“Hi,” he beams as he jumps up to give me a bear hug.
“Hi,” I say back, my mouth dry.
He stands up to pull out my chair and towers above me, clearly not lying about his height.
“Thanks,” I smile shyly, sitting down.
There’s a button in the booth called ‘Press for Champagne”. Don’t mind if I do.
“Do you always look this incredible?” He grins. “I couldn’t believe my luck when the girl that all the guys were staring at walked to my table.”
“Do you always know the right things to say?” I giggle.
“Seriously” He leans into me so that our arms are touching. “Do you feel heat at the back of your head right now? You have at least 40 sets of eyes on you.”
I didn’t know whether to swoon or retch. The guy was laying it on thick, was this his tried and tested panty remover method?
I went with swooning. “You know how to make a girl feel special; I’ll give you that.”
“Is that an Australian accent I hear?” I can’t stop smiling at his beautiful face. He’s about the same height and build as Danny and just as handsome with one obvious difference- his face is open and welcoming, the opposite of the cold hard one I see when I lie awake at night.
“It is.” He grins. “I came over here for medical school then never left.”
“Yes, you work in Guy’s hospital around the corner?”. I administer my most dazzling smile. “What do you do?”
“I’m a cardiologist.” Collect 6 points!
He continues, “I also teach a kickboxing class a few nights a week, but that’s more for fun.”
Advance to go!
“Fixing people’s hearts must be pretty intense,” I say, trying to hide my pathetic swooning. I need to up my game here.
“What about you, Charlie?”
“IT Support for a company around the corner,” I reply in a husky voice. Did I just try to make IT Support sound sexy?
“Damn, if I’d known IT support desks were this hot, I’d have broken my laptop a long time ago.” I laugh too loudly at his joke, flicking my hair over my shoulders.
It’s working. He’s responding to my amateur flirting. He watches my lips as I speak and gently nudges my arms and knees every so often. Maybe IT Support is sexy.
I like this guy.
Shit. Did I really think this through?
How will I concentrate on Mark knowing Danny Walker is metres away?
It dawns on me that I don’t want to blow this date with Mark. In the short twenty minutes that I’ve known him, I can confirm that he is a perfect specimen of a man.
I hear Mike before I see him.
The calming ambiance of the bar is interrupted by his obnoxious bellowing. He always talks too loudly, even when he’s standing next to you.
They have arrived. I daren’t look around to check if he’s with them.
They’ve clearly been somewhere else first because Mike’s slurring his words like he’s had a bucket load.
“Charlie?” Mark looks at me with his eyebrows raised.
My eyes search his. “Sorry, can you repeat that?”
“Ouch,” He laughs loudly. “I’ve lost the focus of my girl already, just my luck.” My girl.
It sounded much sexier than the missus.
I’m talking, but he’s distracted by something over my shoulder. Is he looking at another woman?
“Now, who’s lost focus,” I say in a clipped tone.
“Sorry,” he strokes my arm reassuringly. “It’s just there is a group of men staring over at us.”
“One looks like he’s going to kill me.” He chuckles, focusing on whatever is happening on the other side of the room. “Jesus, do you always get this reaction? Good thing I can defend myself”.
“Really?” I play dumb whilst his heart pounds hard in my chest.
“I recognise that guy. I think”. He squints over my shoulder. “The tech guy, Walker!” Panic engulfs me.
“Danny Walker,” I rasp. “He’s actually my boss. Well, my boss’s boss’s boss. We work around the corner. They probably just recognise me.”
He shot up an eyebrow. “You work for The Nexus Group? You must be an IT whizz.” I shake my head. “No, a small company they have just bought over.”
“Ignore them,” I add quickly. I need to get his focus away from that side of the room. The last thing I need is Mike coming over drunk out of his skull.
“The only person I want to pay attention to is right here,” he smiles as he runs a finger down my cheek.
I beam and lose my basic hand-to-mouth coordination, spilling champagne down my dress.
“Ahh!” The coldness seeps through the silk fabric of my bra.
Mark jumps up and grabs napkins from the table beside us. “I’d wipe you down, but that’s probably too familiar for a first date.”
“A little,” I grin as I take the napkins. I wipe at the growing stain on my chest.
“I’m only making it worse,” I sigh. “Excuse me, Mark. I’m going to pop to the little girls’ room”.
I look around to see where the toilets are and meet the icy stare of Danny Walker blazing across the room. His scotch glass pauses mid-air.
He’s at the furthest corner, and still, his gaze manages to suck the wind out of me.
My stomach twists. How does he manage to make me so uncomfortable? I’m sitting with a handsome guy that is openly interested in me, and it’s the sadistic moron across the room that makes my stomach tense with nerves.
Thrown off my game, I give a brief nod of recognition and divert my gaze.
“Do you know where the toilets are?” I turn back to Mark.
He points behind me to a wall at the other side of the bar. “Just there, you see the split in the wall?”.
“Not really.” I frown, confused. “There’s no door.”