Page 5 of Reticent

“Come with me.” Amy loops her arm through mine. “I’ll be back, babe,” she tells Tonie.

“You better.” Tonie pulls Amy to her.

I step aside to give them some space as they share a sweet kiss. They make a stunning couple, both with killer long legs. I follow Amy toward the elevator, but maybe I should find Skylar instead. And then what? I don’t want to be the third wheel. But getting turned away by security because I’m not fine enough is even less appealing.

When we arrive at the elevator, security gives us a once-over and presses the elevator button. Amy was right.

“Thanks, girl,” I tell her.

“You got it.”

Once I’m inside the elevator, the doors slide shut, and I’m left with two options. The second floor or the rooftop. My finger hovers over the balcony’s second-floor button before I press the rooftop button instead.

The elevator ascends to the rooftop, and the doors open. I step outside, blanketed by a warm summer night and surrounded by skyscrapers. Two bars, each on opposite corners, fill the space with a dance floor in the middle. Seating outlines the perimeter. String lights hang overhead. Sexy music thumps in the background. There’s a grown and sexy vibe up here that reeks of money and entitlement.

I have half a heart to head back inside where familiar faces are. But it’s beautiful out here. As grand as the chandelier is inside, nothing beats bright stars set against a midnight-blue sky. I make a beeline to the bar because my buzz is fading. It takes a while to squeeze my way to the front of the bar just as a stool becomes available.

Right next to Mystery Bae from the balcony.

Chapter Three

Mystery Bae’s cell phone holds his attention as he nurses a glass of liquor. I signal for a bartender and cut my eyes to his screen. He’s texting someone. Maybe a girlfriend? A hookup? Maybe he’s married. He looks old enough to have a wife. Around thirty, I’m guessing? Curious, I check out his left hand curled around his glass. It’s ringless.

Minutes go by, and I’m still waiting for a drink or any acknowledgment from a bartender. I feel invisible. Even Mystery Bae sitting next to me has yet to spare me a glance. Not that I care or anything. Because I don’t.

I raise my arm a little higher, hoping a bartender will finally see me. “Excuse me,” I say when a bartender passes to tend to the person on the other side of me. I wait for my turn, but it never comes. After he fixes her drink, he hurries to the other side of the bar.

“What’s a girl have to do for a drink? Flash a titty?” I mutter as annoyance sets in.

“No one’s going to stop you,” Mystery Bae says. So he speaks. The sound of his voice, deep and low, with an almost unrecognizable southern drawl, does something crazy to my insides.

“You’re funny.” I press my lips together in a fake smile, pretending to be unaffected. I’m not unaffected. I’m the opposite of unaffected.

“You said it.”

I look at him fully in the face for the first time since taking the stool next to him. “To myself.”

“Out loud.” He signals for a bartender as his gaze sweeps over my face.

“Touché,” I finally say, dragging my focus from the sinfully exquisite curve of his mouth to the slight cleft in his chin. He really is fine as fuck.

The only woman bartender behind the counter approaches us. Shocker. “You want another refill, hun?” Her plump red lips pull into a smile as she leans over the counter, giving us an eyeful of her ample cleavage.

“Get her whatever she wants,” he says, seeming indifferent to her blatant flirting. He’s probably used to it.

The dark-haired vixen of a bartender looks at me expectantly but not impatiently, despite the surrounding bustling. As a creature of habit, I intended to order a double shot of tequila. But not anymore. I suddenly want to try something new. If blue-eyed Mystery Bae wants to buy me a drink, then dammit, I’m going to let him.

He can buy me all the drinks.

“I’ll have what he’s having.”

“Highland Park 30,” he says.

“What is that?”

“It’s an aged Scotch whiskey.”

“You got it,” the bartender—who I forgot was here—interrupts. She pours what looks like expensive liquor into two old-fashion glasses before moving on to another customer.