Page 59 of Bad Boy Crush

“And you have champagne.”

Xavier folded his arms over his chest. “Again, yes.”

“Not sparkling wine. Actual French champagne.”

“William,” May interrupted, eyebrows raised, “Xavier knows his drinks. He invented an entire app about them.”

He sized Xavier up and down, his flat expression communicating how unimpressed he was by that.

“What about you?” Xavier’s smile returned when he addressed May. “The usual?”

“Please.”

“What’s your usual?” William asked.

“Manhattan.” Lou sent a derisive side-eye at May’s date.

“Pedestrian, but okay.”

“Party of four for William?” The hostess approached with menus in hand.

“Can we sit at the bar?” May nodded emphatically. “I don’t want to be crammed into a table in the center of the room.”

Ant took a quick look around and spotted the lone open table. It was, indeed, in the center of the raucous dining room.

“I’d love to sit at the bar. We’re on a corner too,” Lou said. “It’s perfect.”

“I don’t usually eat at the bar.” William frowned.

“Hell, William. Live a little.” Xavier delivered May’s Manhattan and then slid a fizzy drink in front of an empty barstool for William.

Lou and May took the corner of the bar, Ant next to Lou and William next to May. Ant ordered appetizers to share and crossed his fingers this wouldn’t last long. Tonight had disaster written all over it.

Halfway through a plate of nachos for Lou and Ant, and seared rare ahi tuna for May and William, the topic shifted to education. Ant shifted in his seat, uncomfortable.

First off, he didn’t have a clue what May did for a living. He knew she was a data analyst, which he assumed meant she crunched numbers. William’s career was easier to picture—lawyers were well represented on TV shows and movies—but Ant didn’t pretend to know how much schooling it took to become one.

“…magna cum laude,” William was bragging.

“May graduated summa cum laude,” Lou filled in. “I was never recognized with any high distinction, but my grades were good.”

“Lou and I have finance in common. She was a financial adviser for a prominent financial institution,” May said. “But she left to travel and blog about her destinations.”

“Impressive. What about you, Anthony?” William lifted his drink and took a dainty sip. “What do you do?”

“See that howling wolf?” Lou pointed at the sculpture displayed on the stage across the bar, and Ant had to physically restrain himself to keep from pulling her arm down. “He carved that with a chain saw.”

“Really?” William didn’t seem impressed, more…perplexed.

“Isn’t it amazing?” she continued gushing. “He’s commissioned to do art all the time.”

William grunted. “Well, it’s no Modigliani, but good for you.”

“A wooden sculpture of a wolf is a far cry from a painting of a naked woman on a sofa, but I see your point.” Ant took a drink from his beer and waited for it to sink in that he knew who Modigliani was.

“Where did you go to school to learn chain saw carving?” William asked.

“He’s self-taught,” Xavier interjected. “Another drink, May?”

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