She squinted upward, gazing into the slate-gray sky. “Do you like Vietnamese?”
“Love it.”
“Perfect!” She cocked her head to the side, and matched her brisk pace as we walked down the street. “That will give you plenty of time to tell me why you moved to London.”
* * *
We ate, talked, laughed, and drank for an hour. I answered all her questions and she answered all mine.
I knew Madison was born wild and carefree. Yes, she was a little eccentric, but she had buckets of personality pouring from her. She was wild, unstoppable, had a thirst for life, and took no prisoners. She was bold enough to be herself and I liked that.
Madison peered at me. “I read your file from front to back. After all, I have to know who I’m getting into bed with, figuratively speaking.”
“I understand.”
She pushed a shot of Jack toward me. “I didn’t look forward to meeting you because you’re just as straight laced as the guy that got canned. All they did was replace him with a girly version.”
I downed the shot in one gulp to prove my point. “I’m not straight laced. And my resume speaks for itself. I’m a hard worker and...”
“You’re boring.”
“You don’t know me. And what does my personal life have to do with work anyway? As long as the person can get the job done efficiently.”
“I know we’ve been laughing and talking and getting to know each other, and I like you. But you don’t take risks. You’re not adventurous.”
I downed another shot. “Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I’ll have you know, I had my first one night stand last night. So there! How adventurous is that?”
I cupped my mouth. Oh shit! Did I just say that?”
“You what?”
“I’m kidding. Just kidding.”
“No you’re not! You’re blushing. And it’s my job to read people.”
I bit my lip hard.
“Spill it,” she demanded. “I want all the juicy details.”
“You got me drunk...”
“So I could uncover all your secrets? Why yes! And it worked perfectly.”
“Madison!”
“Spill!”
I had told her the entire story, not hiding a single detail. Partly, it was because I was a big believer in corporate bonding, especially with my new partner. Partly, though, it was because the vodka was getting to me. Mostly, it was because I needed to tell someone before the whole fantastic voyage faded from my mind, before it somehow slipped out of reality and into the permanent realm of my dreams.
“Horacio’s?” Madison leaned forward, peering at me with an intoxicated stare. “You say you just picked him up at Horacio’s and headed off into the night?”
The small talk was over, and work talk had only lasted so long. My new partner and I had progressed to topics of a more personal nature, from family and friends, to growing up, to the jaw-droppingly gorgeous man I’d met and fucked the night before.
“He was just standing there in the corner,” I replied, then took another sip of what had to be my fourth vodka tonic, a real lip-loosener. Oh, and there was the Jack too. “There were people talking to him, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just locked eyes with me and gestured to the door, and things... Well, as they say, one thing led to another.”