Page 13 of New Girl in the City
Almost immediately, I got a reply. “Don’t be late.”
I scowled at reading it. “Who works for who around here?” I muttered.
“What?” Claudia asked from where she was leaning against the door and casually looking at her phone.
“Nothing,” I said automatically, before I stopped myself. I didn’t know how much longer I had her in the city, so why not share a little bit of the driver drama. Let’s see if she thought he was hot once she got a load of his attitude. “This driver is just...very particular.”
“Oh? A sassy one. I like it.”
“Yeah, if you call this sassy.” I held out my phone to her when I joined her at the door. She read his message and her lips turned up in a smirk.
“Oh, yeah, he’s sassy all right. That’s some serious energy.”
“Yeah, pain in my ass energy.”
“I was thinking more of the big dick kind, but we can go with ass right now if that works.”
“Claudia, you are not helping the matter,” I told her, shutting the door behind us. “I can’t even believe I let him get under my skin like this. I never take lunch.”
She hummed in agreement. “I know you don’t, which is why this is great. You need to leave that office more.”
I punched the button for the elevator and threw my hands out. “And now here I am, taking lunch to Sakara when I have an inbox full and no clue how I’m going to get it all done before the end of day. I’m going to end up working tonight and--”
“No! You can’t. That’s not going to help you date. You need to relax and unwind. You can’t be showing up to your sometimes artist date stressed the hell out from overworking yourself.”
We stepped into the elevator and I considered her words. She wasn’t wrong. I did have a way of overworking myself, but that’s why I was where I was...but still…
“Okay, that’s true,” I said finally when the doors to the elevator opened and we stepped out.
Claudia clapped her hands and did a little dance in front of me that had me sidestepping her, so we didn’t collide and land in a heap. “I’m right. Just say I’m right.”
“No. Never.”
She snorted and threw open the door to the building. “Fine, that’s fine because I know as soon as I see this ‘asshole driver’ we are going to find out that’s just code for ‘sexy asshole driver’.”
“That’s literally the same thing.”
She snapped her fingers at me and laughed. “So you admit it then.”
“Admit what?”
“That he’s sexy!”
My eyes shot wide and I looked around hoping no one had heard her, especially the topic of our conversation. I reached out and grabbed her, pulling her close to me. “Keep your voice down!” I hissed at her.
“Why? Afraid he’s gonna hear us?”
“Yes!”
She pouted. “That’s not fun.”
“I’m suddenly regretting this idea for lunch out. I have no idea why I--”
“That’s him. Isn’t it?”
I sighed and knew it was, just from the way her voice dropped an octave. Liam had that effect on women, I could tell. “Yes,” I bit out.
Claudia leaned in, her cheek practically to mine and she let out a low whistle. “He’s not just sexy, he’s fine. That man is on another level.” I frowned but hated that I knew exactly where she was looking, because it was impossible not to. Everyone, women and a few men in the area were also looking where we were. The spot where my driver was leaning casually against the shiny black town car, his arms crossed over his chest, that suit jacket fighting for its very life as he did so. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, but he was looking away and towards uptown, the gesture casting his gorgeous profile in relief and making him all the more alluring. A gust of wind blew a lock of his dark brown hair across his forehead and Claudia sighed dreamily.
