Chapter 4: Tabby

Tabby knew his question was simple on the outside. It was just a drink with a good looking man. But on the inside it was a much deeper question. If she accepted this drink, she was staying. That meant leaving herself open to wanting something she might never have with this man, because under her corporate polish she was a hopeless romantic. It had taken her best friend finding the forever kind of love to wake Tabby up to that realization.

Javier held up his hands. "Is that question too hard? Should I have started with something easier?"

"No. Sorry, it's been a very long day. A white wine would be lovely, thank you."

"I'll be right back."

He got up and strode toward the bar closer to the front of the room where the line was shortest. A tightness she hadn't been aware of released her ribs and she sucked down a deep breath.

What the hell was she doing?

Tabby had no answer for herself. All she knew was that maybe tonight might have a better ending than its beginning.

She watched Javier from across the room. He was tall, somewhere over six feet. Despite his suit, there was a slightly rough around the edges quality that screamed ultra-bad boy, the kind that would burn a girl like her. There was no way a guy like him was into politics and he lacked the shark quality of a business man. So who was he? What was his story?

Javier tapped the bar then glanced around, not at anything in particular, just looking.

Military.

It was the way he carried himself, that muscular build. She could almost always spot it. Judging by the length of his hair, he wasn't active. Retired? Something else? He was an enigma. Sexy, but a complete mystery.

She had a type, didn't she?

Her last serious boyfriend had also been a Hispanic man, retired military turned private contractor. She'd thought he'd been different, that maybe she'd found the one. In the end, he just hadn't felt the same way about her. It was one of the rare relationships she'd broken off because she'd known she was setting herself up for failure. Now here was Javier.

If she didn't lie to herself, if she were honest, would it hurt?

He turned toward her, drinks in hand, and began walking back to her.

She didn't have an answer by the time he reached the table and handed her the glass.

"Oh, I think I love you." She swirled the liquid in the glass and smiled up at him. "Sorry, hope it isn't too soon."

His lips curled into a slight smile and her stomach did a little flip. Was that an I-have-a-sense-of-humor smile? Or a lecherous I-know-what-I-want-to-do-to-you smile?

"It's a great start to a relationship." He lifted his own glass and clinked it with hers.

Hello sense of humor.

Rawr.

"Tell me, how'd you end up here?" She gestured at the venue, guests slowly trickling in.

Javier gestured to himself. "I'm the son of immigrant women. What's not to support?"

"Most men just write a check instead of coming to something like this." She sipped her wine, watching him.

"I'm not that rich." He held up his hand.

No inflated ego there. That was a change.

"What other charities do you grace with your presence?" He was turned toward her now, all that focus aimed at her like a spotlight.

"That's an odd question to lead with." She tilted her head. Usually men came at her with something obvious.

"Is it?" He matched her head tilt.

Tabby had never made her contributions private, but she was also passionate about those charities she gave to from her own funds. In that moment, she realized how vulnerable that made her to a stranger. She was revealing her soft underbelly to a man she knew nothing about. "Personally, I try to make time and money for any charity that supports women and children. Professionally, our company gives to a number of organizations."

"That's admirable. I'd like to be more like that. You. I just..." He shrugged and glanced away, his face losing a bit of the light.

She reached over and touched his hand resting on the table. "You're here now. And besides, sometimes what these organizations need isn't more money. It's people who believe in what they're doing."

Javier lifted his chin and met her gaze once more, only this time it was serious. He was truly wrestling with being a better person. Doing more.

How much of a better world would this be if there were more of him?

Whoever Javier was, he was one in a million, that much was clear to her. If Tabby was going to take another chance on a man, why not him?

"This conversation is getting far too serious for two people who have just met." She lifted her glass. "When you're in a funk, what do you do to feel better?"

"I play pool."

"Pool?"

"Yeah. You play?"

"I have held a stick and hit a few balls but I would not say I have played." She chuckled, more than ready to own up to her failings.

The sexy smile came back, warming his eyes. "Well I'll have to show you how then."

"Will you now?" She arched a brow at him. "What's the craziest rule you've ever had to follow?"

"Wait. You don't have to answer?"

"Oh. Sure. When I'm in a funk I either shop or convince my best friend to send me a video of her baby. And the craziest rule I ever had to follow... God there's so many." She tilted her head up.

"My mother has this rule that we have to speak Spanish at the dinner table."

"Really? That's so random. Or is it?"

"She thought we were losing our ability to speak both languages, so when I was almost a teenager she made the rule. We also had to sit down when Dad sat, and couldn't get up until Mom was done eating. So she'd take forever to eat. Some meals she wouldn't even touch her plate until everyone else was done."

"That is a determined mama. Did it work?"

"Absolutely."

Tabby's cheeks hurt she was smiling so hard. She would be useless at a table like that. Her grasp of other languages began and ended after a few necessary phrases.

If she didn't say something soon she'd keep sitting here, staring at him, wondering where the hell he'd been her whole life.

"What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" she asked.

Javier's smile widened and his lids lowered just enough to spark an answering warmth low in her belly.

He leaned in just a bit and she stopped breathing.

"I'm looking at it," he whispered.