Page 72 of On the Rocks

“Sure thing, Boss,” Carlos said. “But you don’t need to do this. The last thing I want is him pestering Cora.” He tried to hand the money back.

“Keep it,” I insisted. “Please.” Cora’s safety was worth any sum of money. One hundred dollars was nothing if it meant Carlos would keep his eyes peeled for Levi.

And for Levi’s sake, he’d better hope Carlosdidn’tneed to call me.

20

CORA

“What do you want to wear?” Jennifer asked. “Sophisticated sexy or slinky sexy?”

I flopped down on my bed, sighing contentedly as I stared at the ceiling. If I ignored Levi’s sudden reappearance back into my life and his unexpected flower delivery—which I was trying really hard to do—the last twenty-four hours had been pretty perfect. I couldn’t believe I was about to go out on a proper date with Aiden. Sure, we’d been out together—the drive to Newburgh, the reunion, breakfast at Doris’s. But this was the first purposeful date we’d been on in more than fifteen years, and I was a little nervous.

“You good?” Jennifer asked, looking down at me.

I pressed my hand to my stomach. Butterflies didn’t even begin to cover it. “Nerves, I guess.”

She laughed, sitting down on the edge of my bed. It dipped, and I rolled toward her. “Why are you stressing? You’ve already gotten through all the awkward reconnection stuff. You’ve even sleptwith the guy again. Feels like the hard part’s already out of the way. Tonight should be smooth sailing.”

“I know. Everything with Aiden’s been so wonderful.” But part of me still couldn’t shake the memory of my mom telling me to be careful, not to let Aiden break my heart again. “You know me, though. I started overthinking things, wondering when the other shoe is going to drop.”

“Why does it have to drop at all?”

I sat up on my elbow. “I do think we’re on the same page with this getting-back-together thing. And I guess that makes me nervous in a good way.” I pressed my forehead into her side. “I really like him, Jenn.”

“No, really?” she teased.

I pulled back, pouting at her playfully.

“Just tell me this one thing,” she said, getting to her feet. “Is the Cocktail King’scocktailreally as good as they say?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I laughed as Jennifer flopped back down, taking me by the shoulders as if she could shake the answer out of me.

“Help a girl out. You know I’m in a dry spell. Let me live a little vicariously.”

I could feel my entire face flushing as I nodded. “It’s better.”

“As in ‘bigger is better’?” she asked, flashing me a wicked grin.

“Bigger is definitely better, but he never had any problems on that front,” I said. “And he knows what to do with it now. Not to mention with his tongue.”

Jennifer groaned like a wild beast in heat. “God, I need to find myself a Cocktail King.” She lay down beside me. “If only for the stress relief.”

“Maybe you’ll bump into someone tonight if you go out,” I suggested. It was her night off from the restaurant. “You could find a nice guy to have a little fun with.”

“No chance,” she said, yawning as she rubbed the space between her eyes. “I’m so looking forward to staying in. I want to rest and recharge.”

“You mean eat your weight in pizza and cookie dough?”

“Exactly. And I sure as hell don’t want to go back to work tomorrow.”

“Is it really that bad?” I asked, genuinely worried. When had work become something that weighed on her this much?

“I’m dreading it,” she said. “But that’s a tomorrow problem. Tonight, I’m going to watch K-dramas until my eyes bug out of my head and send you off in style. Speaking of which, you never answered my question. What are you wearing?”

“I don’t know.” I sat up. “I’m not even sure where we’re going.”

“You didn’t ask him?”

---