Then, grinning, he said, "I've had much better." I may be seeing things, but something told me he wasn't talking about another drink.

I was receiving attention that I wasn't used to. "have your drink, and you cater to the others while I have mine. If you take it more slowly, we can flirt. In an effort to cool down, I brushed him off. He had barely been for a minute, but I had already begun to respond to each of his motions. I needed to calm down first so that I could think clearly.

After a brief moment of disappointment, he nodded. "You are correct. Just hard not to...