Nicole Grant is living every girl's fantasy: a rendezvous with the sexiest Brit on either side of the pond. It's just one night, and that's fine with her. With her busy work schedule and a brother she's devoted to, flings are all Nicole has time for. No complicated feelings and no strings attached. Just hot sex.
James Martin is used to scoring -- on and off the field. His prowess in the game is rivaled only by his reputation in the tabloids. But after Nicole gives him the best hookup of his life, he experiences something new: a woman who isn't throwing herself at his feet, who knows all he has to offer and is still keeping her distance. Apparently there's a first time for everything.
James can't get Nicole out of his head. She's funny and she's irresistible. Nicole can't James off her mind. He's good hearted and he's sexy. Will their standoff end in a draw, or can this one night stand kick off something real?
June 6, 2016
Chapter One
Nicole
All it took was one look and I knew exactly what he wanted. It was a gift, really. He crossed the crowded room, coming straight towards me, just like they all did, his gaze saying everything I needed to know. He stopped in front of me and licked his lips.
“Let me guess.” I leaned forward, watching his pupils dilate as he watched my deft hands do their magic. “Gin and tonic.” I slid the glass across the bar.
His eyes widened. “How did you know?”
I winked. “A good bartender can always tell.” And I was a good bartender. Hell, I was a great bartender. I could figure out someone’s drink of choice in an instant. You just had to know what to look for. He was wearing a slim fitting J Crew suit. That said he was young, modern, the kind of person that might be interested in the more artisanal style cocktails. But he didn’t have any of the patterns or flourishes that some men his age were embracing. So he still liked to keep things traditional. Something that Don Draper might have felt comfortable ordering. Gin and tonic was a drink that seemed to be gaining popularity, but still maintained an old-fashioned feel. And once you see it, you couldn’t unsee it. Mr. Gin-and-Tonic, through and through.
And now he was mine for the whole evening. He wouldn’t try ordering at the other end of the bar. Nope. He thought that I knew him. Which he liked. Because everyone liked feeling that way. Everyone wanted to be known, to be seen. All it took was a simple observation and I had him in the palm of my hand.
He tipped well and returned to the group he had come in with. But he kept looking back. The men always did. Because not only could I make a killer cocktail – the exact one they wanted before they even knew they wanted it – but I wore my uniform extremely well. The same curves that had gotten me teased in middle school were bringing grown men to their knees over ten years later.
Maya liked to call me the blonde Jessica Rabbit. All boobs and butt, both which strained against the black shirt, black pants and little black vest I had to wear for work. Even though I was completely covered up, I couldn’t change the way I always seemed to be on the verge of spilling out of my clothes. Not that I’d want to. Because if I couldn’t get a guy with a drink, I could always get him with a well deployed “bend and snap”, just like Elle Woods. But that was only used as a last resort.
The guy wasn’t bad looking – though a little on the skinny side for me – but unfortunately for him I just wasn’t in the mood tonight. I pulled my gaze away from that side of the room and pulled out a stick of gum from my purse. It was a bad habit of mine, but since barely anyone was in the bar, I popped a piece of doublemint gum into my mouth and started chewing. When the gum was soft enough, I started blowing bubbles. I could make them pretty big if I concentrated, but I mostly just loved the soft poof they let out when they deflated. Or the crackly pop they made when they burst.
My first bubble popped, causing Maya to glance over at me. She rolled her eyes. She didn’t understand my gum addiction, but I didn’t understand her love of juicing basically everything. Every day she came in with some new mixture she had made up in her juicer. She was convinced there was a tonic out there for any ailment. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it all basically tasted the same. Like liquid grass.
She sidled over to me now with today’s concoction. It smelled like old carrots, but she was sipping it like a martini.
“You are so weird,” I informed her.
“It’s good for the skin,” she insisted. “Not that you have a problem with that, you zit-less bitch.” It was said with love.
“Hey, I’d kill for your hair and you know that.” I told her. She did have beautiful hair.
She flipped it over her shoulder. “Juice, baby.”
I rolled my eyes. “Juice did not make your hair that way. That’s all genetics.”
But Maya wasn’t listening. “Love me, love my juice,” she said, heading back to her end of the bar.
“That’s why you’re still single,” I teased.
She gave me the finger. And a smile. Best friend ever.