I held the door open for her.
“Now this is more like it.”
The restaurant had a small sushi bar in the middle of the room and tables scattered throughout.
The hostess appeared. “Two for dinner?”
“Yeah, and put us close to the bar, will ya?” Siobhan said.
She stated that as if it would be a drunken free-for-all.
Like hell.
After we were seated, I said, “No bullshit, Siobhan. How old are you?”
“Twenty-one. Why?”
She was lying; I was sure of it. “Because if you order a drink, they will card you. America isn’t like Ireland.”
“Hey. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Like you don’t know Irish bars don’t really give a damn if you’re only fifteen. As long as you have money and don’t act like a pain in the arse, they’ll serve you.”
“Been to Ireland, have ya?”
“Twice.”
That surprised her.
The waitress came by to take our drink orders. I opted for a Leinenkugel Red Lager.
“That’s sounds good. I’ll have the same—but bring me two. Bein’ from Ireland, one gets tired of drinkin’ Guinness. Although you Yanks serve it way too cold.” She winked at the waitress.
The Asian waitress smiled. “Yes, these Yanks try and improve on everything, don’t they?”
Then the two of them launched into a discussion about all the foreign things Americans had gotten wrong.
When I took out my phone, the waitress got the hint to skedaddle and fill our drink order.
“That was rude,” Siobhan said.
I tucked my phone in my pocket. “Not as rude as your comment about Americans and their misuse of the word football.”
She smirked. “Got your back up, eh?”
“Since my brother plays for the Vikings? Yes.”
“One of the more hapless teams in American football, I’ve heard.”
Enough. “How about you don’t malign a true sport that you don’t understand and I won’t have a hard go at your beloved footie, eh?”
Her eyes flared with anger. “You’re more than a bit of a puss face.”
“I don’t know what that means. But I can’t imagine it was a compliment.”
“’Twasn’t. Least you aren’t completely daft. Ah, perfect timing,” she said to the waitress as she dropped off the beers.
Siobhan gulped her first beer and leaned back in her chair, daring me to say anything.
I clamped my teeth together. The little brat wasn’t getting the best of me.
I hoped the service was fast, because I couldn’t wait for this to be over.
She probably feels the same. Story of your dating life, isn’t it?
*
Lennox
Of all the sushi joints in town . . . Brady Lund had wandered into mine.
Well, not mine as in I owned it, but mine as in my roommate Kiley and I splurged every other week and had a girls’ night out at the Sake Palace. Since we’d been coming here so long we were considered regulars—and I didn’t like that he was on my turf.
With a date.
I checked out the redhead sitting across from him at his cozy table for two. Not at all the type of woman I imagined Brady Lund would go for.
Woman? She’s like twelve. Maybe he’s babysitting.
I snorted. That’d be the day.
Kiley glanced up. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why the self-amused snort?”
I hated that she knew my tells. I leaned in. “Don’t look—” I put my hand on her shoulder to keep her from whipping her head around. “Seriously, don’t look, but the CFO of Lund Industries is here with a date.”
“Where?”
“Back and to your right.”
Kiley shrugged her shoulder to dislodge my hand. “I hate it when you do that. I can be discreet.”
I bit back another snort.
“This is the clueless dude who didn’t know about the temp department?”
“Yes.”
“The one who is so freakin’ gorgeous that you could orgasm just from looking at him?”
“Kiley! Shut up! I never said that.”
She poked her chopsticks at me. “But you’ve thought about it and it’s all over your face whenever you talk about him.”
I snatched up a piece of pickled ginger and popped it into my mouth.
“So, since I can’t look, give me a play-by-play on what’s going on.”
“They just got their drinks. I can’t believe Jailbait is old enough to drink.”
Kiley choked on her sake. “Jailbait?”
“She looks really young.”
“Maybe it’s his niece.”
I shook my head. “Neither of his brothers nor his sister is married.”
“Scary that you know how many siblings he has, Lennox.”