Chapter 77 Chapter 0077
•AMELIA•
The wine was good enough to make the evening bearable, but not quite good enough to make me stop thinking.
That was the problem with good wine. It softened the edges of things without removing them entirely, and right now the thing sitting at the center of my thoughts with no intention of moving was Dante Lark.
I sat at the far end of the bar with my glass held loosely between my fingers and told myself for the fourth time that evening that I was not here because of him.
I was here because I deserved a drink after a long shift. The bar was two streets from the hospital and the lighting was flattering and the music was low enough to think over.
None of that was entirely true, but it was the version I had decided to maintain.
I had made my feelings known to Dante two days ago. But when he turned me down and told me he was with Cassandra, my heart broke.
I watched the two of them every day in that hospital and told myself it didn't bother me. But it always got into me when I saw them together.
I picked up my glass and took a long sip.
I was not a jealous woman by nature. I had always prided myself on that. But watching Dante Lark look at Cassandra Frost the way he did every single day was making me envious.
I was the one he was supposed to love and care for, and not her!
The bar had filled up gradually over the past hour, and the noise started getting into me.
I signaled the bartender for another glass.
I was watching him pour when I caught a glimpse of someone from the corner of my eye.
He was standing near the entrance, scanning the bar. He was wearing a dark jacket, and he looked familiar.
I recognized him from the hospital. Damon Drake. The new supplier who had been introduced at the morning briefing.
I looked back at my wine glass.
Then I picked it up, smoothed my coat, and adjusted the neckline of my blouse.
I stood up from my stool and moved toward the main bar, taking a slightly wider path, just enough to pass within natural bumping distance of where he had stopped to look at the drinks menu on the wall.
I turned at precisely the right moment and walked directly into him.
The wine sloshed dangerously in my glass but didn't spill, which I privately considered an achievement.
"I am so sorry," I said immediately. "I wasn't looking."
He steadied my arm with one hand and looked down at me. Up close he was more handsome than he had been across the briefing room that morning.
"No damage done," he smirked. "Dr. Frost's colleague, if I'm not mistaken."
I raised an eyebrow. "You remembered."
"I make a point of it," he replied. He glanced at my glass. "Can I get you a replacement? In case any of that was lost in the collision."
"The collision was entirely my fault," I chuckled softly. "There's no need for another one."
"I'll get you a replacement anyway."
We ended up at a corner table twenty minutes later with fresh drinks and the easy rhythm of two people who were both skilled at conversation and both knew it.
He asked questions that were just specific enough to be interesting without being intrusive.
I answered selectively and asked my own in return, and somewhere between the second and third drink, things took a different turn.
"You seem like someone who has had a frustrating day," he said at one point, studying me over the rim of his glass.
"What makes you say that?"
"You came here alone," he replied. "You were sitting at the end of the bar rather than at a table. And you were looking at your wine like it had personally disappointed you."
I laughed before I could stop myself. "That is either very observant or very presumptuous."
"Both, usually," he replied without apology.
I turned my glass. "A colleague," I said after a moment. "Someone I work with. I made the mistake of developing feelings for someone who clearly had no room for them."
He didn't offer false sympathy or immediate advice, which I appreciated more than I would have expected.
"He's in love with someone else," I continued. "Has been for years probably, and I was stupid enough to think he wouldn't reject me for her." I picked up my glass and sighed.
He nodded. "For what it's worth, anyone who can't see what's in front of them, doesn't deserve another chance."
Before he could finish his encouragement speech, I was already looking at the shape of his mouth and how it would taste against mine.
We left the bar together just before eleven.
At the corner where our directions separated, I turned to him. "I enjoyed this," I said, smiling at him.
"So did I," he replied.
He looked at me for a moment with those sharp, knowing eyes. "Same time tomorrow?"
I smiled. "I'll consider it."
He nodded once and turned to leave.
I watched him go and stood on the pavement for a moment, and wondered why I let that go.
He looked into my eyes when we were talking and for the first time in a long time, I felt attractive. And for a moment, I thought he would take me to his place.
But I scolded myself and Dante for ruining my night when I talked about him. If it weren't for that pathetic story, I would be heading down to pound town.
I groaned as I hopped inside my car and drove to my apartment.
On my way there, I decided that if I couldn't have Dante, then I would make his life hell by dating Damon Drake.
I was going to end his career before he could guess what was coming for him for rejecting me because of that lowlife, Cassandra.