didn’t blame her friends for not having the words to salve the hurt. She didn’t think words existed to take the edge off the pain. That’s why she had had wine tonight. “There’s not really much to say about it. I was married. Now I’m not.” She touched her bare ring finger where she’d once worn a plain gold band. Her friends had been at her wedding and now they were beside her after her divorce. With her mother dead and her father estranged, Sarah had found family in her friends.
Molly rubbed Sarah’s hand. “He has problems. There’s nothing you could have done.”
Sarah held up her hands and shook her head. “Let’s not go over this again. It’ll bring down the entire night. Alec is sick. I can’t help him. You guys have listened to me talk about it for five years. Let’s talk about something else.” She’d spent too many sleepless nights mourning her relationship with Alec and far too many hours complaining to her friends about it.
“You need to get laid,” Molly said. “You need to throw yourself into a one-night stand, have a great time and use that as the jumping-off point for your new life. Forget the past and give yourself a birthday present. One eligible bachelor, even for just a few hours.”
Sarah shuddered. She had been with Alec since she was nineteen. She didn’t know how to date anymore. She didn’t have one-night stands. “I wouldn’t know how to approach a man in a bar. I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“You work with men every day, all day,” Krista said. “You approach people all the time and invite them to fund-raising events. You can do this.”
When she invited affluent families to a charity dinner or dealt with a contractor for an event, nothing personal was involved. “I work with strangers, not sleep with. Very different,” Sarah said.
“Look around the room. Find a guy without a woman and without a wedding ring and go talk to him,” Molly said.
“What should I say?” Sarah asked, squirming at the idea. She could talk about her work or dealing with a drug addict’s many issues, the two topics she knew the most about. Who wanted to hear about those things?
“Ask him what his favorite TV show is,” Krista said.
“Lame,” Molly said. “But you’re cute enough that it doesn’t matter.”
Could she approach a man? Sarah smoothed her dress and finger-combed her hair. She could do this. Or at least try. A little liquid courage and the idea of growing a year older alone spurred her to action. Her first step was to talk to a man. She could always flee the conversation if it was too awkward. It was a bar. Bars were filled with awkward conversations. “I’ll start by trying to talk to someone.”
Krista squealed and clapped her hands.
Looking around the room, Sarah tried to pick someone. As her eyes landed on the men around the room, she dismissed them one by one. Too young. Too old. Not alone. Drunk. Sarah sighed. This wasn’t easy. She was about to tell her friends to forget it when her gaze dropped on a dark-haired man sitting at the corner of the bar. He had a drink—it looked like coffee, perhaps of the Irish variety, on his right. His back was to the wall. He was talking to two men standing to his side. His posture was relaxed and he was immaculately groomed. His pressed suit was a far cry from how Alec dressed during their marriage. She couldn’t make out the details of the man’s face in the darkened room, but he was handsome and seemed familiar somehow.
A woman in a short red dress strutted in his direction and blocked her view of Mr. Gorgeous. Sarah’s heart fell. Another woman had beaten her to the punch. No way would he turn away the thin blonde with the curves. Though she had only just spotted him, disappointment streamed through her. Sarah would have to pick someone else. Looking around the room, Sarah was about to call off her plan when the woman in the red dress stalked away from the man Sarah had zeroed in on a few moments before. Red Miniskirt looked disappointed and a touch annoyed. Had she been rejected?
After witnessing that, Sarah knew she couldn’t approach him. If he’d said no to Red Miniskirt, he’d shoot her down and she didn’t need that tonight. As if sensing her watching him, he met her gaze. She turned away before he realized she had been staring.
After looking around the room twice more, she returned to Mr. Gorgeous. Not only was he exceptionally handsome, but something about him was compelling and mysterious, too. If she was going to make a fool of herself, she may as well do it for someone sexy. He wasn’t looking her way and she took the opportunity to stare at him a little longer. She made up her mind. If he rejected her, at least she would have been turned down by someone like him.
“I’m going to talk to him,” she said pointing.
Her friends followed her extended finger.
“Oh, yes. Good pick. Delicious,” Molly said, nodding her approval.
Krista gestured for Sarah to go. “You can do this.”
Taking another sip of her wine, Sarah strode across the room to him and tried to mimic his relaxed posture pressing her shoulders down, tilting her chin up and adding a swagger to her walk.
Three feet away, his gaze met hers. His eyes never left her face and something came into them, something dark, deep and sensual. The look was so heated, she stopped, stumbled and grabbed on to a nearby stool to steady herself.
Thanks to her clumsiness, he would think she was drunk. Wonderful. She righted herself and straightened, hoped her cheeks weren’t too red with embarrassment and continued forward, undeterred. He was watching her, his friends were eying her and she felt her friends’ stares at her back. She couldn’t turn away now. His buddies turned toward her, staying close to Mr. Gorgeous.
Sarah’s gut told her she was missing a key piece of information. Something about him, about his midnight eyes, his patrician nose and his perfectly shaped mouth was familiar. An actor? Musician? Politician? Someone she should have recognized?
It felt like minutes had passed while she stood gawking, though it had likely been milliseconds.
She couldn’t be too aggressive, yet caginess would come across as unwelcoming and she was the one approaching him. Sarah stopped in front of the three men and gave them a small smile.
“Hello. I’m Sarah.”
Would he introduce himself? Mr. Gorgeous stood and extended his hand. “I’m Barr. It’s nice to meet you.”
He was handsome. Too handsome. Dark hair and polished good looks. Strong and confident. Oh, she was not prepared for this. First impressions were everything. Would she blow it her first time hitting on a man post-divorce? Making a fool of herself was always a possibility, but this colossal screw-up could send her back into social seclusion for another few months.
But he was speaking to her. This gorgeous man was speaking to her. Sarah focused. What had he said? Why were his friends staring at her? She realized she was shaking his hand, clinging to it entirely too long. His clasp was firm, his skin cool and soft, and she pictured his hands running over her. It would feel amazing to have him touch her.
She shivered and pulled her hand away before she let her imagination run further. “I’m sorry, with the noise of the bar I couldn’t hear you.” She waited for him to repeat himself.
“Sarah, it is a pleasure to meet you. May I buy you a drink?”
He had a beautiful accent. Sarah had
