Page 124 of It's Not PMS, It's You

“Feelings are distractions. They cause us to take our eye off the ball.”

“Please don’t tell me you believe that.”

“Sadly, I used to. Not anymore, though.” I squeezed his arm.

“My stocks are rockin’ right now,” said another man walking by while on the phone. “I think I’m going to buy another boat. I’m telling you, they’re chick magnets.”

Nick shook his head in disgust. “A boat he’ll never use . . .” He took a swig of his beer. “Is it time to leave yet?”

“No. Maybe you’ll enjoy the evening more if you put all your focus on me. I guarantee you that I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all.”

“I don’t have a problem with it either, buthemight.” He motioned behind me with his chin.

I turned, just as Mason stopped in front of me, crossing his arms. “Ruth.”

“Mason.”

“Gary’s looking for you. There’s an emergency staff meeting tomorrow with all the partners.”

I glanced around for Gary. “Do you know why?”

“I guess you’ll find out soon, won’t you?” Mason walked away, looking satisfied as he gave me one of his go-to lines.

One of these days I was going to use that line on him and see how he liked it.

Nick watched Mason and then turned back to me. “What a jackass.”

I nodded. “Good eye.”

“What’s his problem?”

“That’s what you would call a bitter partner who can’t handle that he wasn’t the one being groomed to become managing partner.”

“But why would he act that way with you if he knowsyou’rethe one who will be managinghimsoon?”

“The one thing he has going for him is that he’s a partner, which is essentially part owner of the firm. Unless he does something that’s strictly against company policy or illegal, he’s protected, even when he’s being an idiot. It would take a lot of legal action and a recommendation from a disciplinary committee to have him removed. But hey, don’t worry about Mason. I can handle him. And he’s nothing compared to some of the men I’ve had to deal with in my career. The one thing I won’t do is take crap from any of them.”

Nick grinned. “Well, he’s a jackass, butyouare a badass, Ruthless. With all this testosterone around, I’m impressed with the way you handle yourself.”

I clinked Nick’s bottle. “Thank you.”

A waiter stopped in front of us with a tray of shot glasses filled with something that wasn’t liquid. I had no idea what they were.

I pointed to them, curious. “What are those?”

“Shrimp cocktail shooters.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. You have to try one.”

Nick and I both grabbed a shot glass, clinked them, and sent the shrimp cocktail shooter down the hatch.

I set the empty shot glass next to other empties on his tray and grabbed another. “You’re right. Delicious.” I slammed the next one and nodded. “Mmmm.”

Nick laughed. “I agree. One more for me, too.”

After that, we sampled crab cakes, pork pot stickers dipped in soy ginger sauce, and tandoori chicken skewers. Then we grabbed a second round of beers.