Page 3

“Thank you, Dennis!” she called after him, chuckling softly as he dashed to the kitchen.

I leaned forward, resting my chin in the palm of my hand. “Are you a regular here?”

“Something like that.” She chuckled. The waiter reappeared with a bottle of red wine and a glass. “You’re a gem, Dennis.”

“Any time, Miss J-, uh, miss.”

He vanished back into the kitchen but my eyes were trained on the woman in front of me, swirling the dark red wine in her glass.

“You are full of mysteries,” I noted, wistful.

“On the contrary,” she said, lifting her glass to mine for a toast. “I am simply a woman of exquisite taste. What else would you need to know?”

“I’m quite honestly dying to know everything,” I confessed, a blush creeping across my cheeks.

“As am I,” she agreed. She rolled up the sleeves of her white jacket, her eyes never leaving mine. “Like why you were entertaining your friend.”

“Hardly a friend,” I said with pursed lips. “But I was hoping she’d surprise me, turn out to be someone I could connect with.”

“I’m guessing you were disappointed?”

“Once again,” I said ruefully, lifting my glass in salute before drinking. “Why is it so much easier to get laid than to find a real relationship?”

I didn’t know why I was asking this beautiful stranger, or why her answer suddenly meant so much to me.

“People prefer the rush of something fleeting,” she said pensively. “A quick fuck is exactly that and nothing more. It’s easy, it’s fun, and no one gets hurt.”

“Well, people suck,” I mumbled unhappily. “The least they could do is be upfront about that instead of trying to coerce those of us who care about happily ever after into their beds.”

She threw her head back, her laugh melodious. I wanted to hear it again.

“Some of us don’t want to coerce people into our beds.” She smiled. “We simply ask, and respect the answer.”

“If only there were more of you out there.”

“Oh, darling,” she said softly. “There’s no one out there quite like me.”

I opened my mouth to ask her name again but her phone buzzed and she sighed.

“I have to run,” she said with a frown. My stomach sank a little. “But if you ever need a good date, let me know.”

She got to her feet, her dark curls kissing the apples of her cheeks.

“Wait, I don’t even know your name-”

“Hayden,” she said softly. She waited for a moment, and I realized a beat late that she was waiting for my name.

“Frankie,” I said, a little breathless.

“You’re a pleasure, Frankie,” Hayden said, her gaze dropping to my mouth again. “Make sure the next date treats you right.”

And she was gone in a swirl of expensive perfumes and red bottomed heels.

I sat there, bewildered by how my night had unfolded. Her parting words lingered, a secret caress on my skin as I called the waiter.

“Could I have the check, please?”

“Oh, the woman who was here has taken care of it,” he said with a polite smile. I blinked and he left.