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“Sure. But this lady has been waiting a while,” he nods to me with a friendly smile.
And—oh.
Immediately, my heart flutters. And other places. No wonder he nabbed her focus so quickly, becausehello. It’s like he just stepped off the cover ofMen’s Healthmagazine, all tanned bronzed skin and broad shoulders and delicious hazel eyes. I’m not usually one to drool over the built, muscular types, but the body this guy has under his casual button-down…
I drag my eyes back to his face. That square-jawed, stubble-framed, boyishly attractive face. “Thanks,” I say, a little breathless. Because the bar is packed and hot. Not because of him. “I’ve been waiting forever.”
“It can get wild on Thursdays after work.” He gives me a wink. “I’ve seen women throw elbows to get their apple-tinis.”
“Really?” I smile. “I’ll have to watch out. I’m normally a straight-home-to-my-knitting kind of gal.”
He laughs like I’m joking, and the grin is overwhelming—a shock of charm and white teeth. His buzzed hair draws attention to his dark brows and eyelashes. Theeyelashes.
“What are you drinking?” he asks. “It’s on me.”
I blink. The chivalrous stranger is offering to buy me a drink? Maybe I tripped and fell into Other Jennifer Walker’s reality, but hey, I’ll take it.
“A vodka soda, please,” I say. Then, imagining another half-hour with Karl until the others arrive, I think twice. “Make that a double, actually. And a draft beer.”
The bartender whisks off to handle the order. “Thanks,” I tell him. “I would have been waiting here another hour, for sure.”
“Hey, I can’t have you fainting with thirst in my establishment,” the impossibly handsome man says. “It would be bad for business.”
“This is your bar?” I ask, surprised. From the looks of him, I would have thought he did something more… physical for a living. Round-the-clock sit-ups.
Chippendales, maybe.
“Me and some buddies,” he says, with a note of pride in his voice. “We have another spot uptown we just opened—Renegades.”
“Mavericks and Renegades,” I repeat. “And here, you seemed like such an upstanding citizen.”
This earns me another knee-buckling smile. I brace my hand on the bar to steady myself.
Good Lord, that grin should come with a warning label.
“Don’t worry, we’re more into blazing our own trails than we are into troublemaking,” he says with a smirk.
“Uh-huh,” I say, not buying it. This guy has trouble all over him. And my drool. “A likely story.” I’m about to introduce myself when someone behind me presses too close. It’s Karl.
“I was not feeling patient,” he says, huskily.
“Oh,” I reply, shifting away uncomfortably. Creepy much? “Well, drinks should be here any moment!”
“That is good news.” He smiles at me in that red flag way I feel in my bones.
Where the hell is the rest of my team? “I’m sorry they’re taking so long at the office.” I say blandly. “We’re usually a very punctual bunch.”
Karl smiles. “Oh, do not worry about that.” I feel his hand graze my ass. “We could take this back to my hotel right now.”
The graze turns into a squeeze.
Ewww.
“Yeah, nope. Absolutely fucking not,” I say sharply, scooting away.
Karl maintains that smarmy smile. “The rest of your coworkers are not coming, princess. I asked to be, eh, privately entertained, and here we are.”
Wait, what?
