Page 6 of March

“You know all the secret spots, huh?” Bryce joked as they walked side by side now, still with joined hands.

The crowd wasn’t as big up here. If Bryce had to guess, she’d say there were probably only thirty or so people upstairs and over a hundred in the den of iniquity downstairs. It would probably get busier as the night went on, but Bryce guessed that Sophie was right: most tourists likely didn’t even notice the staircase hidden in the corner, or if they did, they probably assumed the stairs were for employees only. When they got to the sofa, Sophie let go of her hand, and Bryce was surprised to feel that she missed the brief connection.

“In case you’re wondering, it should be relatively clean. This is at least the tenth different sofa I’ve seen here since I moved back. Not that I come out a lot. I don’t, really. I only came out tonight to meet my friend who’d invited me. But when you go out to one bar in the Quarter, you always end up in at least one more that night, and, well, I come upstairs in these places when I can because they’re quieter and not as crowded, so I’ve noticed the sofa. I think they replace it a lot. The bars open early here, and not everyone comes to get totally wasted, so they have nicer seating for the early crowd. I’m talking way too much about thiscouch, aren’t I?” Sophie laughed at herself, and it was so damn cute.

“I like it.” Bryce shrugged. “And we can keep talking about the couch, if you want, but I’d honestly rather talk more about you.” She motioned for Sophie to sit.

When Sophie did, Bryce sat down next to her, leaving a small space between them. She took a drink and waited for the woman to say something.

“I’m pretty boring,” Sophie told her before she took a drink of her beer.

“Oh, I doubt that,” she said.

“No, really.” Sophie laughed lightly. “I push papers for a living.”

“Is there good money in that?” Bryce joked.

Sophie continued laughing and said, “Not really, no.”

“Bummer. I was looking for a sugar mama tonight.”

Sophie laughed louder at her joke, which made Bryce’s heart feel like it might just burst open inside her chest. She’d never felt that before by making a woman laugh; that feeling that didn’t really have words in the English language to describe it, but her heart fluttered, and her brain told her to make Sophie laugh again and again because the result made her happy. Bryce hadn’t made many women laugh likethis, though, so maybe that was why she hadn’t felt this before. She had also never described her heart as feeling like it might burst open inside her chest, so that was new, too.

“Well, that’s definitely not me. I more move around digital files than push actual paperwork, but I’m middle management, and it’s boring, and I hate it.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Bryce said.

“Me too. I actually only came out with my friend tonight because she works for the company I used to work for. She’s about to take it over – or, at least, Ithoughtshe was – and Iwas going to see if she could get me a job. I used to work there, so I thought it would be a win-win for both of us. I’d start over, if that was all that was available, but I found out that she might be leaving the company tonight, so I don’t know if that’s even possible now.”

“You should still ask her,” Bryce suggested. “Maybe she can help, even if she’s leaving.”

“I’m sure she can; it’s her family’s company. I’d just feel bad about asking her when it sounds like she’s going through a lot of transitions.”

Bryce took a sip of her drink and took in Sophie’s sleek, sophisticated look. God, she was sexy in a blazer and tight jeans. How was it possible that it had taken Bryce until she was twenty-five years old to realize that she was gay? She’d only been with guys before that, and it hadn’t ever been exciting or good most of the time, but she hadn’t woken up to the fact that she liked women until right before she’d met Sean. They had fallen right into their relationship, and Bryce knew that was one of the reasons she’d stayed in it for so long. Sean had been her first woman, and Bryce had thought that was how it was supposed to be for the longest time. Now, she was staring back into Sophie’s eyes again, and she knew she’d never stared into Sean’s like this before.

“You’re beautiful,” she stated without thinking.

Yes, she had said it out loud. Yes, it had been unintentional. And yes, she was mortified now, so she needed to take a drink to cover the blush on her face.

“Thank you,” Sophie replied with a sweet smile. “So are you.” She reached out her hand, and Bryce couldn’t believe it when Sophie’s actual hand ran through her short black hair that often just fell down around her ears because Bryce hated using product to slick it back a little. “Sexy.”

“Sexy?” Bryce asked in a higher-pitched voice than she had planned on using.

“Yes,” Sophie replied with a soft laugh. “I like this.” She ran her hand through Bryce’s hair again.

“So do I. You can keep doing that for the rest of the night, if you want.” Bryce closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.

Sophie did it again, but her hand slid to Bryce’s neck this time, resting there for a second. Bryce opened her eyes, and they looked at one another for a long moment before Sophie dropped her hand back into her own lap. Bryce shifted a bit until her arm was over the back of the sofa, hoping that because they’d clearly been flirting and had even moved on to obvious touching, the conversation could go more in that direction.

“So, what doyoudo?” Sophie asked after she cleared her throat.

Not exactly the direction Bryce had been hoping for, but she didn’t mind talking to Sophie about anything, it seemed.

“I’m a food blogger.”

“A blogger?” Sophie took a drink.

“Yeah. I got a job out of college as a fact-checker for an online magazine and met someone who had a side hustle as a blogger. She taught me a lot about it, and then, she quit her day job at the magazine because she was able to support herself.”

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