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“I did get that one order mixed up and dropped a mug of beer,” Olivia said. “Sorry about that.”
“That happens to all of us,” Sean reassured her. “Are you coming back tomorrow night?”
“Most definitely,” Olivia said.
He studied her face for a minute and asked, “What are you running from?”
Olivia wasn’t quite sure what to tell him, so she said, “An ex-fiancé,” which was the absolute truth.
Sean looked at her and then sighed. Olivia figured that he knew there was more to the story that she wasn’t telling him, but he decided not to ask. He probably thought that she would tell him more about her story when the time was right and she got to know him better. She planned to be long gone before that happened.
He handed her some cash and said, “I pay minimum wage and you keep a hundred percent of your tips. I don’t have all the tips from credit cards added up yet, but I’ll give that to you tomorrow.”
The hot water felt as good as Olivia had imagined that it would when she finally got back to her hotel room. She sat down in the tub and let the water cascade over her body, melting the aches and pains away. When her fingers pruned up and turned into webs, she decided that she should get out before she developed gills.
As she lay in the bed, Zac’s face popped into her mind. She could picture his chocolaty brown eyes that seemed to be able to see into her soul. He was incredibly sexy and that grin took her breath away. She had seen handsome men before, but there was something different about Zac. He had a unique scent of cedar and something she couldn’t put her finger on. It lingered in her hotel room, even though he hadn’t been in it.
Olivia touched her lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss Zac. Would it be a tender, gentle kiss, or a passionate, demanding kiss? Although she didn’t know him, Olivia was sure that he never did anything halfway. She imagined her body pressed against his hard body with their arms wrapped around each other as he made love to her mouth with his.
Warmth flooded her body, and Olivia found herself wanting a man she had only talked to for a few minutes.
“You must have lost your mind,” Olivia said to the air. “You don’t know him, yet here you are practically dragging him to bed.”
She chalked it up to the overwhelming stress that she had been going through and the fact that there was something about him that had just captured her imagination. Still, his scent haunted her as she fell into a deep sleep.
Jade was already at Howlers’ when Olivia came in the next day.
“How are your feet?” Jade asked.
“They hate me.” Olivia laughed.
“You’ll get used to it. You’ll develop great calf muscles, and your arms will be as big around as a weightlifter’s.”
“What you’re telling me is that one of the benefits of being a waitress is that I have a free gym membership that I use while I’m working.” Olivia laughed.
“Precisely,” Jade said.
Olivia liked Jade. She thought that if she was going to stick around, the two of them might even become good friends.
Throughout the night, Olivia watched the door. Not only was she watching for any signs that Declan might have found her, but she was also hoping that Zac would come back in. She needed to know if the attraction had been one sided and whether it would be as intense the second time they met.
Her heart sank when it got close to closing time and he never came. She told herself that it was stupid to be so disappointed. He was just a nice guy who was flirting with her. There were several others who flirted with her, too. She simply ignored the flirting and treated them as though she hadn’t noticed. None of them had the effect that Zac had.
Olivia was happy by the end of the night, though, because she had made enough money to pay for a few more nights at the hotel and buy food. Sean let everyone have a free meal when they were working, so that really cut down on her costs. She would be able to build up a nice little nest egg before she left town. She was so tired when she got back to the hotel that she just jumped in the shower and passed out asleep immediately after.
Zac came into Howlers’ about an hour after her shift started. Her heart thundered in her chest and her breath caught in her throat. He was an impressive man. Zac was more than six feet tall and his t-shirt and jeans showed that he had a very muscular body. Not the gross, professional weightlifter body, but the body of a well-built man who took care of himself. His chiseled good looks made him look like he was a super model instead of a guy hanging around in a small town in New Mexico.
He sat at his usual table, and the grin he flashed at Olivia was enough to take her breath away.
“How is my favorite waitress?” he asked.
“Excellent. You?”
“I’m great. Did you miss me yesterday?” he asked.
“Why, did you not come in? I never noticed,” Olivia said.
He laughed, a rich hearty laugh. “Ouch. That hurt my feelings.”
