Alice After Hours Read Online Free PDF Page A

drinker.
    Alice smiled.
    Really, it was a shame she wouldn’t be going.

Chapter 8
    I f it hadn’t been for the fact the door was being held open for her, Alice would never have made it over the threshold. But given that the gesture was both polite and expectant, she could hardly retreat. She eased her way inside thinking—a little belatedly perhaps—that anyone with a modicum of sense would have made a preliminary visit to get the lie of the land, so to speak. Other than the odd glance, most of the clientele were too involved in their own conversations to worry about her, leaving her to wonder if her online buddy had even bothered to show up.
    Or was that him? She made her way to the bar. The weird-looking guy in the corner staring into his pint? Please God, no!
    But didn’t he say he was over six feet tall? Not him, then. What about the one down at the end? The oldish guy with the jacket? But then a very attractive girl appeared from a door at the back of the room and eased herself onto the barstool beside him. Well, not that one, either.
    â€œ Bourbon on the rocks,” she said, smiling at the bartender. Even he would fit the bill, since he definitely had the height. But watching him reach for a glass, she dismissed that idea as a non-starter too.
    Perched on a stool and cradling her drink, she eased one leg over the other and flexed her foot in order to admire her boots. God, they looked the part. Take-no-shit authoritative. So where was he? Or had the sight of her, a self-possessed woman, frightened him off? For apart from two separate groups of men enjoying after-work drinks, there were no other candidates.
    Perhaps he’d been held up.
    Alice turned back to the bar and repositioned her glass until it was exactly centre of the coaster.
    Or of course, he could be a no-show. Maybe that was how he got his kicks, by arranging to meet up with online hopefuls, and then sitting back at home to laugh at their gullibility.
    She caught her reflection in the mirrored shelves behind the bar. Hair piled up on top of her head, gray eyes wide and alluring thanks to lash extensions, and a perfectly applied pout of glossy red lipstick.
    Okay, she might have overdone it a little. But she had a point to make.
    Unless she truly had been taken in, and was wasting her time.
    And then she saw him.
    Behind, and a little to the right, he was looking directly at her, and suddenly her heart was beating loud enough for everyone in the place to hear, for she’d never imagined for one moment he’d be that attractive.
    Locking his reflected gaze, she lifted her glass to her lips once more. It was a gesture of defiance. Of insolence even, and in response he raised an eyebrow and grinned.
    And then he was leaning an elbow on the bar and signalling to the bartender.
    â€œ Hi,” he said to her, his voice warm and thankfully non-threatening. “Glad you could make it. Drink?”
    He was indicating the remnants in her glass.
    â€œ Thanks.”
    â€œ And it is …?”
    â€œ Oh. Bourbon.”
    â€œ Neat? I should have guessed.”
    â€œ Why?” Alice was still bemused by his appearance. He looked nothing like she’d imagined.
    â€œ Because you’re only here to prove a point.”
    Gathering their drinks, he led her over to the brick hearth and a couple of comfortable armchairs. After settling in and taking a mouthful of wheat beer, he placed his pint on the low table between them.
    â€œ I would ask if you’ve travelled far,” he said, “but I doubt you’d tell me.”
    â€œ You’re right,” she replied, “I wouldn’t.”
    â€œ Well, my journey was relatively short.”
    â€œ And no doubt why you chose this place.”
    â€œ That, and other reasons.”
    â€œ Such as?”
    â€œ A very good restaurant around the corner, for one.”
    Alice wished his eyes weren’t quite so distracting. And that his features weren’t