Free Finding North (Naïve Mistakes Series) by Rachel Dunning

seeing as she was going to babysit my drunken mother and she was "really going to enjoy it."
    "Good luck," I said.
    Conall texted again. Conall: It's been 50 minutes. Should I go around the block again?
    I chuckled.
    Leora: Sure, but I'm coming with you.
    The pun in that statement was not lost on me after I wrote it.
    -3-
    Just like it feels better to sit in a man's Executive Suite, so does it feel better to get into his limo. Because that's what Conall brought with him to pick me up. And, sure, I'd been in plenty of limos. Heck, Leroy was constantly on call. But this was different. This felt, somehow, bad !
    He stood outside the door and gestured me in. "M'lady..."
    "Why, sir," I said, trying to sound British. (I think it came out sounding like I was from Kentucky instead.)
    He took my coat and closed the door. Already my mom's problems were feeling far away. Was that a good thing? Would she need me tonight? I thought of how I'd neglected Kayla on Friday and how that almost ended up in disaster.
    But, no, that's why Kayla was watching her. Good ol' Kayla. I don't care what mom said about her. Kayla was a better friend than any of mom's husbands had ever been! There's no such thing as a 'slutty' friend. The only questions in friendship are loyalty and disloyalty.
    Conall slid in next to me in his Levi's and tight V-neck shirt. I could see now very clearly that the hard chest I'd touched the day before was not because I was hitting his friggin rib cage! No, Conall was not massive. He was fucking perfect, as if he'd lifted just enough weights to keep every ounce of fat off his body and be just big enough to get a girls juices going and going good (yeah, I intended the friggin pun on that one, OK?)
    "Does your mother pick your clothes?" I said, trying to sound flirty (much like the little boys who throw mud pies at girls they like on the playground.)
    "Why? Do they look funny? If you say yes then I'll say that she does pick my clothes. If you say no, I'll tell you I'm a man about town and know all about fashion."
    Oh, baby. You are a man about town alright. I'm just making conversation long enough until you shut me up with your tongue.
    "Your coat... Hugo Boss , right?"
    "My, you could indeed work at Bloomingdales."
    "Who said I don't? All you know is that I'm seventeen, not twenty-one or whatever age you thought I was."
    He snickered. "OK, as you wish... But, no, my mom doesn't pick my clothes. I do. And, yes, this is Boss ."
    And a fricking sexy as hell Hugo Boss to top it off. I looked out the window at the city lights. Yeah, the same old city lights I'd always seen, but with a completely new glow.
    "Drink?" he asked.
    I turned to him. He had out a bottle of Perrier Mineral Water .
    One glass of Perrier Mineral Water equals zero calories. Oh, Mr. Williams, you just made want you even more...
    "You're not trying to get me drunk tonight?" I asked. "Sure, I'll take a glass."
    "I wasn't trying to get you drunk the first time."
    "I strongly doubt it."
    "Oh, what, you think I bring girls up to my apartment, get them drunk and then sleep with them?"
    Please, don't bring up sleeping with girls at your apartment right now, not unless we're thirty seconds away from it. I wriggled in my seat, took a sip of the water he gave me.
    "That's exactly what I think you do."
    He, however, poured himself a glass of Chardonnay. We touched glasses and sipped.
    "So, why can't I have any of that?" I asked, gesturing to the wine. It's not that I wanted any (one hundred and twenty three calories per glass), I just didn't want to be treated like a little girl. I so didn't want to be treated like that.
    "I noticed you drinking mineral water at the club. Then I saw you hesitate when I offered you some wine at my hotel room. I just assumed you don't drink."
    So, he noticed that? I said nothing. It also hadn't been lost on me that he'd remembered Kayla's name even after only having heard it one. And on the day before!
    "So, do you work at Bloomingdales?" I