Page 35 of Panty Dropper

“Who says you’re not?” The sincerity in his voice spread through me like hot chocolate on a winter night. He smiled and continued, “So what brought you to Firefly?”

I thought about just giving him a generic response. Tell him that I needed a change. But it seemed disingenuous to give him a vague answer after I’d just let him see inside my soul.

Still, opening up about my childhood was different than broadcasting my relationship woes. I wasn’t responsible for my upbringing, or who my parents were. But I didn’t get a pass for the life choices that had resulted in my current situation.

“The short answer is, work.” I hoped he’d leave it at that.

He didn’t.

“What’s the long answer?”

“Are you sure you want to know the long answer?” I stalled.

“I want to know everything about you.”

The scariest part of his response was that I actually believed him. Most people really only liked to talk about themselves. They were always thinking about how a conversation could lead back to them. But Billy wasn’t like that. He seemed genuinely interested in who I was, and getting to know me. I supposed that was what made him such a successful man behind the bar.

Well, I was sure his dimples, smile, and tight ass didn’t hurt either.

I took a deep breath. Tonight was just one surprise after another. Nothing was going as I’d planned. Not my time in the bar, and definitely not coming back to Billy’s house. I’d wanted to have a wild night of fun and instead I felt like I was sitting in a therapy session. Oddly enough, talking made me feel more vulnerable and exposed than I would have if we would have just hopped right into bed.

“Well, I guess it all started last Monday. I stopped by my fiancé’s—”

“Your fiancé?” Billy sat up straighter.

“Ex-fiancé, now,” I clarified. “I stopped by Blaine’s office and caught him with his pants down. Literally. And his assistant bent over his desk.”

“Fuck,” he breathed out as his shoulders dropped.

“Ding, ding, ding. Yes! That’s exactly what they were doing!” I let out a small laugh. It was pretty ridiculous when I thought about it. “Needless to say, I broke up with him and moved out of our condo. I also had to look for a new job since I worked at his father’s firm. Nadia Carson was my college roommate and I saw a post about a job opening here, asked her about it, and three days later I moved.”

He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying. It was strange to talk to someone who was not only really listening to me, but also empathizing. It was obvious by his body language that he had emotional reactions to what I was saying. I hadn’t realized it until then, but it was something that was seriously lacking in my life. In the city, and especially in my line of work, there wasn’t a whole lot of empathy.

Even stranger than Billy possessing it, though, was how damn sexy I was finding it.

“How long were you and Blaine together?”

I had to smile at the undercurrent of disgust that was in his voice when he said Blaine’s name. “Eight years.”

“Can I ask you something?” The intensity in Billy’s milk chocolate stare pinned me in place.

“Sure.”

“Why did you come here tonight?”

A flutter of embarrassment stirred in my belly. The buzz I’d been riding when I’d invited myself back to Billy’s was now gone, thanks to the coffee and our sobering discussions. I could no longer rely on liquid courage to boost my boldness. “Um…”

“I’m only asking” he said softly but firmly, “because you just got out of a long, serious relationship and you don’t seem like the kind of girl that goes home with random strangers.”

“I don’t.” As soon as the words left my mouth I wanted to take them back. “Well, I do. Obviously. I hate when people do things and then they say, ‘I never do this’, but you’re right. I don’t. I mean, I do, but this is a first for me.”

Now I was just rambling.

“So, why did you come here tonight?” he repeated.

I could sense the weight of how much my answer meant to him. My mind was racing, trying to figure out why. The only thing I could think of was that he was worried I was in a vulnerable place, and was going to think that this night was more than it really was. He probably thought that I was going to get emotionally invested if anything happened between us. I wanted to put his mind at ease…but that would mean truthfully admitting to why I’d come here tonight.

In the courtroom, or mediation, I was highly regarded for my verbal warfare. I knew exactly what to say, and what not to say to reach the most favorable outcome for my client. But in my personal life, I never spoke up for what I wanted.

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