Read Online Accidentally Yours by Bettye Griffin - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bettye Griffin
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halfway down the length of the room. “Vodka and grapefruit juice, please,” she ordered when she had the bartender’s attention. Usually she drank wine, but Gordon’s persistence was wearing on her nerves, and she preferred something a little stronger.
“ Sounds like someone’s driving you to drink. Is there trouble in paradise?”
The words were spoken softly, so close to her right ear that she felt them reverberate. She knew it was Zack even before she turned around. The man had a way of knowing just what to say to get the muscles of her jaw to tighten up. Maybe she should have ordered a double and nursed it all night. All she knew was that she was getting more and more tense, and she ’d only been here five minutes.
She turned to give him what she hoped was a withering look, but it wilted like day-old salad greens when he filled her line of vision. Most of the men present wore dark suits. A smaller number wore tuxedos, but Zack looked striking in a red blazer, navy shirt and slacks, and a tie and matching handkerchief printed with red curvy lines and polka dots on a navy background. Vivian always appreciated a well-dressed man, and Zack could be on a cover for GQ. One look and her resolve went the way of most New Year’s resolutions.
He reached for her gloved hand. “What’s the matter, Vivling?” he asked in a gentle tone.
She willed her hand not to tremble in his and was grateful for the gloves. “My name is Vivian,” she managed to say. It came out just a little louder than a whisper.
The bartender set a drink down on a napkin in front of her. She opened her purse. Her hand was barely on a bill inside when a red-sleeved arm reached out and handed the bartender currency. Then the same arm linked itself in hers and led her away, barely giving her time to grab her drink.
“Okay, Vivling, tell me all about it,” he said when they were well away from the bar and approaching the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the gardens.
She glanced to her left, where the arm that had just been next to hers was now around her shoulder. It had been such a smooth movement she hadn ’t noticed it until after the deed was done.
“ I thought your specialty was emergency medicine. You’re behaving more like a psychiatrist.” She didn’t bother to tell him again not to call her Vivling; something told her it would be no use.
“ If there was a couch here I’d suggest you lie down.” He looked embarrassed at the cynical look on her face. “Oops. Freudian slip. Or just foot-in-mouth.”
Her smile was mischievous. “You do that a lot, don’t you?”
“ With you I seem to. I’m not sure why.”
“ Why don’t we sit for a few minutes?” She took advantage of the opportunity when her back was turned and treated herself to an ear-to-ear smile. Zack had seemed so vulnerable just now, like a thirteen-year-old with a crush on a classmate.
T wo vacant chairs flanked a small glass table between the windows, and they took those. “You look real good,” he said.
“ You’re trying hard to say something nice, aren’t you?”
“ What? That wasn’t nice?”
She laughed, already feeling more relaxed. “It was very nice. Thank you.” Then she saw Glenda and waved. She wore a cream-colored silk jacquard dress, her natural hair crinkled and pinned at the crown of her head. “Oh, shucks. She doesn’t see me.” She hated to leave Zack when things were going so well, but to continue to sit with him wasn’t fair to Glenda.
“ Will you excuse me? The friend I’m meeting is here.”
“ Sure. I’ll catch you later.”
Zack watched as she walked away from him. On the two previous occasions he’d seen her she looked cute and sexy. Tonight she was elegant and sexy. His instincts had been right. She made every other woman present look ordinary. He wanted to ask her to dance, but not to the finger- snapping kind of music they were playing now. He would wait until they played something slow and dreamy, where
“ Sounds like someone’s driving you to drink. Is there trouble in paradise?”
The words were spoken softly, so close to her right ear that she felt them reverberate. She knew it was Zack even before she turned around. The man had a way of knowing just what to say to get the muscles of her jaw to tighten up. Maybe she should have ordered a double and nursed it all night. All she knew was that she was getting more and more tense, and she ’d only been here five minutes.
She turned to give him what she hoped was a withering look, but it wilted like day-old salad greens when he filled her line of vision. Most of the men present wore dark suits. A smaller number wore tuxedos, but Zack looked striking in a red blazer, navy shirt and slacks, and a tie and matching handkerchief printed with red curvy lines and polka dots on a navy background. Vivian always appreciated a well-dressed man, and Zack could be on a cover for GQ. One look and her resolve went the way of most New Year’s resolutions.
He reached for her gloved hand. “What’s the matter, Vivling?” he asked in a gentle tone.
She willed her hand not to tremble in his and was grateful for the gloves. “My name is Vivian,” she managed to say. It came out just a little louder than a whisper.
The bartender set a drink down on a napkin in front of her. She opened her purse. Her hand was barely on a bill inside when a red-sleeved arm reached out and handed the bartender currency. Then the same arm linked itself in hers and led her away, barely giving her time to grab her drink.
“Okay, Vivling, tell me all about it,” he said when they were well away from the bar and approaching the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the gardens.
She glanced to her left, where the arm that had just been next to hers was now around her shoulder. It had been such a smooth movement she hadn ’t noticed it until after the deed was done.
“ I thought your specialty was emergency medicine. You’re behaving more like a psychiatrist.” She didn’t bother to tell him again not to call her Vivling; something told her it would be no use.
“ If there was a couch here I’d suggest you lie down.” He looked embarrassed at the cynical look on her face. “Oops. Freudian slip. Or just foot-in-mouth.”
Her smile was mischievous. “You do that a lot, don’t you?”
“ With you I seem to. I’m not sure why.”
“ Why don’t we sit for a few minutes?” She took advantage of the opportunity when her back was turned and treated herself to an ear-to-ear smile. Zack had seemed so vulnerable just now, like a thirteen-year-old with a crush on a classmate.
T wo vacant chairs flanked a small glass table between the windows, and they took those. “You look real good,” he said.
“ You’re trying hard to say something nice, aren’t you?”
“ What? That wasn’t nice?”
She laughed, already feeling more relaxed. “It was very nice. Thank you.” Then she saw Glenda and waved. She wore a cream-colored silk jacquard dress, her natural hair crinkled and pinned at the crown of her head. “Oh, shucks. She doesn’t see me.” She hated to leave Zack when things were going so well, but to continue to sit with him wasn’t fair to Glenda.
“ Will you excuse me? The friend I’m meeting is here.”
“ Sure. I’ll catch you later.”
Zack watched as she walked away from him. On the two previous occasions he’d seen her she looked cute and sexy. Tonight she was elegant and sexy. His instincts had been right. She made every other woman present look ordinary. He wanted to ask her to dance, but not to the finger- snapping kind of music they were playing now. He would wait until they played something slow and dreamy, where
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