Chapter 6
James
In theory, spending a random Monday night at a trendy bar with two hot girls is every twenty-something guy’s dream.
But when one of those women is my untouchable best friend, and the other is her equally untouchable work friend, the reality isn’t exactly my best-case scenario.
Especially since they’re also dressed to kill, which means the women I can touch are likely to keep their distance.
Still, no way am I going to let Nadine do this weird sex-stalking thing alone. Her wide smile and loud laugh aren’t fooling me for a second. The girl’s two days off a breakup from a relationship that lasted years. She’s fragile.
And she needs tonight. I get that. Needs to rock the tight black dress and high heels and sexy makeup to shake off the sting of rejection. But she’s out of practice with this, and I’m not convinced she’ll be able to weed out the total douchebags.
That’s where I come in.
And if I happen to take a hot girl home in the process…bonus.
“Another drink?” I ask Mika and Nadine.
“What about that one?” Nadine asks, ignoring my question as she takes a sip of her vodka tonic. “The guy in the blue shirt.”
I follow her line of vision. “That blue shirt is denim. So that’s a no.”
“I second James' assessment,” Mika says. “Denim shirts work on a Texan cowboy, but in Portland it’s just wrong.”
“What, so I can’t even talk with him because you two don’t like his shirt?” Nadine asks.
“What about that one?” Mika says, pointing. “Black shirt, six o’clock. Great shoulders.”
Nadine and I both turn our heads to look.
“But he’s already with someone,” Nadine says.
Mika and I exchange a puzzled glance.
“The redhead he’s talking to?” Nadine says, looking at us like we’re dense.
“Oh, they’re not together,” Mika says.
Nadine frowns in confusion. “How do you know?”
“Because he came in with his guy friends just a few minutes after we got here,” Mika explains patiently.
“And Redhead was here before we arrived,” I add.
Nadine gives us a baffled look. “How do you two know this?”
Mika reaches across and pats Nadine's hand. “This is why you brought us, sweetie.”
“Why, so I can learn how to stalk people? I wanted help with picking up guys, not CIA training.”
“It’s not so different,” I explain.
Nadine gives me a look. “Puh-leeze. I’ve seen how often you’ve watched Jason Bourne. Keep your guy-spy fantasy out of this.”
“No, he’s right,” Mika says. “It is a little bit like spying.”
I give a thank you, Mika smile, and she smiles back, holding my eyes. I jerk my gaze away, lest Nadine catch on. Mika is ridiculously hot, and in any other situation, I’d absolutely have made a move months ago.
But strangely enough, I sort of get why Nadine's so determined not to let me hit on her friends. In a perfect world, Mika and I could hook up, scratch the itch, and move on. But despite Mika's sex-kitten vibes, I hear about all the dates she goes on from Nadine.
