That meant a long night.
“Cal and Laura are sitting there,” Harper said, pointing to two of the chairs. “That’s me and Gage, so take any of the other seats.”
Turning to Lena, I gestured to the table. “You pick our seats, and I’ll head to the bar. What can I get you?”
As I would expect, Lena put her clutch by the chair next to Harper’s.
“I’ll have champagne, thanks,” she said.
The bar was getting crowded, but it was staffed well enough so there was no wait. After grabbing a glass of champagne and a bourbon, I started back to our table. As I approached the empty chair next to Lena, the one on the other side of mine was now occupied.
Christ.
“Here ya go,” I said, placing a drink in front of my date.
My voice gave my presence away. Maryellen’s head turned before I took my seat, and she looked up at me. A combination of delight and torment shadowed those crystal blue eyes of hers.
“Hi, Maryellen,” I said. “You look nice.”
My attempt at keeping it professional sounded abrupt. And fake. I hated not being able to tell her exactly how I felt.
That she was the most stunning woman in the entire room.
That the sun followed her wherever she moved, lighting her way.
That my hands trembled with desire under the table as I struggled not to reach out and touch her.
“Hi,” Maryellen said. “Thank you. You look nice as well.”
The guy Maryellen brought was busy talking to Cal’s wife Laura, and I was thankful I wasn’t sitting next to him. That combined with bourbon wouldn’t end well.
“You’ll have to introduce me to your date,” Maryellen said. “She’s very pretty. Are you two seeing each other?”
Maryellen was an abundantly nice person. No one ever had a bad thing to say about her. So, when I heard an edge in her words, I was shocked.
There was no way I was willingly introducing them.
There was no reason for her to be jealous, considering she also brought a date.
Who I had no interest in being introduced to.
Yet I was sure I couldn’t avoid an introduction all night considering we were sitting at the same fucking table. How convenient.
“No, not exactly. We just go out occasionally. What about you and your date? Seeing each other?”
Truth was, I really didn’t want to know, though it was the polite thing to do.
“Um, second date. Poor guy agreed to come to a work event on our second date. And now he’s stuck talking to the guest of honor’s wife.”
Gage struck his glass with a fork. The tinging sound got the crowd’s attention.
“Welcome,” Gage started. “Thanks for coming as we send off one of our best. Calvin Waters is going to be missed. When I was young…”
My mind shut down on the story my brother told when Maryellen’s leg rubbed against mine.
And she kept it there.
It could have been that the table was crowded and the chairs were close together. But Lena and I weren’t touching.
