When the woman gave up crossing back across the road, he rolled down the window, hollering a goodbye. She spun around to shake her spoon at him. Both Chi and the student laughed for a full two minutes before they could regain control.
Chiara shook her head as she showed her student over to the couch. This was bad, very bad. She was falling hard for Liam Donnelly. He had become more important to her in just one week than Brad had in six months. It was going to hurt beyond belief when he left, but she simply couldn’t stay away.
ChapterEight
Sneaking around doingstupid things was so much more fun with a gorgeous woman by his side. Liam had dumped his nephews with Karlie instead of his sister-in-law before heading for Chiara’s office. Fortunately, Max had been at work, so he didn’t have to try to fake not sleeping with his sister around him.
Liam had made it back to the bar right before an irritated-looking Parker, with Astrid in tow, headed out the back door on the way to one of the local hotels. Liam laughed at him, knowing full well that his brother was still so in love with his wife that he would do anything to keep her happy. Lucky for him, he had the whole apartment to himself tonight. Let the boot-knocking begin.
Pulling a clean shirt on, he looked at the new bruise on his biceps. That old lady had wielded that wooden spoon like a battle axe. All he had been trying to do was say hello and maybe defuse the situation a little. His respect for what Max went through daily rose just that much higher.
Speaking of, he couldn’t wait to see Max’s sexy little sister walk through the door tonight. It would be the third shift they had worked together, and it still amazed him how much fun they had doing it.
Quickly tucking his T-shirt in, Liam threw on his boots before heading downstairs. Turning into the hall, he found Chiara had already beaten him there.
He slid behind the bar to join her in preparing everything they would need tonight. He wondered what had happened to the barback Parker had hired when the bar had taken off with the new addition. As far as he had heard, the man was always reliable.
“Wife went into labor early,” Chiara said as if reading his mind. “He offered to call someone in, but I told him there were two of us, so we should be able to handle it.” She fluttered her long, dark eyelashes at him. “Do you think you can handle it, soldier? Liam, stop eating it all,” she added, swatting at him as he popped another cherry into his mouth.
With a shrug, he grabbed another one, ducking the piece of lime she threw at him while he popped it in his mouth also. She was laughing when he caught her hand mid throw the next time, pinning her against the bar for a kiss.
Someone cleared their throat, and he spun away from her like he had been caught naked in the high school pool again. With a roll of her eyes, Andrea walked up to the bar to get her tray and iPad.
“I don’t know what the two of you have going on, but I would like to maintain an excuse of plausible deniability, please. I don’t want to get on Max’s bad side.” With a smirk, she walked toward the kitchen, where Joseph was firing up the grill.
Liam bent over the cutting board to finish cutting up the limes.
About the time he finished filling the containers of garnishes, Chiara unlocked the front door. Glancing up at her, he checked his watch in surprise at how fast the time had gone. She greeted their first customers of the night.
Soon they were working like a well-oiled machine as the bar slowly filled up. Liam handled the table drink orders and take-out orders from one end while Chiara worked the bar.
It still amazed Liam at how Parker had grown the once-sleepy bar into one of the hottest spots to gather in the city. Good for him. Liam knew firsthand how hard Parker worked to make it a success.
He couldn’t remember ever being so grateful for two in the morning as when they finally locked the door behind the last customer. Dean had shown up halfway through the night to fill in as bartender so they could take turns going on break. Almost ten years of being an investor in the bar had turned him into a decent bartender in the end. Sam had sat on a barstool working on her computer until her husband was ready to leave.
“Wow, even for a Saturday night, that was nuts,” Chiara said, turning the lock on the door.
They had sent all of the servers home an hour ago when there were just a few tables with customers left. The kitchen closed at one, so Joseph and his staff cleared out shortly after cleaning up. Liam found himself alone with the sultry beauty, her riot of chestnut hair falling around her shoulders, begging for his hands to wrap themselves in it. He had waited all night for this moment.
“Here, you can start on the tables,” she said, slapping a wet rag against his chest.
Okay, maybe this wasn’t quite the moment he had in mind.
“Aren’t there people to do this now?” he asked, grabbing the bottle of cleaner off one of the tables.
Fortunately, the servers had done a good job of cleaning tables as they were emptied tonight.
“Not on a Saturday night,” Chiara answered, working her way down the bar.
“Really? The busiest night of the week?”
“It’s a mother and daughter team now. They need time off occasionally too,” she said, giving him her best eye roll.
“Ahh. Makes sense.” He finished the tables and stored the supplies back in the cleaning closet. “Now what do you want me to do?”
Rounding the bar, she looked around the dining area. “I guess we could sweep up then count the till.”
“Or, I could sweep tomorrow morning. We could count the money now and then head to bed,” he answered. “I like my plan better.”
