Page 62 of High Water

“Suck it.” The bartender urges her on, and she does as she’s told. “Oh yeah. Just like that,” he continues his encouragement, and she bites down harder. He lets go of her hair to gently take the depleted lime from her mouth. “Good girl.” He tenderly brushes her chin, grinning brightly at her, before he gets up as our whole group howls in approval. Marlowe’s face is lit up bright red, but she’s grinning wide as she presses her face into her hands when Hazel lets out another whoop of approval.

“What the hell are you doing to this poor, innocent woman?” Boden Briggs, Hazel’s brother, better known as Bo, appears out of nowhere.

“Just having some shots to get the night started. You want one?” Hazel points to the bottles behind the bar.

“Depends. Do I have to take it like she did?” Bo looks between his sister and Dakota and then back at Marlowe.

“Only if you want to.” Dakota shrugs.

“You got any other options you can turn into human salt licks? A cowgirl, maybe? As nice as his abs are, I prefer mine a little softer. Intimidates me when they’re better than mine, you know,” Bo muses.

“You’re insufferable.” Hazel rolls her eyes at her brother.

“I bet I can find a woman willing to spit some whiskey into your face,” Dakota offers with her own cheerful brand of sarcasm.

“Let’s save that for later in the evening. But I will take a tall beer. Whatever lager you’ve got on tap.” Bo leans on the bar next to Marlowe’s chair, brushing up against her arm as he lays down his card, and glances back at her. “Doing all right there? Your cheeks are the color of those famous red velvets of yours.” Bo unintentionally reminds me I need to take Fallon to the bakery because she would absolutely love Marlowe’s red velvet cookies.

“I’m fine. We’re just testing some things for Dakota,” Marlowe answers as she looks past him to me. “Your turn!” She grins.

“Testing what exactly?” Bo asks Dakota without taking his eyes off Marlowe. “Whether or not you can give your friend a heart attack? I think we need to get some ice water to cool her down before she overheats.”

“I’m fine,” Marlowe repeats, nodding to me in encouragement as I glance down at the whiskey that’s prepped in front of me.

“He’s right. You should stay hydrated.” The bartender, who Marlowe licked clean, appears with a glass of ice water, sliding it across the counter until it stops in front of her. “You need anything else, you come find me.” He winks at her.

“Thank you.” I hear Marlowe answer him sweetly as my eyes drift up to the man in front of me.

“Hotcakes, you got a thing for younger men we don’t know about?” I hear Bo teasing her.

“Maybe. Speaking of, where’s Cade?” she asks after Hazel’s younger brother.

“Rodeo. Up north.” Bo’s answer is curt before he takes a chug of the beer Dakota sets down in front of him.

“That’s too bad.” I glance over, and she’s off the barstool and stepped around him. “All right, Aspen. I need to see this and decide if I want to try this too.”

“You sure you don’t want to take my place?”

“No, this one’s all you.”

“Ready?” The shirtless bartender leans over the bar with a smirk on his face, his shot and cherry at the ready.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You got this. I promise I’ll be gentle with you.” He winks at me before he knocks the shot back, and his hand slips under my chin, tilting my head back and gently wrapping around my throat just like he promised. I open my mouth as his brow lifts, and he spits the whiskey into my mouth, the cherry appearing as soon as I swallow, and I snatch it as he drops it off his tongue, our lips almost brushing in the handoff.

“Can I get a whiskey?” I hear Bishop’s voice, and it sends a prickling wave of awareness down my spine.

“Gentle enough? Or you want it rougher next time?” the bartender asks as he hands me the tied cherry stem just like he did before.

“Make that a double.” Bishop’s voice is low but loud enough that Dakota hears him and nods. I feel the heat of his body close to mine as he moves up to the bar, and my skin lights with the proximity.

“You were perfect.” I grin at the bartender, hoping to give him a little encouragement because I can only imagine Dakota makes for an intimidating boss, if only a temporary one.

“What are you doing?” I can tell Bishop’s question is meant for me.

“We’re working out the kinks.” I flash him a look.

“I can see that.” He makes sure I can hear the implication in his tone.