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I twisted away from him so I could turn on the light, but Leo’s arm darted out, his warm fingers wrapping gently around my arm. “Mara, please,” he tried, “don’t walk away from me again.”
“What am I supposed to say?” I retorted, turning back to face him. Frustration reared through my chest like a fire igniting. “What the hell am I supposed to do in this situation? Do you want me to thank you for keeping me around?” My voice shook as it rose. “I’ve spent the last two years building this club into what it is today, and I deserved more from Robert. I deserved a fucking chance—a conversation at the very least—before he sold it. And to find out it was you who bought it? Do you know what that feels like, after what we did last night? I have a fucking hickey on my neck, Leo. You marked me, you’ve been inside of me, and now you’re my boss! Do you want me to crawl right into your bed again and pretend that none of this is compromising?” I squeezed my eyes shut so that the tears didn’t fall, hoping he couldn’t see my raw emotion in the dark. “This whole thing feels impossible.” It was the most honest thing I could say.
Leo didn’t speak for what felt like a full minute, but when he did his tone was gentle. “Mara,” he murmured. “I know you have no reason to, but I need you to trust me.”
I almost laughed. Trust him? Yeah right. I didn’t trust anyone, and I wouldn’t be starting now. Not like this.
A tear ran down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away with my free hand. Leo would never understand how much this meant to me, how much of my heart was in this building.
How could I expect him to?
“I have to get to work,” I said, pulling my arm away from his grasp.
He didn’t say anything as I turned on the light and began to collect bottles from the shelving unit against the wall. But he didn’t leave me, either. I could feel the weight of his gaze as I took what I needed, delicately tucking the bottles into my arms before I made my way toward the front, never once looking back at him.
The rest of the night moved quickly. Nora and I cut Sam around midnight, letting him go home to his kid since he’d been the first one here today. I would’ve normally let Nora go too since I was the one closing, but it was still busy. Plus, it didn’t seem like she was ready to leave—I knew she had questions about what was going on.
Leo didn’t make any further appearances from the back. I wasn’t sure if he’d retreated into the office or if he’d left for the night. I wouldn’t blame him if he did—not after our heated exchange. His words still hung heavy in the air around me as I worked, the reality that Robert said I wasn’t ready to own Larkspur. I knew it wasn’t Leo’s fault, but it hurt all the same.
The thought of having to establish a new normal with a new boss scraped uncomfortably against my ego, because for so long I genuinely thought I would be the next owner. Robert had been perfectly content leaving me alone to run things, so what the hell made him think I wasn’t ready? It frustrated me beyond belief.
Again, I knew I couldn’t blame Leo for Robert’s actions. And maybe if I hadn’t spent the night with him last night, I would have it in me to make nice with him, to show him what a good bar manager I was. But last night did happen, and that on top of everything else felt way too heavy.
As closing time approached, the crowd finally began to thin out, and after cashing out an older couple who looked adorably awkward enough to possibly be on a first date, I made my way to the other side of the bar where Nora was pulling a pint of beer from the tap. Her boyfriend, Andre, sat at the far corner of the bar, watchful of the crowd with a bottle of beer in hand.
“Hey, Nora—have a second?”
She turned to face me, strands of her long blonde hair falling loose from her braid and framing her face. “Yeah, let me just serve this beer real quick.” She turned to drop it in front of a younger man who looked like he’d only recently become of drinking age, and then came back to where I stood. “’Kay, what’s up?”
I took a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you got in today. I know everyone was blindsided by the news of a new owner, and I should have been here to help mitigate everyone’s worry. So, I apologize . . . truly.”
Nora waved a hand in the air like it wasn’t a big deal. “Don’t worry about that. I just want to make sure you’re okay—I imagine you were probably more blindsided than we were.”
I scoffed. “You have no idea.” My gaze caught on a man who was taking a seat at the bar, his faded Broncos bomber looking a little worse for wear, like he’d been wearing it every day for the last decade. He was alone, and something about the way his eyes scrutinized the other patrons put me on edge. “I was hoping it would slow down enough to talk through things a little more, but I just want you to know everything’s okay and everyone’s jobs are safe. I was assured of that.”
Nora smiled. “Well, that’s a relief. I think Sam was pretty worried?—”
“I’ll call him,” I interrupted. “Tonight, when things slow down. I don’t want anyone to worry.”
I sensed a shuffling in my peripheral vision, and my gaze snapped in the direction of the man who’d just sat down. He was trying to talk to the group of women seated next to him, but I could tell from their body language that they weren’t interested. Turning to look over my shoulder, I saw Frank in his usual position. Hopefully I wouldn’t need him, but you never really knew when something might pop off.
Facing Nora again, I found her regarding me closely, her brows pulled together. “Something wrong?”
“No . . . I don’t think so. Hey, you should go. We’re closing soon, anyway, and it’s starting to slow down. I’ll be all right.”
She tilted her head. “You sure . . . ?”
I forced a bright smile. “Nora, your man has been sitting there all night patiently waiting for you.” Nora’s own smile grew wide on her face. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
She threw her arms around me in a warm hug. “Thank you!”
I laughed, secretly relishing the comfort of her embrace. “Get out of here.”
Nora cashed herself out at the computer as I jumped in to help customers, purposefully avoiding the man who’d just sat down. I wanted to keep an eye on him for a beat to see how he would handle rejection from the women around him before I started serving him any alcohol. Just in case. I couldn’t explain the way his presence had snagged my attention, but I’d learned to listen to that intuition over the years—it usually meant something.
Thankfully, he seemed to have gotten the hint and stopped trying to infiltrate their conversation, eventually focusing his attention on the DJ booth. I worked through drink orders for a handful of other customers down the line of the bar before I decided I’d let him sit long enough.
As I approached, his gaze jumped from the DJ booth to me, his eyes more than obvious as they swept down and back up my body. It didn’t necessarily bother me when men looked at me like that—I knew what I was doing when I wore these clothes to work. But still, something about the lack of emotion in his eyes gave me a dirty feeling. “Thanks for your patience,” I called over the loud music, ensuring a smile was present on my face. “What can I get for you?”
