At Peace (The 'Burg #2)(61)
Then his eyes came back to mine and he muttered, “You’re full of it.”
I swung my drink away and asked, “What?”
“The straw ploy,” he dipped his head to my drink, “advanced flirting,” I looked at my drink then at him when he finished approvingly, “the tongue, nice touch.”
I was feeling suddenly strange and I put my straw back to my lips, mumbling, “Um…” then I covered the fact I didn’t know what to say by sucking up another sip.
Mike went on. “Next thing you’ll do is tie the stem of a cherry in a knot with your tongue.”
I choked on my cranberry juice and vodka.
Mike put a hand to my back, which was easy to do considering I was leaned nearly double trying to take in deep breaths while still choking.
“Hey, you okay?”
I lifted up, placed my glass on the bar and patted my chest. “Just… went down the wrong tube,” I gasped.
“Take another sip, it’ll help,” Mike advised, I took his advice and he was right.
I put the glass back on the bar, looked at him and said hesitantly, “So, um… flirting question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you mind if I ask how old you are?”
“Nope,” he smiled.
I smiled back when he didn’t answer and asked, “How old are you?”
“Forty.”
“Okay, I’m thirty-five.”
He was still smiling when he said on a prompt, “Right.”
I carried on. “And you’re saying, at our ages, the knotting the cherry stem flirting trick still works?”
“Sweetheart, I’ll be a hundred and two and that’ll work like Viagra.”
Shit!
“Why?” he asked, watching me closely.
“Just that, I thought you boys got over that at, say, nineteen, maybe twenty.”
“Nope.”
I couldn’t believe it. I’d flirted with Joe the entire time we were at J&J’s together. No wonder he thought he could take me home and f**k me.
“Violet, you okay?”
“No,” I told Mike. “Not too long ago, a guy told me he’d pay me fifty bucks to tie a cherry stem with my tongue. I thought he was jokin’ around.”
Mike grinned and said, “Sorry, darlin’, he wasn’t.”
“Shit,” I whispered.
“You do it?”
“Yeah,” I told him. “He didn’t seem impressed.”
“Oh, he was impressed,” Mike assured me.
I guessed he was since he dragged me out of the bar not five minutes after, took me home and f**ked me.
God, I was an idiot.
“You get the fifty?”
“Kind of… we had somewhat of a fight the next day and I threw it in his face.”
Mike burst out laughing.
“What?” I asked when I thought he could hear me over his laughter.
He leaned in. “The next day?” He shook his head as I realized what I gave away or what he thought I gave away which was, essentially, what I gave away and then he whispered, “Darlin’.”
“I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”
“God’s honest truth?” he asked.
“Hit me,” I told him.
“You squeezed by me, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’ve seen in this town since Feb came home. Now I think you’re cute as all hell but still beautiful. What I don’t think is that you’re an idiot.”
I bit my lip then I whispered, “Thanks.”
“Won’t pay you fifty bucks but I’ll take you to dinner tomorrow night, you tie a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue,” he offered and I felt my body still. “Though, you should know, you don’t, I’ll still take you to dinner tomorrow night.”
“Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked moronically.
“Yeah,” he answered quietly, not making me feel like a moron.
I didn’t know what to do. I liked him but Joe had been acting differently and, considering that Cheryl and I hadn’t been there but for a drink that led into two when Mike showed and she knew everyone in the bar and introduced me to all of them so I hadn’t had the time to ask her about Joe, I didn’t know what to think of Joe.
However Joe had been clear what I should think of Joe and, seeing as Joe was pretty clear about most everything, I figured Joe would be clear if I should think differently about Joe.
And Mike was handsome, nice, funny, he had a great smile and a devilish grin and he thought I was beautiful.
Therefore I said, “Okay.”
“Remind me,” he said and I blinked.
“Remind you?”
“Remind me, tomorrow night, you let me kiss you when I take you home, to thank Colt for takin’ that case that hit my desk so he’s workin’ tonight and I’m here with you.”
I was wrong. Mike was handsome, funny, he thought I was beautiful and he was really, freaking nice.
“Are your kids hooligans?” I asked and he smiled.
“Yeah, terrors. It’s good they’re growin’ up and out of the house with their friends most of the time, now they can terrorize other people. Your girls?”
“Kate’s okay, except she’s wrapped up in a boy so she pretty much doesn’t exist unless his essence is inserted in the atmosphere. Keira’s a pain in the ass but at least she’s funny while bein’ a pain in the ass.”