Page 69 of A Bossy Surprise

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

He smiles and takes my hand and starts walking me into the establishment.

As soon as his skin touches mine it feels wrong. It might sound crazy, but it almost feels more intimate than if he had just kissed me square on the mouth.

I try to pull my hand free but he holds on tight. So I resign myself to this.

When we walk into the bar, it actually looks nice. All the walls are lined with booths, while sturdy looking wooden tables and chairs crowd the floor. The actual bar, although toward the back of the space, is huge and dominating. Soft rock plays throughout the room and some people dance on a makeshift dance floor off to the side.

Eugene leads me to the bar and we climb up on stools and order our drinks. He gets an old-fashioned and I get an apple martini.

“So how was your day?” he asks.

“Oh, it was fine. Nothing special. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“What is it exactly you do at GNN?”

“I am the head of our news department.”

He whistles. “Impressive.”

“What about you? What do you do?”

“I am a banker. Couldn’t you tell from the suit?”

I smile. “I mean, I suspected, but I didn’t want to assume anything.”

“Yeah, I’m a numbers guy.”

“Do you enjoy that?”

He tilts his head to the side in thought. “I don’t think I would say I enjoy it, but I don’t find it to be soul sucking. So I guess I’m happy about that.”

I laugh. “Well, that is the dream; to have a job that isn’t soul sucking.”

He laughs too.

We descend into silence again and I take a sip of my drink just to have something to do.

“So it’s getting warmer.”

“Really? I don’t feel anything, but we could move closer to a window if you like.”

He shakes his head. “No, I mean generally. Like, the weather.”

Oh my God. We’re talking about the weather now?

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It is getting warmer.”

Silence stretches between us yet again. Then, I cannot believe my ears, but he asks, “What’s your favorite color?”

Shoot me now.

I don’t want to answer him, but at least it’ll give us something to talk about. So I indulged him.

“Orange.”

“Nice… Mine is blue.”