“Josh told me about Charlotte after Kat told him.”
“Oh my God, my sister is such a fucking blabbermouth!” he says, shaking his head. “Please don’t be pissed at Charlotte. I sweet-talked her.”
“Oh, I’m sure you did. I’m not mad. Obviously, my best friend knows me better than I know myself. Oh my God, I’ve missed you.” With that, I grab Ryan’s beautiful face and kiss him again and again, until the bartender comes over and politely asks if we’d like to order drinks, which we do.
“Isn’t it weird nobody else is here?” I ask as the bartender walks away, looking around at the empty bar.
Ryan shrugs. “It’s a weekday, middle of the afternoon.”
“Yeah, but shouldn’t there at least be a couple other people here? Whatever they’re doing at this place for marketing, let’s do the opposite for Captain’s.”
“Does that mean you’re on board to be a part-owner?”
I nod enthusiastically. “You’d be okay with that?”
“Baby, I wouldn’t have it any other way. As far as I’m concerned, we’re a team, me and you, from now on.”
We kiss again, elation flooding us—and when the bartender returns with our drinks, we disengage again, laughing at ourselves.
“You know, the last time we sat on these exact stools together, we weren’t properly introduced,” Ryan says. “I think we should do it now, you know, to get off on the right foot this time.”
I giggle and put out my hand. “Hey, good-lookin’. My name is Tessa Rodriguez. I’m a personal assistant to this guy named Josh Faraday. I live in Seattle and I’m most definitelynota flight attendant.”
Ryan takes my hand. “Ryan Morgan.”
“Morgan? Any relation to Kat Morgan?”
“Why, yes. She’s my little sister.”
“Oh my gosh. What are the odds? My boss is marrying your sister!”
“Imagine that!”
We both laugh.
“Can you imagine if our first conversation had gone like that?” Ryan says. “Would have saved me a whole lot of time.”
“No, it would have been the end of us. If I’d known you were Kat’s brother right off the bat, I would have run like hell.”
“Nah. We’re fate, baby. We would have found our way to each other, regardless.”
I feel myself blushing.
“So, hey, Tessa Rodriguez, it’s nice to meet you,” Ryan says, resuming our little role-play. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?”
I take a sip of my drink. “What would you like to know?”
“Oh, I dunno.” He smiles playfully. “How about you just give me a brief overview?”
“A brief overview?” I say, matching his playful tone. “Dang it! Theonetime I didn’t bring a Power Point presentation with me to a bar and the hottest guy in the place asks me for a ‘brief overview’? I knew I should have brought my laptop with me today.”
Ryan bites his lower lip. “Shoot. I sound like I’m conducting a job interview, don’t I? Sorry.”
“It’s okay. It happens.”
“You know what?” Ryan says. “As long as I’m conducting a job interview here, why don’t I ask you one of the all-time, classic job-interview questions?”
I take a happy sip of my drink. “Hit me.”
