Page 13 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
“Single malt scotch, Jameson.”
“Reserve?” he asked.
Lark smiled and shook her head. “I want to still be able to make my mortgage.”
The bartender laughed. “Got it. I’ve got you covered, and it will still go down smooth. Straight or on the rocks?”
Lark lifted one pale blonde eyebrow and the bartender chuckled.
“Straight it is.”
He turned back to the shelf and didn’t have to reach up onto his toes to grab a bottle, so Lark knew her drink wouldn’t break the bank. When the short glass was in front of her she slid her credit card over.
“Do you want to start a tab?”
“Sure, why not?” She smiled and did a quick shimmy in her seat to make herself comfortable.
Shit.
Lark leaned back slightly and felt the back of the bar seat.
Good, nobody should have seen me wiggling my damn ass.
She took a sip of the liquid gold and the burn felt good.
Damn good.
She took a minute to take a surreptitious look in the mirror behind the bar. Kostya looked comfortable inherbooth. His arm was resting along the back, his ankle propped over his knee in that pose that men always took when they were relaxed. He looked like some kind of sultan surveying his kingdom. But he wasn’t really. He was an operative, through and through. It gave her a punch of excitement to realize that she was the only person in the bar who knew that. She watched him some more.
Kostya was very careful to look like a man who was just sitting back and enjoying his drink. His eyelids were at half-mast, but she would bet all the money in her checking account that his eyes were moving and he was aware of every single twitch that every person made in this place.
Shit, which would have included me wiggling my damn ass!
Kostya’s eyes caught hers in the mirror and his lip twitched. He raised his glass slightly as if in salute before taking a swallow.
Fuck!
His drink was in the same highball glass that hers was. God help her if he was drinking Jameson too.
Keep it together, Sorensen. Remember, this is a man who has provided you with help in the past. You need to keep on his good side.
She lifted her glass in return and gave one of her own smiles.
“Hi. I don’t remember seeing you around here before.”
Lark stifled a sigh as she glanced at the man in the thousand-dollar suit to her left.
“Hello,” she answered politely.
“My name is Langley Redford, I’m Senator Wentworth’s Chief of Staff.” He held out his right hand to shake. She spotted his wedding ring on his left hand.
What a sleaze.
“Hello Mr. Redford, I’m Lark Sorensen.”
She wasn’t surprised when he held her hand for seconds too long. “I think I’ve heard your name before. Which member of congress do you work for?” he asked.
“I work freelance, but usually my articles get picked up by either Vanity Fair or The New Yorker.”
