The Trouble with Love (Sex, Love & Stiletto 4)

“She went home,” Cassidy said. He nodded his chin in the direction of the open bar stool next to her. Lifted an eyebrow.

Emma wordlessly moved her purse, reaching below to find a hook under the bar, even as she wondered what the hell she was doing. This was supposed to be dining-solo time, not dining-with-the-ex time.

And yet, when he shrugged out of his suit jacket, hanging it on the hook on the wall beside them before sitting down next to her, it felt . . . right.

And then something even stranger happened. Emma watched as Alex unbuttoned the sleeves of his dress shirt, rolling them just below his elbows so they exposed his lean, hair-covered forearms. It was as though she could see the tension slowly fade from his body.

She actually watched as Alex Cassidy relaxed beside her.

As though, here, sitting on this bar stool next to her was where he could be most himself.

Even more alarming was that she felt the same. As though after a long week, this was what she needed.

She shook the feeling off.

“Bad first date?” she asked.

“Nah,” he said, reaching for her wine and taking a sip. “Just . . . not quite right, you know?”

She nodded.

“How about yours?” he asked.

“How about my what?”

He glanced at her. The eyes were pure aqua today. “Your date last night.”

She frowned. “I didn’t go on a date last night.”

He shifted on his stool to look at her. “With Cole. Cole Sharpe. You guys went to Babbo?”

Emma shook her head. “I like Cole well enough, but we’ve never been on a date. He’s never even asked.”

To her surprise, Cassidy let out a bark of laughter, running a hand over his face. “Those dicks.” He lifted a hand to catch the bartender’s attention. “I need a drink. And food. You hungry?”

“Yeah, but didn’t you just eat with, um . . .” Emma waved her hand in the direction where Cassidy and his date had been sitting.

“Alisha. And no, we just grabbed a drink. I don’t tend to do dinner on the first date. Too much of a commitment until you know whether you click.”

Emma made a spinning motion with her finger. “Want to replay that in your head? See if you realize how douchey it sounds, second time around?”

“Hey, Jana,” Cassidy said to the bartender, ignoring Emma. “How about a glass of whatever I was having earlier. It was great.”

“Coming right up,” Jana said with a smile. She didn’t have to be told where Cassidy had been sitting earlier, nor his drink order. Women remembered men like Cassidy.

“You’re telling me you never go to dinner on the first date?” Emma said, not yet ready to drop the topic. Sometimes the glimpse into the male brain was fascinating. Fascinating and appalling.

“Well, I used to,” he said. “In my twenties, when I thought I had all the time in the world to wine and dine all the women in the world. But now? A free weekend night is rare. A great first date is even more rare. The chances of them overlapping? Slim to none. Why risk it?”

Emma shook her head. “Why go out with this Alisha in the first place if she didn’t warrant dinner?”

“I didn’t know she didn’t warrant dinner, because I hadn’t met her,” Cassidy said distractedly as he snatched up her food menu. “It was a setup.”

“By whom?”

“Guys at the office. She was on Lincoln Mathis’s to-do list, but he finally gave me first shot.”

Emma fanned herself. “Wish I could get a spot on Lincoln Mathis’s to-do list.”