Page 5 of Trials of a One Night Stand
Zelda asked me to handle this lawsuit since she’d dealt with UnoPharm, but Nigel only threatened to sue us. He’d never followed through with an actual lawsuit. These Sugar Valley fuckers want to take us to court. Clearly, they’re delusional, but I’m told we must treat the lawsuit seriously, even though we have all the proof we need. With their slimy, snaky lawyers getting involved though, this could be expensive.
“On the house,” the bartender says, setting a pint of beer in front of me. “Seeing as you’ve had a shit time of it lately.” He winks and then turns to whoever’s standing next to me. “You look like you’ve had the same sort of day as this guy.”
I turn to see who he’s talking to. It’s the gorgeous woman I’d noticed before. She perches her fine ass on the edge of a stool, her elbows on the bar. She’s wearing tight jeans with that top that shows off her luscious breasts and lots of soft-looking skin. Talk about stunning. I bet she smells good too. She looks like the sort of woman who always smells good—everywhere.
“I need to get away from them,” she groans, thumbing over her shoulder.
She must mean the group of women who were shrieking minutes ago.
“Girls’ night is getting a little wild.” The bartender takes her wineglass and replaces it with a clean one. He grabs a bottle of white from the fridge and fills the glass, then pushes it closer to her with a finger.
“It’s a bachelorette party.” The beautiful woman holds out her cell phone to pay, and the bartender extends his card reader.
“Let me.” I slide off my stool and move closer to her. As her surprised gaze shoots to mine, I grin. “Nathaniel.”
She stares at my proffered hand and then up to my face but doesn’t speak. I can see she’s torn about whether to take it or not. The way her nose crinkles and her fingers play with the delicate gold chain at her neck tells me she’s curious about me. I sense she doesn’t know whether to accept or tell me a fully grown independent woman can buy her own drinks. That’s something Zelda would say and then buy me a drink.
“Jayne,” she finally says as she tentatively shakes my hand.
“Can I buy you the drink?” I ask, hoping I’m not coming across too cheesy or too heavy.
She nods once. “I guess so.”
She watches me carefully, obviously looking for signs that I’m a mass murderer or kidnapper. I don’t blame her for being cautious.
“You’re not enjoying the party?” I ask.
She rolls her eyes. “Not really. I’m not a bachelorette party kind of girl.” She picks up the wine and takes a long swig. “I only agreed because my boyfriend dumped me, and I want to make a point that I’ve moved on as he’s friends with the groom who I also know.”
At least she’s single. That’s a bonus. Some women haven’t told me the truth about their relationship status, which I hate, though I understand. I mean, I’m an attractive fucker. I sound conceited, but Mom had been a supermodel in her time and Dad had been a handsome tennis star until a knee injury ended his career. Since we’re a mixture of both, Ash and I are on the attractive side, each taking after one parent more than the other. Although Ashton is an exponentially better parent than ours were. Mom and Dad left our upbringing to nannies. Love was only doled out when we brought our successes—stellar report cards, awards, recognition. It’s still that way to this day, and why we only see them on occasional holidays even though they don’t live that far from either of us.
“His loss,” I say.
“He’s an asshole. He’s always been an asshole.” She smiles at the bartender. “Can I have a vodka shot, please?”
The bartender shoots me a cheeky grin as he places the vodka in front of Jayne. I can’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?” she snaps.
If the bartender’s hypothesis right, I don’t blame her for sounding snippy. I casually tilt my head toward the bartender now serving someone else. “He believes he knows how someone's day has gone by what they order to drink. Vodka is for the ladies who have reason to hate a man. Guys order whiskey for love woes. And everyone drinks beer after a bad day at the office.”
She stares at the drink in front of her, and a beautiful smile forms that lights up her face and has me wanting to say, “Check please” and drag her off to the nearest dark corner so I can taste her luscious lips and feel her delectable curves. I swallow.
“He’s good; I’ll give him that. And you’re forgiven for laughing.”
I shouldn’t say anything, but where’s the fun in that? “Did I get myself in that much trouble?”
“Don’t push it, handsome.”
At least she called me handsome. It’s my turn to smile.
She picks up the vodka and knocks it back. With a sigh she angles toward me. “Looks like this might be an expensive night for you, Nathaniel, because I’m in the mood for drinking. You up for it?”
As she licks her lips, I don’t care how much the night costs me. It’ll be worth the company so I’m not drinking alone.
CHAPTER TWO
JAYNE
