, and so is her boyfriend. I’ve been here a few times.”
“Ew, don’t you Sweetheart me. It seems suss that you would show up here of all places.”
“Or kismet,” I half-joked. “You know, like how Daphne and Nathan met.”
She squinted her eyes at me. “I can’t tell if you’re being for real right now or if you’re just fucking with me. I hope, for your sake, it’s the latter.”
“You’d rather me be fucking with you?” I asked, amusement in my tone.
She scoffed, “Yeah, remember, I don’t believe in that fate crap. I also don’t do relationships, so if you thought this was yourin, you’re barking up the wrong tree, my guy.”
“Don’t worry, Sweetheart, I’m fucking with you,”I lied.“Don’t get your panties in a knot.” Coincidence or fate, it didn’t matter to me. I was just happy to see her again. The truth of the matter was, I had been thinking a lot about her since we first met at that Halloween party. Then, when I tattooed her last month, I knew I needed to see her again. Today, when I saw her in her scrubs at the hospital, all I could think of was getting her out of them and making her scream my name. Running into her yet again here at the bar had me convinced there had to be a reason.
“My panties are most certainly not in a knot.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be off getting toys ready for Christmas or something?” She sounded annoyed, but looked amused.
“Still thinking about me in that Santa suit, huh?” I teased.
“You wish,” she groaned.
“Okay, okay, I’m done messing with you. How’s your tattoo doing? You didn’t text, so I’m assuming it’s healing alright?”
She pulled the collar of her shirt down and strained to look at her collarbone. “I don’t know. You tell me,” she said as she thrust her chest towards me.Good Lord.
“Mmm, looks good to me. Have you given any more thought to your next one?” I asked, hopeful that I’d get her in my chair again.
“Not really, but I definitely like that octopus idea. I think that would be cool,” she said and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Why don’t you draw me something so I can visualize it better?”
Turning to face her, I said, “I’d love to. I’ll work on something this week and text you. Guess that means I need your number?”
“I guess so,” she said coyly. “Here, give me your phone. I’ll put my number in.” I handed my phone to her, and she quickly typed in her info before handing it back to me. “Can’t wait to see what you come up with.”
“I should have something for you by next week.” Noticing her drink was empty, I asked, “Can I get you another drink?”
She thought about it for a moment and then agreed, “Okay, one more.” She pushed her glass out in front of her, and I motioned to Diane for another. Lexi turned to face me completely. “So, you gonna tell me the story behind these?” She leaned closer and drew her finger across my forearm, over my ‘naughty’ tattoo. She was making pretty intense eye contact and leaning in close. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was flirting with me.
“Well, I love Christmas. It’s actually my favorite holiday and one of the reasons I play Santa at the hospital each year.” There were other reasons, but I wasn’t trying to kill the vibe. “But as for these,” I gestured to my arms. “I’m clearly no stranger to body art, and I wanted to add something to represent my love of Christmas, but also the two sides of my personality. People mostly see the nice guy side,but there’s more to me than meets the eye,” I winked at her, suddenly feeling bolder. The shyness I had felt during our earlier meetings faded away.
