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Sweeping the broken glass into a pile, he got it up and banged the dustpan against the inside of the trash can to get all the glass debris from it. When he straightened, he made himself think past his ego about what his five-foot-tall unlikely bouncer had said about his bar. Though it had riled him, she hadn't been shooting off her mouth. She'd sounded like a woman who knew exactly what she was talking about.
He glanced up, toward the bar. Just in time to see two of his so-called customers leaning over the service station, helping themselves from the beer taps. Shit.
Putting the dustpan and broom aside, he strode behind the bar, sending those customers skedaddling with a fierce look before he stomped back into the kitchen area. "Damn it, Artie. Where the hell are you?"
He was practically shouting, at the end of his rope. Then he noticed the cracked back door and smelled tobacco. Taking an hour-long smoke. Of course.
Artie slid in, crushing the butt out in the door frame. "Yeah, boss?"
Quinn pinned him with every bit of pissed-off he could level on him. "We've got customers out there serving themselves while Maria is flirting like she's turning tricks. Get your ass in gear."
Had the man always been such a disgrace? As Artie hurried past, Quinn noticed how the man's T-shirt was covered with unidentifiable stains and his jeans had spots worn through. Quinn paid the man enough he could buy himself some decent clothes. But she'd been right. He smelled like an alcohol-soaked sponge.
He knew Artie had a drinking problem, but...aw shit. He could keep telling himself the barn was clean enough, but every day the manure was rising higher and higher. Eventually he wouldn't be able to avoid having it right in his face.
Quinn took a deep breath, calming himself down. He'd get through tonight, then maybe he'd do some hard thinking after closing. Sam's wisdom aside, it might be time to call it quits on this.
For now, he returned to the floor and made one more pass at the shattered glass on the floor. Grabbing the big serving tray from behind the bar, he started bussing the closest tables. But as he carried the empties to the bigger trash bin, his attention was caught by a customer coming up to pay his tab. Narrowing his eyes, Quinn gripped the dustpan hard as he watched Artie open the drawer--without ringing up a sale. He gave the man waiting with beer bottle and cash in hand whatever change he was expecting.
She was right. The motherfucker was stealing from him.
Maybe it had been happening for a while and her pointing it out had taken off the blinders. Either way, he saw red. He considered himself a civilized man, but at the end of the day there was a code for dealing with this kind of shit. It didn't involve lawyers or calling the cops.
In the time it took to blink, he'd crossed the floor, slammed the dustpan and tray on the end of the bar and lifted Artie from the spot where he was standing. He shoved him against the wall.
"Not only are you lazy and a slob," Quinn spat, "but you're a goddamn thief. How much of my drawer goes into your pocket every night, Artie? How the fuck much?"
"B-B-But, Quinn," the man blubbered.
"But nothing, you ass. I should--"
Quinn broke off. He realized he was honestly mad enough to do the man real harm, his hands just itching with the need to break and bludgeon. It was then he found out where the delicate-looking woman with steel blue eyes was sitting. At the table right next to where he had Artie pinned.
She'd picked the spot that had a full view of the floor and the door, and was backed up to a corner. It was the table the sheriff preferred when he came to drink, and any of the active military guys on leave.
When Quinn glanced down and to the left, she was less than two feet away. Even so, she hadn't vacated her seat. She didn't seem flustered by him slamming Artie against the wall hard enough to make it vibrate right behind her head. She had her gaze on Quinn, and what he saw in those eyes steadied him.
Cool understanding.
Reaching out, she hooked her slim fingers in Quinn's jeans pocket, giving his hip bone an intimate stroke. She tilted her head, a subtle shift toward the door that said volumes.
He's not worth it. Kick him to the curb and be done with it.
Unbelievably, his cock had sprung right back into a hard jam against his fly, just from that brief contact. But his reaction to her was more than physical. Though the touch aroused him, it also settled that enraged core that was about to do something he couldn't undo. She held him until he steadied, gave her an answering nod. Then she leaned back, letting him go.
Looking at the sniveling mess he was holding, Quinn dropped the man from his grip. "You're fired. Don't ever let me see your miserable face again."
He made sure of it, marching Artie to the door amid applause and grating comments like "about damn time". In the parking lot, Quinn stood there, arms akimbo and legs braced, watching Artie climb into his junker truck, grind the engine into gear and trundle out onto the road. As the dust settled, Quinn tilted his head back, stared up at the night sky. What a fucking mess. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he massaged, closed his eyes.
Okay. Get through tonight.
But when he turned to face the double doors that would take him back into After Dark, Quinn realized the only thing that made him want to go through them ever again was the woman sitting in that back corner.
Yep, he wanted to go right back to her, but there was no time for that. He didn't think Maria could handle the rest of the night on her own. Hell, Quinn wasn't sure he could trust her to close out the cash register properly.
But what if the woman disappeared during that time? She was definitely not a local. Probably on her way to one of the big cities, someone he'd never see come this way again. He didn't like the idea of that. But he couldn't think of a single thing to say to keep her sitting at that table until closing time. Nothing that wouldn't come off crazy and drive her away faster.
When he came back in, he found it wasn't an issue. She wasn't at the table. Feeling a spurt of panic, he looked around, gaze darting here and there, feet itching to run him back to the parking lot before she drove away. Then he saw her.
Working.
She was acting as if he'd left her in charge, instructing Maria to bus the tables with the tray he'd dropped while she took point behind the bar. She was in the middle of mixing what appeared to be three different drinks, her head cocked to listen to other orders coming in. With a professional warm smile, she responded to one of the patrons, popping the top of a couple beers and sliding them his way. Then she rang up two sales, a cash and a credit transaction.
Anyone else, he would have been over that bar, demanding an explanation for what the fuck she was doing, but her competence was as obvious as a veteran cowhand working stock. He was looking at a woman who'd worked in a bar for a long time. Or a lot of different bars.
Fine. Yeah, she might present herself better than Artie, but that didn't mean he was going to just let her take over without knowing what she was about. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know his cock was interfering with his judgment. He needed to engage his other brain, the supposedly higher-functioning one, and take a good hard look at this situation.
How he wished he hadn't used the word "hard", because that just made it more difficult to keep that part of him in check.
Libido aside, he had to admit it was difficult to argue with the proof in front of him. He'd only been out in the lot ten minutes or so, yet everyone sitting at the bar had drinks and Maria was quickly finishing up the table bussing, Quinn's sexy sprite giving her the direction Artie never had. It made Quinn rethink whether the barmaid was truly lazy. She and Carol, the other one he'd hired, were barely kids, after all. Maybe they just needed more supervision, like what he was witnessing.
The woman was ringing up another sale when his muscles finally unfroze.
"Hey, Quinn," someone called as he strode behind the bar. "Nice to see you finally got some class in this place."
Quinn forced a smile and nodded. "Just for you, Mike."
The re
