“We’ll see.”
She laughed, and I detected a light blush in her cheeks. I just couldn’t keep myself from flirting with her. I wasn’t the Flirt for nothing. She was beautiful and newly single. I only interrupted our eye contact to drop my gaze to her mouth. She licked her lips, exhaling sharply. I could feel her about to give in.
“You win,” she whispered. I smiled triumphantly. Her voice bordered on disbelief, but that brilliant smile was a sure sign that she liked my balls-to-the-walls approach to... everything.
We climbed on barstools, looking at the cocktail list. The beauty of not being able to drive in Manhattan was that you didn’t have to worry about drinking and driving.
I was close enough to smell that intoxicating mix of flowers and cinnamon again. Perfumes weren’t something I usually noticed, but hers was messing with my senses. She was messing with my senses. Everything from her unassuming beauty to her showing up here to buy me a drink surprised me.
“What are we drinking?”
“You’re trusting me to pick your drink?” I teased.
“You do know this place better than I do. Plus, I think you’re trustworthy.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Half my family would disagree with you.”
“And the other half?”
“Would probably tell you to wait until the end of the evening to decide if I’m trustworthy or not.”
“Oh, crap. I’m in big trouble, huh?”
I wiggled my eyebrows.
“Huge.”
She shook her head but didn’t say anything.
We ended up ordering Mojitos—the Northern Lights made the best one in the city.
“So how large is your family?” Heather asked after a few drinks. The crowd in the bar thinned even more, but honestly, I was barely aware of what was going on around us. She was just too captivating.
“Two sisters, two brothers. Well, three. We have a cousin here too, but I consider him like a brother.”
“I see. So three versus two, huh? And you don’t think the balance would tip in your favor?”
“That should tell you some
thing.”
She whistled loudly. “I don’t know, Ryker. I think this is more than I can handle.”
“Oh, you’re handling me just fine.” I tapped my temple. “Ah, forgot to add Mom to the mix. She’d definitely be on the team warning you off.”
“Ouch. So not even your folks think you’re trustworthy?”
“Unfortunately not.”
She held her drink up and we clinked glasses.
“Do you have another set tonight?” she asked.
“Yes, but later on.”
“I like to hear you play. You’re very talented.”
“Thank you.”