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“What?” I ask between coughs as Jack whacks me on the back.
“Ask Penny out.”
“I can’t do that,” I say shaking my head.
“Why not?” he asks, genuinely confused. “You obviously fancy her.”
I shake my head at his assumption and even weirder Aussie lingo.
“You don’t?”
I take another sip of cider, swallowing before I let out a hard breath. “It doesn’t really matter if I do or I don’t. And I’m not saying I do like her,” I lie. “But we work together so it’s not gonna happen.”
Jack bursts out laughing. “That’s the dumbest excuse ever,” he says. “I mean hello, I’m married to the owner.” He shrugs his shoulders as if to say what’s the big deal.
“That’s different.”
“Um, how?” he says, his question laced with sarcasm.
I take another mouthful of cider as I try to figure out how I want to answer Jack’s question. Or how much I’m willing to even admit to him. No one knows about my crush on Penny, let alone all the dirty little fantasies that have been invading my thoughts lately. Not just because they are never, ever going to happen, but because I’m also a pretty private person. I don’t go around discussing my personal life, but especially not with people I work with.
“Come on, Tommy,” Jack says, his voice serious now. “We’re friends, talk to me.”
“Are we?” I ask, surprised.
“You don’t think so?” Jack responds, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was almost insulted.
“Yeah, we are,” I say with a nod. “I don’t know, I guess, we’re also work colleagues. Actually, scratch that, you’re my boss, we don’t do…” I trail off, waving a hand between us. “This.”
Jack lets out a loud laugh, reaching over to slap a hand on my back again. “Tommy, please,” he says, chuckling. “I think we both know, I’m not your boss. And yeah, you might work here, but you’re like family to Lu and Ellen, which means you’re family to me too. So forget about the work bullshit and talk to me, seriously.”
I don’t speak right away, sipping on my cider as I try to decide exactly how to answer Jack’s question or what my real reasons are for ignoring my attraction to Penny.
“I do like her,” I eventually admit with a shrug. “But it’s not as simple as what you and Lu have, okay? Your relationship is…it’s different and regardless of what you’re saying, we do work together, and I don’t want to fuck around with that.”
“Uh huh,” Jack says, moving to refill our glasses. “And if work wasn’t an issue, would that fix things?”
I give him a look as if to say how in the hell can work not be an issue, before blurting out, “No, she’s also too young.”
Jack scoffs as he rolls his eyes and slides the glass toward me. “Too young, jesus, age is just a number. Who gives a shit?”
I open my mouth to tell him that there’s not a chance in hell a twenty-three-year-old is interested in someone my age, but I don’t get a chance as the door opens behind me. From the look on Jack’s face, I know exactly who it is and as I glance back, I feel my heart thud in my chest as Penny walks in.
“Speak of the devil,” Jack whispers with a wink. “I’ll leave you to it,” before picking up his cider, throwing a quick wave in Penny’s direction and disappearing out the door she just came through.
“Hey,” she says, walking up to the bar and taking a seat.
“Hi,” I reply, glancing sideways.
Penny smiles at me before looking at my glass. “Is that the new cloudy apple?” I nod, about to offer her one when she reaches over and grabs my glass, lifting it to her mouth for a taste.
My eyes drift to her mouth as she lowers the glass and licks her lips, lower still to her throat as she swallows. But it’s not until she lets out a low groan of approval does my mouth go dry, my body filled with sudden lust and want for this woman.
Fucking Jack for putting these ideas in my head.
“God, that’s good,” she says, sliding the glass back to me.
God, that’s good.
