Page 45 of Maid in Heaven

“Here you are.” With the precision and focus of someone working on a nuclear bomb,the waiter’s bloodshot eyes stared intently as he set each drink downin front ofthe wrong person.

“Thanks,” Will said with a nod.

As soon as the waiter walked away, they swapped their beverages. Will picked up his old-fashioned and smelled the sweet blend of alcohol and muddled fruit.Avaexaminedhis drink. Aneat ball of ice floated inthe center of a pool of amber liquid, the rim decorated with a slice of orange.

“I never had an old-fashioned. Are they any good?”

Will took a sip.“They’re amazing. This one is pretty good. Would you like to try it?”

Ava nodded,eagerly drawing it to her face.“Smells like whiskey.”

“It is.”

“Ah.” Ava took a sip and stopped cold. She grimaced, unsure what to do with the tingling bitter liquid.

He stared at her intently, an upturn in the corners of his lips. He could see it written in the creases of her eyes.

She hated it.

Ava forced herself to swallow it, mouthwarped with regret and discomfortas the potent mix scorched its way down her throat. She exhaled what felt like fire.“Gah! That’s….Bleh!”

“Pretty sure I would react the same witha sip ofyours.”He made a face at her martini.

“Mine tastes like sunshine and candy. Yours tastes like lighter fluidand fruit.”

He shook his head andtook alongsip of his cocktail. Something about hiseye contact and serious expression turned her on.

She took a swallow of her martini to combatthe disgust and slid it over to him.

“No, thanks.”

“If you like sweet things, you’ll love this.Trust me.”

“No self-respecting man would be caught dead with a drink like that in public.”

“News flash:nobody gives a shitabout that kind of gender crap anymore.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” He chuckled. “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying toseduceme, aren’t you?”

She raised an eyebrow at that. “Would I even needto get you drunkto do that? Women talk, you know.Your reputation precedes you.”

“Madison.” He shook his head, a little embarrassed.

“Love the girl, but shealwaysspills the tea.”

“Ah, well,what can I really say? Yeah, I should just be straight with you.”

Ava sipped her martini, eyes never leaving his.

“I had my fun. After Sarah and I split, I went on a bit of a spree.” He shrugged and swirled the ball of ice in his glass. “Got a bit of a reputation. I also got that wildness out of my system. There was one night something happened and I decided… that’s enough, you know? Ihad to change some things.”

“One night? What happened?”

“Well,talking about this kinda stuff is not really good date conversation.”

“On the contrary. Dating is how we are supposed to get to know this stuff about each other to find out if we want to keep investing time and effort into each other.”

“Mmm. I see your point. You sure you wanna hear this?”

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