Choosing Happy (Madison Square #2) (20 page)

Chapter 17

Madison

As soon as I stepped foot into Frazzaro’s, I felt uneasy. The bar was as busy as you would expect for a Friday night. The long, mahogany bar was full and all the tables were taken. People stood in clusters around the room, sipping their drinks and appraising the other patrons.

The place practically screamed sex. Dark purple walls lined with plush velvet booths, dim lights, candles flickered from every table, illuminating the faces of businessmen in overpriced suits, drunkenly flirting with twenty somethings who pretended not to notice their wedding rings.

A chill ran down my spine as I searched the crowd for Bryan. I found him tucked into a quiet corner booth in the back. I made my way toward him, cursing myself for missing the signs warning me of this guy’s creep factor. Bryan Townsend seemed like a nice guy, but judging from his choice of venue, his joke about getting to know the people he was getting into bed with took on a whole new meaning.

I gave him a tight lipped smile as I approached the table. A bright smile spread across his handsome face, and he rose from his seat to greet me.

“You look beautiful,” he said, gesturing for me to take a seat. He remained standing until I’d settled into the booth. He raised a hand to the waiter and slid into the booth beside me, a little closer than a colleague normally would, but not so close that I was looking for an exit…yet. Sex may have been his goal, but he didn’t seem to be on the hard sell, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.

The waiter approached our table, and I ordered a white wine to settle my nerves.

“So,” I started, “this place is…intimate.” I made a show of looking around the bar, not that you could see much in this light, which I gathered was exactly the point.

Bryan chuckled, the sound low and gravely in his chest. “I swear, this was not my choice.” I raised an eyebrow to question him, sure that he was completely full of shit. “I assure you, this is the last time I take any of Eric’s suggestions.” Eric? Figures.

“Not your scene?”

“It’s not the sort of place I would ever take a woman like you,” he said as he twirled his glass of scotch on the table.

Just then the waiter came by and set my drink down in front of me. I reached for the stem and brought the glass to my lips, taking a sip of the cool dry wine. His eyes drifted to my lips as I took a drink but averted just as quickly.

“What sort of woman am I, exactly?”

Bryan leaned toward me, placing his elbows on the table as he fixed me with his cool blue eyes. He wore a look that made me squirm a bit in my seat. “Witty, brilliant, no nonsense, and of course incredibly beautiful. You deserve more than drinks in some trashy bar,” he lowered his voice, “where I suspect most of the clientele bring their mistresses for a discreet night on the town.”

I laughed at his candor, and his smile brightened. “Speaks volumes about Eric, though, doesn’t it?”

Bryan chuckled. “I guess so.”

The combination of the laughter and the wine was beginning to put me at ease. He was charming and while his interest in me was apparent, he wasn’t being overly forward, so I decided to see how the evening would progress.

“So, do you do this often?” he asked, sitting back in his chair his as he tapped against the side of his glass.

“Do what?”

“Have drinks with strange men in seedy bars,” he teased.

I laughed. “Hardly.” I shifted nervously in my seat.

“Don’t get out much then?”

I nervously took a sip of my drink and set it down on the table as I nodded my head in agreement while trying to push thoughts of Sean out of my head. “Work keeps me pretty busy.”

“You know what they say about all work and no play.” Bryan leaned forward, his elbows on the table and a mischievous smile on his face.

He was laying it on pretty thick, and the warning sign in my head began to flicker. To him, this was a date. To me, it was drinks with a client to keep him happy and my boss off my back.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That sounded much more charming in my head. I guess I’m a little out of practice.” He chuckled. “What do you say we start over?”

I sighed in relief and nodded. “That would be great.”

He stuck his hand out across the table. “Bryan Townsend.”

I smiled and took his hand. “Madison Buchanan.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madison.” His hand lingered in mine as he smiled at me.

In theory, I should be overjoyed to be on what was basically a date with a gorgeous, interesting, successful, mildly charming man, but guilt filled my stomach as I sat there.

I threw back the rest of my wine and signaled the waiter for another. He acknowledged me with a nod and took off toward the bar.

“So what do you do for fun, Madison?”

“Oh, I’m not much fun,” I said dismissively. His eyebrows shot into his hairline, and I cringed. “I…well, I mean, I…I don’t really have a lot of free time.”

Bryan laughed. “So you said.”

The waiter brought my drink, and I reached for the glass, holding on tight as if it was a life raft. I took a drink, and the alcohol made its way through my body, doing its job of calming my nerves.

“What about you?” I asked, hoping to redirect the focus of the conversation to him and into safer territory.

“You know, the usual. Golf, sailing. I enjoy the beach. I have a house not far from here right on the ocean. I don’t make it there as often as I’d like, but I do try to make it out a few times a year at least. The sunrise from the back deck is just breathtaking.”

I’d gotten a little lost in the wine and the image he’d created. I was imagining billowing curtains and the distant sound of waves crashing to the sand, lulling me to sleep. “It sounds incredible,” I said in a soft, dreamy voice, so lost in my daydream I could practically feel the sand beneath my toes.

“You should join me for a weekend. It’s beautiful this time of year. Quiet,” he said.

I sat up straight, dragged out of my daydream by his invitation. “Uh, thank you, Mr. Townsend,” I said, “But I don’t think…”

“Oh, it’ll be fun. Eric and his wife could join us. We could make a weekend of it, maybe hammer out the finer points of this development deal.”

Eric, beach weekend, development deal. He was throwing a lot of things at me at once, none of which I could really say no to. Instead I smiled and took a sip of my wine.

The rest of the evening seemed to go along pretty smoothly, despite the awkward start. We kept the subjects light and playful, and by my third glass of wine I was laughing at his ridiculous golfing mishaps and bad finance jokes. I was actually enjoying spending time with him.

Before long, the waiter started to come by every few minutes to make sure we had everything we needed. Around his third trip, I noticed that the bar had cleared out. The staff was starting to strip the tables and stack the chairs. I took a look at my watch.

“Oh my God, it’s one in the morning,” I said.

Bryan checked his watch to confirm and nodded his head. “Indeed it is. Time flies when you are having fun.”

“I guess so.”

“We should get out of their hair.” He signaled the waiter for the check. After the bill was settled, Bryan, ever the gentleman, walked me to my car.

Bryan was exactly the type of man I should be with. Of course, when that thought entered my head, Sean came right along with it. My body tensed as I was suddenly wracked with guilt.

Bryan misinterpreted my body language and stepped closer to me. “Cold?” he asked.

I nodded. Pretending to be cold was better than admitting I was thinking of another man. He rubbed my arms to warm me up. It was sweet and awful all at the same time.

“I should go,” I said, and he nodded but didn’t step away. I looked up at him as terror ripped through my body. The look in his eyes could only mean one thing, he was going to kiss me.

This was supposed to be a harmless date. I only came to keep our business deal on track, but the thing that scared me more than anything was the fact that I wasn’t so sure I didn’t want him to kiss me.

Bryan leaned forward, still holding on to my upper arms and I braced myself for the impact. I closed my eyes tight and tried not to flinch. His lips grazed the corner of my mouth, and that was it. I kept completely still so he wouldn’t notice how uncomfortable I was, but he didn’t try again. It was just a sweet kiss good-bye and nothing more.

“I’m in town again in a few weeks for a charity event. Can I see you again?” he asked.

“I…yeah. Sounds great,” I stammered.

“I look forward to it,” he said. Bryan took my hand, gave a small bow, and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. I smiled in return, because let’s face it, how could I not?

He opened my car door and held it as I got in. “Good night, Madison.”

“Good night, Bryan.”

I had just started the engine when my phone vibrated in the cup holder, where I left it. I picked it up to check the message and saw I had a missed call from my mother and two texts from Sean. I deleted mother’s voicemail without listening to it and tapped the message icon to read the texts.

Sean: Football Grover park 2morrow.

Sean: See you @ 11?

I sank back against the seat and sighed, feeling like the truly awful person I was.

***

The weather was nice, surprisingly warm for this time of year, when I arrived at Grover Park. The sun was bright and the air smelled clean and fresh. I took a deep breath as I made my way toward the field where the game was already in full swing.

The park was full of activity. People were taking full advantage of the warmer weather. There were joggers along the paths that wound through the trees on the side of the open field and people lounged on blankets, their faces turned up toward the sun.

The field was bright and open. The guys were tossing the ball around and running full force toward their goal, dodging each other as the opposing team threatened to take them down. A large tree sat off to my right, and I saw Alex and Millie lounging in the shade. A soft breeze carried their laughter toward me as I made my way to them.

“Madison!” Millie exclaimed. Her smile brightened as she gestured for me to take a seat on the blanket beside her. “I’m glad you made it,” she said as she bounced her adorable little boy on her knee. He had a head full of David’s dark hair and Millie’s bright blue eyes.

“Hey,” I said, taking a seat on the blanket beside Alex.

“How are you?” Alex asked. Her smile never faltered, but I could see the concern in her eyes. Last time I saw her was during an internal mental break down, so the concern was valid.

“I’m okay,” I said nervously, looking down at my fingers.

“Are you sure?” She dipped her head to meet my eyes.

“Yes.” I conjured up the brightest smile I could muster.

Alex eyed me skeptically, then looked out onto the field, where the guys were lining up for the next play. I followed her line of sight as Drew gave her a little wink. He bent down and rested his hands on his knees.

“You guys are really good together,” I said as I watched her blow him a kiss.

Millie giggled. “It wasn’t always that way.” Alex playfully smacked her arm.

“Haven’t you guys been together since college?” I asked, remembering Sean telling me how they had all gone to school together.

“Not exactly,” Alex said. “We were friends in college, but we didn’t get together until about a year and a half ago.”

I looked out onto the field as Drew tossed the ball to David, who took off running toward the goal. “Really? You seem like you’ve been together for years.”

Alex shrugged. “I guess, in a way, we have. He’s my best friend, but for a long time that’s all he was.”

“Why?” I asked.

Alex took a deep breath and watched Drew clap David on the back as they headed back to the center of the field. “My head got in the way. I spent so much time convincing myself that it would never work that I missed all of the signs telling me that it would.”

I looked down to the blanket and pulled at a loose thread, not wanting to admit that I was possibly doing the same thing with Sean. I looked up and met those cool gray eyes across the field. A smile lit up his entire face, and my lips twitched in response.

“He likes you,” Alex said, breaking my attention away from Sean. “A lot.”

“He’s a great guy.”

“Yes, he is,” she said, her voice taking on a stern tone. She took off her sunglasses and sat up straighter, turning her body to face me. “Which is why I think we need to have a little chat.”

“Alex,” Millie scolded.

She held up her hand, dismissing Millie’s concern, her eyes never wavering from mine. “I like you, Madison. I really do, but Sean is family. I can see how much he cares about you. It may seem like things just roll off of his back, but he’s been through a lot more than you think.”