“Lovely!” Ava grinned, handing her phone back to her. “I can’t wait to see him again.” She winked at Mia and Mia laughed softly at her.
“So,” Maddie looked around at them with an anticipatory light in her eyes and smile on her face, “I’m up for a promotion. My boss is considering making me a VP. There are two other people up for the spot, but I have it on good authority that it will be me. Here’s hoping!” she said, raising her glass, and the other three lifted their glasses to meet hers and encourage her onward.
“Good luck!” they chorused happily.
Liam leaned toward her slightly. “How long until you know? I can’t stand waiting. I’m so bad about being patient. I love instant gratification, and having to wait can be delicious, but it just drives me crazy.” He laughed. “I can’t imagine how hard it would be to have to be you and waiting, Maddie.”
Madeline laughed back a bit. “I know… it’s difficult for me to wait as well, but I’m going to have to. I think they’re making the decision in a month.”
Liam’s mouth fell open, as did Mia’s. “A month?” they exclaimed. Ava was smiling at an older gentleman who was seated a few tables away from them, giving her a friendly eye. She turned back to her friends suddenly and grinned.
“What are we waiting a month for?” she asked with wide eyes.
Maddie tipped her head to the side and sighed. “I’m waiting a month to see if I will be promoted to VP, you’re all waiting a month to hear whether or not it happens.”
“Well good luck!” Ava said, lifting her chin happily. “I know you’ll get it. You’re the smartest woman I know, and that’s saying something!”
Maddie blushed a little and smiled, looking down at her martini. “Thanks, Ava.”
Mia looked at Liam. “So what about you, Liam, what or who have you been up to this week?”
Liam grinned and looked around at them as if he was hiding a national secret that he was about to share with them. “Well, I’ve been up to a little mischief. You remember that designer I met at the spring fashion fling party I went to?” he asked with a gleam in his eye.
Ava leaned in closer to the table, her eyes locked on him. She loved fashion as much as he did, though their tastes and styles varied somewhat. “Wait, was this the guy from London?”
Liam nodded knowingly. “Yes,” he gushed happily and looked up at the ceiling, grinning and breathing deeply for a moment to calm himself before he looked back at the ladies around him. “Well, you know how I thought he was indifferent to me, and how I was just sure that he wasn’t going to even remember me?”
The ladies nodded back. “Yes!” they said almost in unison.
“Well, it turns out that he’s just very shy, and he liked me quite a bit. He said I have ‘exquisite taste’ and he had his assistant move heaven and earth to find me so he could ask me out for cocktails. We met up last Tuesday night.” He blushed a little and swooned, and the ladies laughed. “We had a very good night… My god, the man is built like a Greek god, and he almost burned my sheets off of the bed, he’s such a good lover. Then we had a good time last night, and he stayed over again… Woo! Honies… I just can’t even begin to tell you. I thought it wouldn’t be as good the second time. It was so much better!”
He looked at each of them pointedly. “Word to the wise with a shy lover, you have to break them in. Once they get comfortable with you, the sky is the limit. My god. I don’t think I’m ever going to be the same again!” he blushed and giggled, and all three of the ladies giggled at his naughtiness again with him as Mia reached an arm around his shoulders and hugged him from the side.
“That’s our Liam. Hot and lucky!” she winked at him and he nodded and winked back.
He turned to look at Ava. “Here’s hoping our blondie gets hot and lucky with Mr. Carter.” Then he turned to look at Maddie. “What about you? Who have you been after this week, you little vamp?”
Maddie smiled slyly and winked at him. “You know me so well.” She was straight laced when it came to business, but outside of her career she was hotter than a volcano, and she had almost no inhibitions or barriers to speak of.
She leaned in close to them all, her gaze meeting each of theirs in turn. “I was meeting one of my clients for business and he had another meeting going on when I showed up. The hottie in the other meeting stayed around to meet me and we wound up going out for cocktails, and then we wound up going to his place. He was the most fun I’ve had in weeks. You might have heard of him. Ryan Browning? He was a handful, but he was a hot, good time.”