Shit.
I was going to say no, but with words likebirthdayandcatch upit sounds innocent enough, right?
“Happy birthday,” I say, smiling. “And sure, I could have a drink with you. That sounds nice.”
“Wonderful.” He beams.
Before I spent time with Atlas I would have loved for him to ask me out, and his folded-up sleeves on his expensive white Hugo Boss shirt would have normally turned me on a little, but now I feel nothing.
Fucking Atlas.
He has broken me.
In one night.
How the fuck did he manage that?
While I ponder that for the rest of the day, I finish up all my admin work, and meet with a new client. I have a meeting with Jaxon about a few of our upcoming cases, and soon enough it’s time for me to leave with Cole.
We walk down to our local bar and both order drinks. Cole talks about work the whole way there, telling me about a fraud case he was working on today. I notice that he doesn’t really ask me any personal questions, just keeps talking about himself.
“What would you like to drink?” he asks as we get to the bar. I take off my black blazer and set it down on the empty chair next to me.
“I’ll have a margarita, please,” I tell the bartender. Cole orders a beer.
I pull my purse out. “I’ll pay, it’s your birthday,” I offer, and he lets me.
“Thanks for coming to celebrate with me,” he says, as we wait for our drinks. “I’m really glad that you’ve joined the firm.”
“Thank you, I love working there,” I reply, being honest with him.
“That’s good. Nice to have some eye candy in the office, too,” he adds, smiling at the bartender, who slides him his beer. He tilts his head back and takes a mouthful.
My internal alarm sounds. Eye candy? I’m an educated woman and I’m not here to be eye candy. One sip of beer and he’s getting bold. I tell myself that maybe this is just his way of flirting. I shouldn’t have said yes to him, but I can just finish this one drink and then get out of here. I really have bad taste in men.
“Natalie,” comes a deep voice from next to me. “Fancy seeing you here.”
I turn around to come face-to-face with Atlas and Aries.
Fuck.
What are the chances that out of every bar in the city, Atlas happens to walk into this one?
“Hey. What are you doing here?” I ask. He’s not following me, is he? I grew up in a clubhouse, and I’ve seen some shit. These bikers have no boundaries when they want something.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He bends his head forward to see Cole. “And who is this?”
I narrow my eyes. “This is my work colleague,” I say, my tone telling him he better not make a fucking scene right now.
I have no reason to be feeling guilty right now.
None.
Okay, well, maybe Idofeel guilty. We did have sex last night. And I don’t want him to think I’m the type of woman who sleeps with different men every day of the week. Not that there is anything wrong with a woman doing that, I’m just not that type of woman. And I don’t even know what last night was. I thought it was just me scratching an itch.
And yes, it looks like I’m on a date with the type of man Atlas was giving me shit about. Atlas and I clearly have some blurred lines; I don’t know what we are, but it’s acquaintance-friends who sometimes hook up at most. He did ask me out to dinner, and I did say yes, but I’m doing nothing wrong right now by having an after-work drink with Cole.
“I see,” he replies, and I know exactly what he’s thinking without him saying it.Oh, a motherfucking lawyer.