N is for... (Checklist Book 14) by L DuBois (best classic books TXT) 📕

Summer’s fiance had good-naturedly told them to have a fun time and for Summer to call him when she was ready for a ride home.

“How would John know who to look for?” Autumn asked.

“He could take pictures of everyone in the bar and send them to us.”

“Well that sounds like a really good way to be super creepy and get thrown out of the bar and possibly arrested.”

“Hmm, probably true. Anyway, what does he look like again?”

“Brown hair, light colored eyes. Nice suit. Really sharp, looks very…in control.”

“Nice smile?” Summer asked.

“The best smile,” Autumn sighed.

“Okay then,” Summer picked up her phone and started to scoot out from behind their little table.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling John. There’s a sharply dressed man with a killer smile headed this way.”

Autumn’s heart stopped. She widened her eyes at her friend, who stopped scooting. Summer cast a critical eye over her, then reached out, grabbed the front of Autumn’s shirt, and yanked it down several inches. Autumn’s cleavage was now fully on display center stage.

“Summer,” Autumn hissed.

“Get ready,” her friend murmured.

“Hello.”

She’d convinced herself, during her pajama-clad lounging, that their chemistry had probably just been a product of the combination of attraction and predisposition towards sexual arousal due to the setting.

But one word, uttered in that wonderful voice, wiped away all the justifications and explanations she’d come up with.

Autumn took a breath and turned in her seat.

Daniel looked elegant and dangerous, when he should have looked stuffy in the three-piece suit. His jacket and the bottom button of his waistcoat were undone, and he had one hand in his pocket, pulling that side of the jacket back.

She looked up, met his gaze, and knew that she was looking into the eyes of a man, maybe the only man, who could make her truly, deeply happy.

The moment seemed to last forever, or maybe time stood still for them.

Summer, grinning like an idiot, finished sliding away—after not so subtly taking a picture of Daniel. “Just in case I need to be able to give the police a lead,” she said as she sauntered off.

Daniel’s smile widened into a grin. “Friend?”

“Best friend. She came to wait with me.”

“Oh? And who were you waiting for?” He held out a hand. “I’m Daniel, by the way.”

Ahh, okay. This was how they were doing it. She shook his hand, “Autumn.”

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“I have one.” She lifted her nearly full glass. “Can I buy you one?”

He didn’t balk or look offended or pull any other stupid toxic masculine bullshit. “Yes, thank you.”

“What would you like?” Autumn managed to catch the eye of one of the servers.

He ordered a whiskey sour from the server, who headed for the bar, leaving them alone together.

“You know,” Daniel said after a moment. “This is the third bar I’ve been to tonight.”

Autumn let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. “That’s funny. I was having trouble deciding which bar I should go to. There were three possibilities.”

“Did you go to all of them?”

“No, I thought maybe I should just stay here and wait.”

“Shall I do a clichéd pickup line about how you must have been waiting for me?” His words said one thing, but his expression…it was tentative. He wanted to make sure she was here waiting for him.

“No clichés. I think you’re…we’re better than that.”

“You’re right. We are.”

The server delivered his drink, and Daniel raised it. “A toast.”

“What are we toasting to?” She picked up her own glass.

“To…meeting in bars.”

They each took a sip, setting their glasses down almost in sync. Daniel scooted over, so he was sitting in the corner of the padded bench area. He stretched his arms out along the top of the bench seating. She thought she felt his fingers brush against her hair, a touch so feather light she couldn’t be sure it was real.

No more pretending.

Autumn slid over, cuddling against Daniel’s side. His arm dropped down to encircle her. Holding her close.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi,” he replied, just as quietly.

“I thought it was crazy of me to do this. To come here in case you came looking for me.”

“I was going crazy worrying that we’d miss each other by hopping from place to place. It would be like a scene from a movie, I’d walk in minutes after you left.”

“We really should have exchanged numbers.”

“Maybe, but maybe you weren’t ready for that yesterday.” He shifted, easing her away enough so that he could look down at her. “Maybe you weren’t ready, because you’d opened yourself up. You told me your secret, and about your past.” He took a deep breath. “I didn’t reciprocate.”

She’d expected him to. Had sat quietly on his lap for half an hour, assuming he was going to start talking. The fact that he hadn’t shared anything personal with her, after she’d shared so much with him, had hurt, but by that point she’d been emotionally wrung out enough that she hadn’t had the energy to get really upset.

But it had made it easier to call a halt to their time together.

“I noticed.”

“And I noticed you noticing.” He licked his lips, seeming nervous. No, not nervous…wary. “My past, at least within the club, isn’t something I talk about.”

“‘At least within the club’? That sounds a bit ominous.”

He looked around, at the bar that was getting louder by the minute as it approached 9p.m. and more people poured in.

“Too loud in here?” she asked.

“No, it will be fine.”

“Because I live upstairs.” She pointed at the ceiling.

He arched a brow. “Are you inviting me up?”

“Yes.”

Chapter 16

Twenty minutes later, Daniel watched as she used her thumbprint to unlock her front door. They were in the heart of downtown L.A., so he should have figured that any residence in the high rise would be state of the art. The building was mixed use, and according to the signage, housed two floors of retail and commercial establishments, including the bar, several law offices, as well as design and accounting firms.

An entirely separate bank of elevators serviced the