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The cocktail waitress floated a napkin on the table and placed a lowball glass in the center “Took the bartender a et a lot of requests for that drink in here”
When Ava opened her purse to pay, Chase put his hand over hers He pulled money from his front shirt pocket and dropped it on the tray
Ava didn’t speak until the waitress left “I can buy my own drinks, Chase”
“I know you can You can also open your own door and pay for your supper, but that ain’t happening tonight, so deal with it”
Surprisingly, she didn’t argue She took a healthy sip of her drink and said, “Wow That’s good”
“What is it?”
“Tie me to the bed and fk h Ava had to pat him on the back “What the hell did you just askto me, because I knew you’d say no The name of my drink is called Tie me to the bed and fk me”
His eyes narrowed “Bullshit”
She held up her hand in Scout’s honor pose “It was the drink du jour at my friend Bella’s bachelorette party And if you don’t believe ht Ava just wanted to hear him say that drink name out loud In a honky-tonk bar Not a chance
They watched the dancers for three songs Ava leaned closer “See that older couple withyou think they’ve been together?”
“Probably their whole adult lives Why?”
She released a wistful sigh “They’re beautiful So in tune with each other I can’t iine what it’d be like to have that solid connection every day I wish I had my video camera so I could capture their happiness”
Maybe Ava did understand more than he credited her
“By the hen are you planning to teach me to two-step?”
“I’m not”
“Do you dance?”
“Yep”
She frowned “But you don’t want to dance with me?”
“Drop it, Ava”
Of course she didn’t “I’ll only put up with some off Answer the question Why don’t you want to dance with me?”
“Because I’m short,” he snapped
About twenty seconds passed before she was in his face “That’s it? That’s your reason for not dancing with me? Here’s where I tell you that is not a valid reason That’s a sucky reason”
“It’s a valid reason to ood three inches taller thantheodda overmy face in your chest, no ood ti attention to us? Trust me, that’d do it”