Page 45 of Her Braun
"Not all of the lessons we learn as kids are good," she heard the weary tone in his voice and fought off her own curiosity, "but the good thing is that we can learn from them." He nodded. "And grow beyond them."
"You sound wise beyond your years."
Gibson gave her a strange look that she didn't want to ask about, but he didn't have any problem bringing it up.
"I'm curious," his fingers touched hers where she'd laid them on the bar top, "exactly how many years do you think I have?"
Her instinct told her to keep quiet.
She didn't know the answer to the question, but she didn't think that he'd let her stay silent on this.
With a little smile touching his lips, he lifted his chin. "Come on, I'm curious."
Oh boy.
Why did she feel like she was walking on a floor about to crumble under her feet.
Kay licked at her lips and tried to reason it out. "Good bone structure," she felt the corner of her mouth tip up at that, he had great bone structure, "you take care of yourself, exercise regularly," she shook her head, "more than regularly."
He stood up taller and looked down at her with a little smile on his face. "Still not a number."
Her shoulders sagged a little. "Why do people try to put labels on things anyway-"
"Kay?"
"Forty?"
The instant it was out of her mouth, she knew she was wrong.
The bartender was there in the next moment, and she was so thankful to him she was ready to lean across the bar and kiss the living daylights out of him.
“Hey there, can I get you something to drink, Miss?”
And she needed this moment.
Kay found it all too easy to put on her game face as she turned to the bartender. “I was thinking of getting the Moonflower. What do you think?”
Kay saw the look that passed between Gibson and the bartender.
She turned and looked at them both before she spoke. “What? What’s so funny?”
The bartender started making the drink and gave Gibson a look.
“I guess I get to explain.” Gibson leaned on the bar so that when she turned to look at him, she didn’t have to crane her head as far back to look into his eyes. “Earlier, when I got my Guinness,” he lifted the glass for a sip and nodded to the bartender, “he was telling me that there was this beautiful woman here in the bar. The waiter for your table said that the man with you-”
“Oh, he definitely was NOT with me.”
They all chuckled at that.
“Then the man who wasbotheringyou ordered a Cosmo for you.”
She shuddered at the reminder. “Not my drink of choice.”
The bartender stopped what he was doing and leaned toward them. “That’s what I said. I thought you should have one of our craft cocktails.”
Gibson jumped back in. “And the drink he thought you’d like was the-”
“Moonflower,” she finished and the three of them enjoyed another laugh together, this one more lighthearted than the last. “It does sound lovely.”
