when we met. n/napkin.

After his friend abandoned him for an admittedly cute girl across the room, Jackson found himself a stool at one end of the half-moon shaped bar. The bartender, Marcus, a friend of his, came over and put a drink in front of him.

“Thanks, Marcus.”

“You got it. What happened to Will?”

“What do you think?”

They shared a laugh as Jackson picked up his drink. But before the glass reached his lips, he froze. At the other end of the bar sat the most enchanting women he had ever seen. Dark waves of hair fell over her shoulders, and a delicate vine tattoo wrapped around her arm. Jackson found it sexy as hell.

He could feel his heart racing from merely looking at her. He knew he’d never be able to talk to her. Instead, he waved Marcus back over to him.

“Do you know who that is?” he asked, gesturing across the bar.

“No idea,” Marcus said. “I haven’t seen her in here before.”

“What about that guy talking to her?” Jackson asked.

“I think his name’s Marty. I’ve seen him around.”

“She looks annoyed with him,” Jackson said, smiling. Somehow, her annoyed face was both adorable and hot.

Marcus laughed. “She does. Maybe you should rescue her?”

Jackson wanted to rescue her. He wanted to have the most charming, most perfect thing to say. But meeting women in bars—he had no idea what he was doing. But he had to try something.

From the stack next to him, Jackson took a napkin and looked back to Marcus. “Got a pen?” Marcus gave him one. Jackson wrote on the napkin. “Hi. Is that guy bothering you?” He folded it in half and gave it to Marcus. “Will you bring this to her?”

Marcus nodded and walked over to her with the napkin. He handed it to her, and she stared at him, utterly confused. Marcus took a step back and gestured towards Jackson.

Her eyes met Jackson’s. He was already smiling, and he felt a rush when she smiled back to him. She took her eyes from his and looked down to the note Jackson had written. He loved the way her smile grew as she read. When she returned her gaze to his, she just shook her head gently and rolled her eyes, all the while never taking her smile away.

She was definitely annoyed with “Marty”. Still smiling to her, Jackson reached for another napkin. He held up a finger to her, silently asking her to wait a moment. It was getting late, but he didn’t want her to leave. Looking down, he wrote once more. “What’s your name, beautiful?”

Jackson looked back up and flagged Marcus over. He handed him the napkin and gestured towards her once more. Marcus walked it over, shaking his head and laughing to himself on the way. Once more, she smiled to Jackson, only looking away from him to read the napkin.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He watched as she fumbled through her purse for a pen. She wrote and handed the napkin back to Marcus. Without a word, he knew to deliver it to Jackson. And when Jackson read her reply, his smile lit up his whole face. Something about having a name to go with this gorgeous woman made his heart pound.

He read her note again. “Mackenzie. You?” He looked up at her and smiled. She returned the gesture as Jackson quickly scribbled on the napkin again. “Jackson.” By now, he was feeling a bit more confident. “Can I buy you a drink?”

When Mackenzie read his note, she smiled and tucked the napkin into her bag. Jackson loved that she kept it. She stood from her stool and excused herself, leaving Marty behind. For a split-second, he thought she was going to leave. But a moment later, she appeared by his side.

Her smile was radiant. “Hello, Jackson.”

“Hello, Mackenzie.”

—♥—

p.s. — As we are now into the second half of the alphabet, I made a new title graphic. I don’t know about you, but I was getting sick of the other one.

p.p.s. — Yeah, I find it hard to believe that a man who looks like *that* would be too shy to approach a woman. But it’s my fiction… so there.

Hot guy: Italian model Simone Bredariol (Clearly the most attractive man in the world.) 

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