She deposited her coat at the coat check and walked toward the black marble topped bar that stretched well over forty feet along the far wall. The wall behind the bar was filled with every mixer and spirit she could imagine, and the gentle underlighting on the shelves gave each bottle its own spotlight moment. The attention to detail in the design here was amazing.

  Though not a beer drinker, Courtney noted the multiple beer and cocktail stations spaced out along the gleaming countertop. She knew the partners at the firm would want easy and convenient distribution of drinks and guest spacing at the party. Mirage had that in spades. There was more than enough room to keep everyone happy. Courtney was convinced this was the most perfect bar in the city.

  The bar wasn’t busy at the moment, but she figured that was because it was midday during a workweek. And even though it wasn’t bustling as it had been when she toured the bar to pick the company party location, there were still plenty of people around. Which was why she thought it was okay to stare at the gorgeous brunette at the small L-shaped end of the bar while she waited for her meeting with Mira, since she was early anyway. There was no reason to pass up an opportunity to appreciate a beautiful woman, right? Because this woman was stunning.

  “Can I interest you in a drink?” a short-haired, androgynous-looking bartender asked her.

  “I probably shouldn’t,” Courtney said as she gave the bartender a bashful look. She knew she’d been caught staring.

  “We have mocktails for those working nine-to-fivers who still want to feel like it’s a forever weekend, even if it’s only a lunchbreak.” This person was charming.

  “Mocktail me,” Courtney said with a smile.

  “Are you into fruity and sweet things, or a dryer cocktail?”

  “Fruity and sweet.” Courtney extended her hand across the bar toward her new friend. “I’m Courtney.”

  “Teagan,” she replied with a firm handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

  Teagan started mixing something that looked wonderful, but Courtney found herself distracted by the woman at the end of the bar again. She was on the phone, talking to someone about something that sounded important. Or maybe it wasn’t important, and Courtney was just being lulled by the sexy tone of her voice, which sounded authoritative but somehow also friendly. She found herself wanting to hear that voice directed toward her, so she could pinpoint what about it made her so hot and bothered. But it wasn’t just the voice that drew her in—it was the relaxed casual beauty the woman absolutely owned. Her long dark hair fell in calculated waves beyond her shoulders. The few times she smiled while speaking, Courtney got a glimpse of a gleaming white set of perfect teeth that were framed with light pink lips that Courtney thought looked delicious.

  The woman was wearing all black, and her tight-fitting dress shirt was rolled at the forearms, though the right cuff slipped out of place over and over. After ending the call, she stood from her seat and stretched, exposing a tiny sliver of her stomach. She rolled her shoulders and closed her eyes while she stretched her neck. Courtney looked at the long column of visible flesh over her pulse point, and she found herself wanting to kiss the skin there.

  God, she thought, she really needed to get laid.

  “Fruity and sweet.” Teagan said as she placed the mocktail in front of her, startling her in the process.

  “Oh, great. Thanks.” Courtney clumsily reached for the drink, nearly knocking it over.

  She looked up to find Teagan looking amused.

  Courtney sipped her drink. “This is incredible.”

  “Thank you.” Teagan flashed her a crooked grin as she hand-dried a glass.

  Though she’d successfully focused on something else since Teagan had busted her for staring, the mystery woman laughed, and the sound drew her attention again. She heard Teagan snicker at her in response.

  She gave her a playful death stare.

  “If you’re into fruity and sweet, she’s probably not your type.” Teagan nodded toward the end of the bar, and Courtney didn’t bother following her gaze. She could hear Lady McHot Lips on the phone again, and she’d already embarrassed herself enough.

  She sighed. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why’s that? Is she not fruity enough?”

  “If by fruity you mean gay, then she’s totally fruity enough.” That piqued Courtney’s interest. “But I wouldn’t call her sweet.”

  “Who’s not sweet?” The mysterious dark-haired stranger joined Teagan behind the bar, and Courtney almost choked mid-swallow. She was even more attractive up close. Damn.

  “You,” Teagan replied.

  “You wound me.” Lady McHot Lips held a hand over her heart and feigned being hurt.

  “I mean, you have your moments, but…” Teagan teased before leaving to help another patron.

  “I’m not exactly a Hallmark heroine.”

  Courtney looked back at McHot Lips to find a pair of warm, honey-brown eyes appraising her. McHot Lips was talking to her.

  “You say that like you expect me to be a sappy Hallmark holiday movie watching sad sack,” Courtney said as she sipped her drink just to occupy her hands.

  McHot Lips raised her hands in defense. “You totally seem like the Hallmark holiday movie watching type, but sorry if I pigeonholed you.”

  “You aren’t wrong.” Courtney was only offended because she totally was that person. “What gave it away?”

  “Frosty.” McHot Lips pointed to the little snowman ring on her right hand that her grandmother had given her when she was thirteen.

  “A snowperson, really?” Courtney was skeptical.

  “Nah, it’s the Hallmark movie schedule you have open on your cell phone screen, and the fact that you were singing ‘Santa Baby’ when you walked in earlier. But I figured noticing the cute little snowperson ring would feel less like I was blowing up your spot.” McHot Lips shrugged.

  “Damn.” Courtney looked down and saw that she was right. She had been skimming over the Hallmark schedule as she waited. And had she been singing when she came in? She must have been. But McHot Lips would have only known that if she’d noticed her when she’d walked in, which was a promising development.

  As Teagan walked past, McHot Lips asked, “Hey, can you make a cranberry vodka martini for the woman by the window?”

  “Sure.” Teagan grabbed a glass and started reaching for a bottle when she paused to add, “Oh, by the way, this is Courtney. And she thinks you’re cute.”

  McHot Lips arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow in Courtney’s direction, and she wanted to sink under the bar from embarrassment.

  “I thought bartenders were supposed to be great secret keepers,” Courtney muttered as she toyed with the napkin under her drink.

  “That’s probably a stereotype that is unfairly applied to most of us. Teagan can’t keep a secret to save her life.” McHot Lips flashed an award-winning smile, and Courtney was reconsidering her nickname for her. “But I can.”

  “Good to know who and who not to share my innermost secrets with, then,” Courtney said, finding it hard not to be mesmerized by the woman in front of her.

  “You can tell me anything.” This woman was beyond charming.

  “Something tells me you say that to all the girls,” Courtney replied, wary but also intrigued. McHot Lips was flirting with her.

  “Only the ones who think I’m cute.”

  Courtney dropped her head into her hands, mortified.

  “If it makes you feel any better, the feeling is mutual.” The soft, flirty reply emboldened Courtney to peek between her fingers just to confirm what she thought she heard.

  She had McHot Lips’ full attention. So much so, that she was leaning her forearms on the bar, closer to her than she had been moments before. Almost dangerously close, in Courtney’s opinion.

  “Oh, well, thanks.” Courtney sat up straighter, trying not to blush.

  “Thank you for thinking I’m cute,” she said.

  “To be fair, cute didn’t really cross my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of sex—” Courtney put her hand over her mouth to stop herself. What did Teagan put into this drink?

  This garnered her another arched eyebrow, this time accompanied with a licked lower lip. Courtney was a goner.

  “Can I get you another?” Her voice was like velvet. Courtney was sure she’d take anything this woman would offer her.

  “Another what?” She was staring at the full lips in front of her. What had come over her?

  “Drink.” She motioned toward the glass Courtney hadn’t realized she’d drained.

  “I probably shouldn’t. I’m meeting someone soon.” Courtney was only vaguely aware of her reason for being here today. Because if flirting with this woman wasn’t the true reason she was here, then the day seemed wasted.

  McHot Lips checked the receipt in the empty glass Teagan had left at the inner edge of the bar. “Looks like you were having a mocktail. Let me make you another, on the house, just so you don’t get thirsty before whatever it is you have planned.”

  “Okay,” Courtney agreed, largely because McHot Lips had already taken her glass and replaced it with a fresh one.

  “Any requests?” McHot Lips asked as her hands hovered over bottle tops just below the bar’s surface.

  “Something festive,” Courtney replied, though something told her anything this woman made her would be delightful.

  “I’ve got just the thing.” She winked, and Courtney felt herself swoon.

  Courtney watched as she expertly moved behind the bar and around Teagan, who seemed engrossed in her own cocktail making endeavor.

  After a few moments, McHot Lips placed an elegant looking cocktail in front of her. Seeds of some sort floated on the carbonated bubbles of a deep red drink, and Courtney felt herself squeal internally with delight. It was beautiful.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “A virgin version of our Pomegranate Royal. Which normally contains pomegranate liqueur, champagne, and pomegranate seeds to add some texture to the drink. It’s very popular.” McHot Lips was leaning on the bar top again. The cuff of her right sleeve appeared to have rolled down from making Courtney’s drink.

  “It looks wonderful, thank you.” Courtney gave in to her desire to fix the wayward sleeve and touch the gorgeous, charming bartender. She carefully rolled the end of the shirtsleeve and tucked the fabric into itself, securing it like the other side.

  “Try it.” McHot Lips placed her hand on the one Courtney still had on her forearm. She gave it a gentle squeeze, and Courtney let her hand linger there for a moment before returning to her glass.

  Courtney sipped the drink but held the bartender’s gaze. This was fantastic. And very festive. Exactly the type of thing she would like to have at her company’s party. Shit. The meeting.

  “You don’t like it?” Those warm eyes looked concerned.

  “No, yes. I do. It’s incredible. I just—” Courtney shook her head to clear the lust fog she was in. “I seem to keep forgetting about the meeting I’m supposed to be having. I blame you.”

  “Sorry, not sorry.” The wicked grin that accompanied the reply did little to dissipate Courtney’s newfound infatuation with this woman.

  After a pause, the woman asked, “Is the meeting for work or pleasure?”

  “Work.” Though the only thing on Courtney’s mind at the moment was pleasure.

  “Work can wait,” she replied in that same sexy tone from earlier. “I have to admit I’m glad it isn’t a pleasure meeting.”

  “Why’s that?” Courtney traced the rim of her glass, and McHot Lips’ eyes followed the movements of her fingers.

  “I’m not ready to have to fight anyone off for your attention.” Those pink lips parted, and Courtney wanted to taste them.

  “Oh? And do you think you have my full attention now?” Courtney realized she was leaning in as she spoke. She felt pulled to this woman.

  “I know I do. And I like it that way.” McHot Lips was killing her.

  “You know, it occurs to me that I don’t know your name yet. But you know mine, thanks to that traitor, Teagan. And though I’m happy to keep using the one I’ve made up in my mind, I’d like to know your actual name.”

  “So you can scream it later?”

  Courtney felt her jaw drop and her sex clench.

  McHot Lips reached across the bar and took Courtney’s free hand. “I’m kidding.”

  Courtney shifted in her seat. “Too bad.”

  McHot Lips surveyed her curiously while still holding her hand. “What’s the name you’ve been calling me in your head?”

  “The formal or the informal name?” Courtney turned her hand over and stifled a shudder when McHot Lips traced lazy circles on her palm.

  “Let’s start with informal.” The circles continued.

  “McHot Lips.” Courtney would have been embarrassed by her admission, but she was too entranced by this woman’s touch to care.

  She laughed that sexy laugh from before. “And the formal name?”

  “Lady McHot Lips.”

  She stopped her ministrations to briefly squeeze Courtney’s hand before pulling back. “I hope my lips are worthy of such a regal title.”

  “They appear to be.” Courtney made no attempt to look anywhere other than the full pink lips before her.

  “Maybe we should do a test just to confirm your assumptions.” She leaned forward infinitesimally, and Courtney wondered how quickly she could vault over this bar.

  “First, a name. Please.” Courtney bit her bottom lip to keep herself in her seat.

  “Are you sure? Kissing a stranger seems like something really sexy, right now.” She leaned closer still.

  Courtney squeezed her thighs together. This woman’s confidence and swagger were impressive. And Courtney certainly wanted to kiss her, among other things.

  “And if we do, and it’s as good as I imagine it will be, what will I moan into your ear when I ask for more?” she asked, fishing for a name again.

  “Please would probably do the trick,” McHot Lips answered. Courtney laughed because she’d walked right into that one.

  “I have excellent manners,” Courtney said. “I might even say thank you afterward.”

  “After what, exactly?”

  Courtney had meant kissing, but the conversation seemed to be taking a different tone, and she didn’t hate it.

  “Whatever,” she said with a playful shrug.

  She was rewarded with a broad smile. “This is getting better and better.”

  “So”—she motioned across the bar to her—“you are…?”

  “Mira,” she replied as she took Courtney’s hand again. “And it’s very, very nice to meet you.”

  Mira. That was a beautiful name fit for the gorgeous woman who was looking at her like there was no one else in this entire room, and Courtney was all for it. Mira. Mira. Wait. Why did that sound so familiar?

  “Oh.” It dawned on her, and she pulled her hand back out of reflex. “Shit. You’re Mira, as in Mira Donahue. That Mira.”

  Mira leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you going to serve me with a subpoena or something?”

  “What? No.” Courtney shook her head. “I’m just supposed to be meeting with you right now.”

  “We were kind of in a meeting, don’t you think?” Mira teased, and she momentarily forgot why she was freaked out.

  Because of course the most beautiful woman in the room, who was flirting with her, would be the point person for her very important work event. This was cruel.

  Courtney huffed. “I hate my life.”

  Mira gave her a confused look.

  “I’m Courtney,” she tried.

  “I’d gathered that,” Mira replied, not picking up on what she was trying to get across.

  “Courtney Rivers. Your three o’clock meeting. For the Buxby Partners holiday buyout party.”

  Mira’s face dropped. “Oh God. I am so, so sorry. That was entirely unprofessional, and I can’t believe I just—” She palmed her forehead. “Okay. Let’s just…Let’s start over.” She stood up and spun around, straightening her shirt before facing Courtney again with a welcoming but much less sexually fueled smile. She extended her hand in Courtney’s direction. “I’m Mira Donahue—it’s nice to meet you.”

  Courtney sighed—she already missed the banter. “Courtney. Nice to meet you, too.”

  “So,” Mira said as she let out an exhale. “About that event your company booked—”

  “Hey, Mira.” Teagan walked up. “Your next appointment is here.”

  Courtney checked her phone and groaned. How had she managed to miss her appointment time while talking to the person she was supposed to be meeting with? She was due back at the office, and she’d managed to accomplish nothing but get turned on, only to get her hopes dashed. Fuck this day.

  Mira frowned. “Wait, give me a second.” She grabbed a piece of paper from behind the bar and scribbled something down. “This is my personal number. I owe you a meeting, whenever is convenient for you, whatever day or time. I promise. I’m sorry—I got caught up talking to you and forgot anything else was on my agenda.”

  Mira looked apologetic, and Courtney hoped that the silver lining to this bust of a meeting was that Mira had gotten caught up talking to her because she liked her.

  “Was this all a well-crafted plan to give me your number?” Courtney accepted the paper and the promise it held for another chance to spend time with Mira. Which didn’t sound bad at all.

  “I wish I were that smooth,” Mira said as she ran her hand through that luscious looking dark hair. “But I won’t say I mind that this is where things ended up.”

  “Me neither,” Courtney admitted.

  “I look forward to hearing from you.”

  “You bought my first and second rounds. Make sure you tip Teagan well,” Courtney said as she pushed her empty glass toward the back of the bar.

 

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