Chris smiled and shook his head. “Nope, but my network is having some shindig to celebrate our record-high ratings, so this is me dressing up,” he said, fingering the collar of his shirt.
“You clean up mighty fine,” she said, and once again her mind wandered back to Clay, to how delicious he looked in everything and nothing. She loved his sharp style, his power ties and crisp shirts, the cuffs and how he rolled them up revealing those forearms, so thick and strong.
A sharp pang of longing lodged in her chest. She wasn’t only yearning for his arms; she was longing for the whole man, inside and out, from the way he held her to how he talked to her. He always wanted to know more about her, and she felt one hundred percent the same about him. He fascinated her, with his mix of down and dirty, loving and tender. Though it seemed insane to miss someone she’d only spent a few nights with, she’d never met anyone like him who captivated her mind and her body.
She shook her head, as if she could shake off thoughts of him. She reached for the tap to pour a beer for another customer.
“Speaking of record ratings,” McKenna began in that voice that hinted at something up her sleeve, “Chris is about to renegotiate his contract, and is looking for a new lawyer, so I was thinking about your guy…”
Julia’s hand froze on the tap and the beer started to overflow the glass.
Your guy. Oh, how she wanted him to be her guy, and all that title allowed – the nights, the days, the moments, the tangling up in each other’s arms.
“Oh crap,” she said when she realized the liquid had frothed over. Grabbing a towel, she wiped down the side of the glass, cleaned it up and handed it to a customer.
“What do you think about that?” McKenna asked when she returned.
“He’s pretty kickass at his job, right?” Chris said, chiming in. “I was talking to my sister the other day and she said he’s worked out all kinds of perks for Davis.”
Julia straightened her spine. “I don’t have any business dealings with him, but from what I’ve heard his clients rave about him.”
“Can you do an intro or something? Or do you want us to ask Jill to ask Davis?” McKenna asked, then something flashed in her eyes. Realization, maybe. Julia had been home from her trip for more than ten days and hadn’t said much about it to McKenna, other than a few texts that it went well, and she was home and busy, busy, busy. She hadn’t told her sister that she’d bolted. Her sister leaned across the bar and narrowed her eyes. “Are you still into him?”
She was about to fashion an answer when she heard a customer call out. “Oh excuse me!” The woman in the suit waggled her fingers.
Julia walked over to her. “How was it?”
The woman tapped the glass. “Never had anything like it. It’s amazing.”
“I’m so glad you liked it.”
“Listen. I have a friend – his name is Glen Mills – whose magazine is running a search for the best cocktail ever,” the woman continued. “I’m going to tell him about this.”
“That’d be nice of you,” she said, though she knew patrons said stuff like this all the time, so she didn’t put any stock in it. No more, at least, than simple pride in a job well done.
“What’s your name?”
“Julia,” she told her, as the woman handed her a twenty.
“Keep the change, Julia.”
Then she left, rolling her bag on the way out, only this time her pace was upbeat and energetic. Julia returned to her sister, eager to avoid any more talk of Clay. She didn’t need to feel that empty ache for him all evening, especially since she was sure to feel it all night long alone in her bed. “Hey, it’s about to get crowded here.”
“So can you do an intro to Clay?” McKenna asked again, and clearly Julia wasn’t going to be able to ignore this request.
She mulled over the question. She’d been trying to steer clear of temptation, locking her phone in a kitchen drawer in the evenings when she felt the desire to text him or call, going for a run in the mornings to try to clear her mind. But neither tactic kept him from occupying the prime corner lot in her brain. She’d been dreaming of him every night. The very mention of his name brought a flush to her skin, and heat between her legs. It had been a while; she hadn’t even touched herself since she’d left. If she did, she’d only picture him and that wouldn’t help put him out of her mind.
Maybe, just maybe, a brief email for her sister would satiate this longing inside her, and quench her thirst for him. Sort of like a phased withdrawal. One tiny taste and then she’d be done.
“I’ll take care of it for you,” she said, and something inside of her dared to spark. At least she had a reason to reach out to him, and she tried not to get too excited about the prospect of sending him a note, but she couldn’t help it – she was excited. “Now, can we talk about something besides business please? Like your wedding. That’s what I most want to talk about. I can barely wait another month to see my big sister walking down the aisle.”
The two of them beamed, Chris and McKenna matching each other in sheer wattage of their smiles. He dropped a quick kiss on her cheek, and she threw her arms around his neck, and Julia was happy for the way her sister could be free with the man she cared for.
“So we’re going to have karaoke as you know,” McKenna said and began rattling off all the details, and though Julia knew most of them already since she was maid of honor, she didn’t mind hearing them again. Her sister’s happiness brought a smile to her face, so she listened as McKenna updated her on all their wedding plans, and she too was counting down the days til the two of them got hitched.