Page 34 of Indiscretion

“I can only do small talk with strangers for so long before I turn into a pumpkin.”

Dawson smiled. “I’m the same way.”

I tilted my head. “Yet here you are back for more?”

Dawson met my eyes. “I actually came back to see you.”

My traitorous heart fluttered. “What for?”

“I owe you an explanation.” He looked up at the door to Ben and Lily’s, then looked down the sidewalk. “Would you want to grab a drink? There’s a shitty little bar down the block.”

“Wow. A shitty little bar? How can I refuse that offer?”

Dawson chuckled. “I’ll throw in some shitty free peanuts.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip. I didn’t have anything to rush home to, but I wasn’t big on getting rejected multiple times.

“I should get going. This was my first time taking the subway to Brooklyn, and I don’t want to be riding back to the City on the train too late.”

“Just one drink. And I’ll get you an Uber home.”

I’d probably regret it in a few hours, but who could say no to a free Uber? Plus, I was curious what he wanted to talk about. “Okay. Why not?”

Dawson put his hand on my lower back. “Excellent. This way.”

***

“You really described this place well,” I told him.

“What did I say?”

“You called it shitty.”

Dawson laughed. “Why don’t you grab us a table, and I’ll get our drinks?” He looked around the almost completely empty bar. “They’re filling up fast.”

I smiled. “Sounds good.”

“What are you drinking?”

“I’ll have a glass of merlot, please.”

“You got it.”

Sliding into a booth, I had a straight-line view of Dawson from the side. He was leaning with elbows bent on the bar, talking to the old man standing behind it. I couldn’t help but notice the way the fabric of his T-shirt stretched around the flex of his biceps. It had taken me the better part of a week to forget what that man’s muscles looked like after the fiasco at the cabin. I suddenly wished I hadn’t chitchatted with Lily at the door and had left five minutes earlier. I’d be on the subway home now instead of rekindling my lust affair with that body.

Dawson carried our drinks to the table and slid in across from me.

“Thank you.” I sipped. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“When we spoke earlier, you asked if I’d hired someone yet, and I said something like there’s no one competent out there. I saw your face when I said it, and I realized you thought I was including you in that category. I want to apologize because I wasn’t.”

I shook my head. “I actually didn’t think that. I assumed I wasn’t in consideration because of my disbarment.”

Dawson nodded, but his face didn’t indicate agreement.

“Was…that the reason you weren’t interested in hiring me?”

Our eyes met. I could see the wheels in his head spinning. Eventually he hung his head and looked down. “Not completely. It did give me pause that day, but I’ve thought about it a lot the last week—more than I should’ve—and it’s not the main reason.”

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