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It was the saive her the whiskey sour, and he was still carrying it Yeah, she needed that She reached out and took it off of his tray "Sorry about hassling you earlier Thanks for the drink"

The waiter sentleman didn’t wish to send his naht I appreciate it, whoever he is" She took a sip

"He did request that you join hilass at her lips and eyed the waiter suspiciously "You’re serious?"

"Yes, if you’ll co away

Liz stared after hi her to actually follow hi Her reporter sense was tingling and now she had to know the story Who exactly was her ht up to the waiter as he opened a side door that led to a flight of stairs He held the door for her and allowed her to enter before him They walked up the stairs and into one of the second-floor balconies that overlooked the patrons below

The VIP lounge really wasn’t anything fancy No different from the room below except more sparsely populated and ay more staff Okay, so maybe the booths carpeted in a red velvet h-topped tables and chairs hadhorseshoe-shaped bar in the center of the rooant

This certainly wasn’t what she had been expecting VIP to look like Where was the swanky furniture and crèrave; too much TV lately It wasn’t as if she had suddenly been transported to Los Angeles This was still just Raleigh

"Who a?" Liz asked the waiter as she took a large drink of the whiskey sour he had brought for her She couldn’t believe she was here right now It wasn’t her style at all

"Theto the only full table

"Which person?" Liz asked, her eyes scrutinizing the table

"You can’t see hi you," the waiter said before disappearing into the stairwell

"Thanks," sheanother sip to calm her nerves

It was now or never She took a deep breath and sloalked across the roouys in VIP lounges bought her drinks all the tilanced over her shoulder and snickered Why did she look fah school boyfriend used toable to remember every aspect of their relationship--every date they had been on, what shirt he earing, the exact date of their first kiss, first dance, and first ti hands--the list went on The skill had ood in journalism

Crap Liz knehere she had seen the woman before That was Maxwell’s press secretary Liz’s heart sped up…could this be related to her question for Brady? That didn’t see a piece of the puzzle It couldn’t be from Brady himself…could it?

A number of heads turned to face her as she approached She felt heat rise on the back of her neck

"May we help you?" a short, stocky guy in a charcoal suit jacket asked her He was y, with caterpillar eyebrows and beady eyes that swept her body He was like Trent, but with the authority and self-importance of a VIP

"I was sent over here by a waiter," she said She held her whiskey sour up for their inspection

"Did so around the table with a knowing glint in his brown eyes "Anybody?"

Tomen in the corner buried their heads in their hands The blonde looked a pissed off Was this all a bad joke? Pick on a girl on theused for their aes pull down into a frown

"Soht me a drink," she said frostily "I doubt it was you So, if you could point me to the individual who has soet out of your way"

The ers at her He didn’t seem the type to approve of a woman with a ry Controlling her teed to stutter out a laugh before responding, "We have a feisty one here"

Liz rolled her eyes She really didn’t have the patience for this "Fine I’ll take o then"

"Hold on a second, hon," he said, reaching out and grabbing her arave him a pointed look and he hastily withdrew his hand

"It’s all fun and gaed If he wasn’t being helpful, then she didn’t feel the need to be polite

"Well, you’re no fun He’s over there Had to take a phone call," he said, pointing at a , partially obscured by a crowd of wo away as fast as could She heard hinored hiuy talking on his s with her stoht her a drink This was not real life This didn’t happen to her Hadn’t she just insulted him in front of a roomful of people? No, she had done her job He had a pretty face, body, seous, but it didn’ther job

Was she even allowed to be here? She was going home to write an article about him, and it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine either She couldn’t be seen with him She looked down at her drink and eeped! She nearly dropped it onto the carpeted floor She had accepted a drink fro article about Was she insane?

"Sorry, Jerry, give me one second," Brady said into the phone

He turned to look at her and she froze Her insides felt like Jell-O, or that wobbly feeling after getting out of the ocean after being tossed around by the waves Her head was hazy, like ahad taken up residence where her wit nor at her intensely

Liz looked away and then back up at hiht noas a bad idea Maybe she should just head out after all She wanted to knohy he had bought her a drink…and he was so handsome, but she knew this had bad neritten all over it Still, she felt rooted to the spot

She watched him finish his phone call and memorized every inch of his face in those couple minutes Where he had been freshly shaven and clean cut early this afternoon, a five-o’clock shadoas growing in along his jawline She could see that he liked to lick his perfect lips while he was talking, and they were slightly chapped due to the habit He talked with his handsa point, and she really liked those hands She bet he had a firot little creases around his eyes, ht up with emotion, and the most adorable dimples formed