Scandal Never Sleeps by Shayla Black, Lexi Blake Page B

in the direction of the bartender’s gesture, and there stood Gabriel. His tie was slightly undone and his hair was mussed as though he’d run a hand through it. He was just as stunning to her senses as he’d been before.
    As he approached, Everly had no doubt this man could make her tingle from head to toe. “Um, thanks.”
    “You’re welcome. It’s much quieter out here than before.” He glanced around the now half-empty bar. “What happened to your friend?”
    “He left with someone else.”
    His grin nearly took her breath away. “Did he find someone to spend the night with?”
    “I’m sure he’s hoping so, though I’m not convinced that guy plays for his team.”
    Was this stranger flirting? Why was she flirting back? She should stop. He was too good-looking and obviously rich. All she could boast was a decent loft in Brooklyn, one she would no longer be able to afford if she lost her job. She could be out on the streets in weeks.
    Ugh, wasn’t she a bright ray of sunshine?
    “So, where did your friend go?” she asked.
    He glanced back toward the VIP room. “That party broke up. Everyone had to get home. But I was thinking about staying up for a while. What are your plans tonight, Eve?”
    That was a loaded question. Her current plan included going to a lonely apartment where she could worry about her future and try to figure out if someone had murdered her friend. She could be alone with her fear and doubt . . . but she didn’t really want to. “I was getting ready to leave. What about you?”
    “So was I. I thought I’d get some dinner before I called it a night. I don’t think the food here is going to be any good. Giovanni’s is one block over. Italian might be nice. I can promise you won’t have any trouble getting a glass of wine there.”
    “You’re asking me out?” It was a little surreal. She saw much more attractive women still in the bar. Why had he chosen her? Maybe he liked a curvier girl. Some guys did.
    His face settled into a polite mask. “I don’t know that I would call it a date.”
    “What would you call it, then?”
    He stepped closer, into her personal space. “Eve, I want to be honest with you.”
    Eve. She wasn’t Everly to Gabriel. Which meant that he didn’t expect her to be a good, polite girl. She didn’t have to be shy about what she wanted.
    She stood a bit taller and met his beautiful blue eyes. She could see the five-o’clock shadow darkening his jaw and wondered what it would feel like to brush her fingertips over his face, to run her thumb across that full bottom lip of his. “Honesty is good.”
    She wasn’t being entirely honest with him, but it didn’t matter. They were sharing a moment out of time. She wouldn’t see him again. She didn’t even know his last name.
    “I’m looking for an escape tonight. I can find it in the bottom of a bottle or I can take you out of here and try to make us both feel good. Why don’t you let me buy you dinner and plead my case?”
    He was asking her to sleep with him. A one-night stand. She’d never had one. She’d slept with two men in her whole life, and they’dboth been her boyfriends. Sex had been all right, but something about the look in Gabriel’s eyes told her this would be far better.
    He wanted to escape. She wasn’t sure from what, but she glimpsed a world of worries and sorrow in his expression that drew her. She understood loss and longing. She knew what it meant to need a few hours of escape. Hadn’t she been wanting that herself?
    A single memory pierced her in that moment. Two days before he died, Maddox had shaken his head over her nonexistent dating life. He’d tried to persuade her to let him set her up on a blind date, but she’d said she didn’t have time. She’d needed to get some reports done and go through the purchase orders on the new hard drives and security systems. He’d rolled those piercing eyes of his.
    You need to live a little. Your whole life can’t be spent