Page 13 of Accidental Blind Date

I don’t like that.

“I guess it is, isn’t it?”

“Alright,” she lets out, and I look down at her.

“Alright?”

“I’ll go with you. For a night cap or whatever you called it.”

I can’t help my eyebrows raising. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. But the rules stand.”

“Yes ma’am,” I smile, extending my elbow out to her.

Libby takes hold of it and follows me down the sidewalk.

Boston streets are compact, filled with everything you could need every mile or so. Which conveniently means you can go to dinner, grab drinks at another place right down the street and then end your night at a Hilton or a Marriott without even moving your car, assuming there’s over-night parking.

We skip the middle bar and go straight for the Hilton, grabbing a drink at the bar there. While we wait for my whiskey and her gin and tonic, I pull my phone out. I have no less than ten texts waiting for me and I swipe to ignore them all for the time being.

Libby’s eyes dart down to my phone then away again and she taps her fingertips on the bar top.

“Sorry,” I say. “Just a couple clicks, and you’ll have my undivided attention.”

“You have the air of a very busy man, I’m sure this little soiree is costing you a lot.”

I smile at her sass, not minding it at all. “Anything anyone has to say to me can wait. Right now, I am booking a room.”

“A room?” she asks.

“Yeah. At the hotel. Here.”

The bartender hands us our drinks and she takes hers with a particular look on her face.

“What’s that look?” I ask, finalizing the booking and setting my phone down and picking up my drink.

“Nothing. I just assumed you already–”

“Booked a hotel in the city I live in before asking my date if she was even interested in a night cap?”

Libby says nothing and I smile.

The bar grows busier by the minute, an odd thing for a hotel bar considering the strip of breweries, pubs and dive bars outside. At one point we are standing face to face and still can’t hear each other.

“How about we make use of that room?” Libby asks. “But the rules still apply.”

“Yes ma’am,” I answer in reference to both things.

We make our way to the top floor, the floor with the suites. We are quiet in the elevator and as we make our way down the hall.

After the door clicks open she steps inside and I follow.

It isn’t until it closes behind us, and the room fills with the sweet, citrusy smell of her that everything suddenly feels real.

I am in a hotel room with a woman who is intriguing.

That’s not…something I have said in a long time.