The Invitation
I nibbled my lip. “Hmmm... Are you asking me out on a date?”
“Nope. Taking a colleague out to celebrate.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Hudson frowned. “You’ll think about it?”
“Yes.”
He looked a little disgruntled, but shrugged. When he reached for his beer, I tapped him on the shoulder.
“I thought about it.”
“And?”
“Let’s go celebrate some more.”
***
“I still can’t get over that we sold fifty-thousand boxes of Signature Scent in under an hour today.” I shook my head. “A month ago I was thinking I might never see the day one box was ordered.”
“We got lucky,” Hudson said.
“No. We didn’t get lucky. Luck means something falls into your lap. You went out and made this happen.”
“Couldn’t have happened without a good product.”
I sipped my wine. “You know, I wouldn’t have expected you to be so humble.”
“Trust me. I’m not. I just give credit when it’s due.”
We were seated at a table in a high-end bar a few blocks from Olivia’s apartment. The waitress came over to check on us. She was gorgeous, but Hudson didn’t ogle her at all. In fact, he barely seemed to look her way, which made me curious.
“Tell me about the last woman you dated. Not including Miss Guatemala. A woman you went out with more than once?”
His brows dipped. “Why?”
I shrugged. “Just curious. Do you have a certain type? A look you’re attracted to?”
He smirked. “Yes, blond hair and glasses.”
I laughed. “No, really.”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I guess the last woman I dated was a brunette. Tall. Dark eyes.”
“How long did that last?”
“We went out a few times.”
“Why did it end?”
He looked back and forth between my eyes. “You want the truth?”
“Of course.”
“All she talked about was her sister who had just had a baby. It felt like she was on the fast track to get married and have kids.”
“And you don’t want to get married again or have more children?”
He sipped his beer. “I didn’t say that. I just didn’t see it with her.”
“So if she had wanted something casual, things wouldn’t have ended?”
“I don’t know, because that’s not what the situation was. But I’m not commitment-averse, if that’s what you’re getting at. I didn’t stop seeing her because she was looking for a future with someone. I stopped seeing her because the right person for her wasn’t me.”
I nodded. “The waitress is beautiful…”
Hudson tilted his head. “Is she?”
“Very.”
He scratched his chin. “Are you trying to set me up?”
“Do you want me to set you up?”
“Is there a reason we’re only talking in questions?”
I smiled. “I don’t know? Is there?”
After a few seconds of staring at me, Hudson ended our little game. “I have no interest in the waitress.”
When I said nothing, he tilted his head. “Aren’t you going to ask why not?”
The way he was looking at me, I already knew the answer to that question.
I finished off my wine and smiled. “Nope.”
He chuckled. “How are things going with you and Ken?”
“It’s Ben and you know it.” I smiled and shook my head. “I’m not seeing him anymore. We didn’t have a connection.”
Hudson’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, it looks like you are.”
Hudson stopped our waitress as she passed. “Excuse me. Can we get another round when you have a chance?”
“Of course.”
After she walked away, he mumbled, “Doesn’t hold a candle.” Then he finished up his beer and stood. “Excuse me for a minute. I’m going to hit the men’s room.”
While he was gone, I texted Fisher and filled him in on the rest of the afternoon. We’d texted a few times earlier today, and I’d given him updates on how well Signature Scent did, but I hadn’t taken out my phone in a while.
Fisher: How’s The Rose?
Stella: How do you know I’m here?
Fisher: I tracked you on your phone a half hour ago when you didn’t answer my text for two hours. You never take that long to respond, so I got worried. Guess the party moved there?
Some people might not like being tracked, but I’d given Fisher access to my phone’s location for a reason, and I appreciated his concern.
Stella: Some of the party moved here…
I smiled, seeing the dots immediately jump around.
Fisher: Just you and the Adonis?
Stella: We went for a drink after the party.
Fisher: Are you going to jump his bones finally?
Stella: I don’t think that’s on the menu…
Fisher: Sweetheart, men are always on the menu. It’s simple. Just tell him you’re in the mood for a cocktail—hold the tail.
I shook my head with a smile.
Stella: I’ll keep that line in my arsenal. Thanks.
When Hudson returned from the men’s room, I put down my phone. He slid back into the seat across from me. “So what’s going on with Marco these days?”
“Marco?”
“The boy toy.”
“Oh.” I laughed. “He’s reading The Thorn Birds. He asked Amalia what her favorite books were, and each week he goes to the library and turns one back in and takes out another. Then he strikes up a conversation with her about the book he just finished. He’s trying to show her how committed he is and find things in common. It’s so romantic.”