Page 1 of Cocky Counsel

One

Eva

Two Weeks Ago

“It’s so crowded and noisy in here,” I whined as I plopped down on the leather padded barstool and pulled at my skirt that kept riding higher up my thigh. I regretted very few things in my life but tonight was laced with them. Like, letting my best friend, Brittany, and my two younger sisters convince me to get dressed up and come out with them to a packed bar in Manhattan on a Monday night. This wasn’t my type of scene. I would much rather be at home, comfortable in my sweats, watching reruns of Jeopardy.

“It’s barely even busy,” Brittany said with a laugh. “Try coming here on the weekend—you can’t even hear yourself think, let alone move.”

“So, why are we here again?” I looked around the room as I drummed my hands on my thighs under the high-top table anxiously. I had no idea what I was looking for, but something deep down told me that it was my excuse to get the hell out of here. Or at least I hoped it did.

“We’re here because you’ve been cooped up and wallowing by yourself in that tiny apartment of yours for SIX MONTHS and you need some damn fun in your life,” my middle sister Gabi said sarcastically, as she lifted the shot glass the waiter had just set in front of her. I glanced down at the one waiting for me, knowing that all eyes were on me while they judged me for being so boring and predictable.

Fuck it.

I lifted the glass, pulled my shoulders back, and took a deep breath in. She was right. I had been wallowing around for six months, but she seemed to forget that it wasn’t because I was boring and lonely. It was after my fiancé left me for another woman. You don’t spend your days planning a future with someone then magically figure out how to fill that void when they’re gone, having stolen every tiny ounce of happiness, along with your toaster. For my own good, my ass…

“Cheers,” I said with as much forced enthusiasm as I could muster.

I tilted my head back and opened my mouth, allowing the liquid to burn my throat on its way down. There was no way in hell that I was reaching for my diet coke as a chaser. If they wanted to see wild and crazy Eva, they were going to get wild and crazy Eva. I shook my head excitedly, like I was having the time of my life, and set the empty shot glass down on the table, banging my hands against it when I was through.

I knew they were watching; I could feel their eyes on me. But those weren’t the only ones. I could feel the heat from across the room, his gaze boring into me before I found him. The room was already dimly lit to begin with, so it was hard to see the full details of the man sitting at a private table in the VIP area, other than that he was drop-dead gorgeous. The women around him were desperately trying to get his attention, parading in front of him in their micro-dresses every chance that they got. He was leaning back against the full leather couch, a drink in his hand as he studied me—completely ignoring the other women. His dark hair looked like he had been freshly fucked as it stood slightly mussed on his head, my fingers itching to run through it.

I tried my best to look away but something about the way he was looking at me had me pinned in place. The way he slowly lifted his glass to his mouth and took a drink without taking his eyes off of me had my heart racing and my thighs clenching. How was he doing that with just a look?

When he lowered his glass, a designer watch slid down his wrist, catching in the lights above him. A very attractive man sitting next to him leaned in, saying something that was obviously only meant for him to hear. He nodded subtly and looked around, his eyes finding me easily as the crowd of people started to thicken and more people packed the nightclub. He didn’t strike me as the kind of man who frequented these sorts of establishments, but then again, with the smoking hot smolder he had going on, I couldn’t see why he wouldn’t. He could literally have any woman in the room if he wanted. Including me.

“I knew it, just one night out with us was all she needed,” Lucy, my baby sister, sang as she reached over and patted me on the back with a smile. As much as she wanted to stay true to her wild ways, her touch was more of a mother than party-girl, and I felt a pang in my chest when I thought about how big her fight was going to be with her husband when she got home tonight. While I personally didn’t love getting out for a girl’s night that often, Lucy wasn’t allowed to, but that was another story that I didn’t have the mental capacity to try to wrap my head around tonight.

“I wouldn’t get too excited over that,” Gabi snorted. “She’s only done one shot and looks like a caged animal, ready to bolt the second she can. Look at the way she’s intently scoping out the room, her eyes darting back and forth as if she’s desperate to find an exit.”

I raised an eyebrow and locked eyes with her. I recognized the unspoken challenge she was issuing. The problem was, I didn’t know if I actually wanted to accept it. Suddenly, her features softened, as if she were pitying me, and my mind was made.

The waiter returned a few minutes later with the second round of shots that Gabi had requested immediately after he dropped off the first round. Once they were on the table, I reached over and swiped Gabi’s from her. In one swift movement, I downed her shot and mine, then slammed the empty glasses on the table.

Tequila was never my drink of choice. I hated the headache I would be guaranteed to have tomorrow. But the one thing that I hated even more was my own family thinking I am some lame woman, approaching forty, who needs to invest in a hefty supply of cats to keep her company on her lonely nights. Jeremy and I had barely broken up six-months ago, but maybe they were right? Maybe it was time to move on? Hell, he had done that while we were still together, and I found him getting a blow job under his desk one night when I went by to take him dinner when he had to work late to meet a deadline.

I could hear Brittany hootin’ and hollerin’ beside me, cheering as she pointed at Gabi and laughed at how I stole her drink. She was definitely drawing attention to our table, but there was one person who was taking even more interest than anyone else. I watched as a cocky grin spread across his face before he set his glass down on the table in front of him and stood up. He adjusted his tie and jacket before scooting out between tables and giving a slight nod to the security guard that was standing at the roped entrance of the VIP section. A quick glance over his shoulder was the last thing I noticed before I slid off my barstool and pulled down my skirt.

Three shots of tequila in under fifteen minutes would give anyone the same confidence as a two-year-old dancing to their favorite song. I looked down at my chest, thankful that I had given in and borrowed Brittany’s tank top that showed off my cleavage in a way that screamed sexy, not slutty. Although, when paired with a tight black skirt that had a slit up to my thigh and six-inch stiletto heels, it didn’t necessarily say good girl either.

I wiggled my fingers next to my thighs, trying to dispel some of the energy that was coursing through me. It wasn’t like I was planning to do anything—was I? Just because I jumped off my barstool quicker than a clown at a rodeo didn’t mean that I was expecting anything to happen as I followed him through the pool of bodies that were lingering by the dance floor on the way to the bathroom. Maybe I just really needed to pee after consuming so much alcohol in such a short time? Yeah, that’s what it was.

My nerves were finally starting to calm as I tried to rationalize that I wasn’t stalking him; I was just answering nature’s call. But when I rounded the corner to the hallway where the bathrooms were and plowed right into him, my body quickly convinced me that all of that was bullshit. I was ready to answer another type of call…

His hand gently wrapped around my waist, steadying me as I stumbled and lost my balance.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice low and gruff, sending a memo directly to my vagina that this sound would be added to my sexy playlist of things I thought about when I was by myself.

“Yeah,” I stammered, refusing to look up and meet his eyes as they stared at me. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” he chuckled. “Here I thought you must have seen me since you followed me to the bathroom.”

Against my better judgment, I decided to look up slowly and found dark brown eyes fixated on me. That same cocky smile I had seen not too long ago flashed across his face, showing off the perfect dimples in his cheeks. He pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth before popping it free, the fullness of it making me want to lean in and bite it.

“I wasn’t following you,” I said quietly, trying to find that tequila-laced confidence that I had only a few minutes ago.

“You sure about that?” He tilted his head to look at me, his hand still warm against my lower back. If he moved it down just slightly, it would be firmly planted on my ass. As if reading my thoughts, he raised his eyebrows and lowered his hand, so it hovered right below my lower back.

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