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I couldn’t afford a babysitter every night, so I put Emma to bed and kept a baby monitoring camera on her that I could access on my phone. There were a few times I’d had to go to her when she’d woken up, but that wasn’t often. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked for now until I could save up enough to have someone watch her at night. Sean didn’t particularly like when I left during my shift, but he understood and wasn’t an asshole about it either. I was thankful for that too.
A few weeks after I moved into the apartment, Emma came down with a cold. It wasn’t overly serious, but she was carrying a low-grade fever and a cough. I couldn’t afford much more than over the counter drugs and I couldn’t take the time off because rent was due the next week, so I gave her some children’s Nyquil and kept a closer eye on her than usual on my monitoring device. The whole walk, I watched her, breathing a bit easier when I could see that she was fast asleep.
It was a Friday night, which usually meant that the party carried on until three or four in the morning. By the time I got to the pub at shortly after nine, the place was already packed.
“Leah! A round of Guinness for table four!” Sean shouted, tossing me a towel as soon as I walked through the door. I could hear just a hint of his Irish accent then. It always came out when he was a bit stressed. I quickly poured out enough pints, taking special care to tilt the glass so that I didn’t get too much head. I’d gotten scolded a number of times when I started that I ruined the Guinness if I didn’t do it correctly.
The first moment I got, I set up my phone on the charger so I could keep an eye on Emma. She was tossing and turning a bit, but she still looked to be asleep. I hated that I had to leave her like this and that I couldn’t be by her side, but I didn’t have any other choice. Irma went home at nights, so I couldn’t ask her to check in on her and there wasn’t anyone else nearby that I trusted enough to be alone with my daughter.
Later on, she started fussing and I started to get a bit more worried. What if her fever was rising? What if she was coughing more and calling out for me?
Sean started to get annoyed that I was constantly checking my phone, but there wasn’t much time to explain because the pub was so busy. I could feel his grumpy stare on my back, but I did my best to ignore it and focus on serving everyone while also keeping an eye on Emma every chance that I could get.
At around eleven o’clock, a fresh wave of people poured into the door. I watched them with interest as they walked into the private back room, the one that was usually reserved for customers who paid for it. I was about to stop them, but Sean caught my sleeve and redirected me to serve another man at the counter. Eventually, he returned and made a beeline straight for me. He seemed more stressed than usual, which only made his accent even more noticeable.
“Leah. Get whatever the back room wants. Tell them it’s on the house,” he demanded. I glanced to my phone and then back to him, which only made him scowl. Whenever he got this frazzled, he was more irritable and less understanding than usual.
“Got it, boss,” I answered quickly. That seemed to appease him at least.
I grabbed my notepad and speedily strode into the back room. I pulled a pen out of my apron as I entered, plastering a smile on my face when I saw the group of men sitting around the old wooden table.
“A bottle of your best whiskey,” a voice sounded at the end of the table. I lifted my head, glancing in the direction of the man who had spoken.
Piercing, icy light blue eyes met mine. The color pulled me in, drowning me in the jewel-toned waters of the Caribbean. They felt stormy and ruthless, but I couldn’t look away, even when his strong square jawline flexed at my open stare. His cheekbones were sharper than most, a bit harsh, casting shadows down the side of his face. A thick five o’clock shadow covered his chin and I vaguely wondered if he would shave it in the morning. His lips were full, tense for a moment before he relaxed with a gentler smile. His warm grin caught me off guard, but there was something about it that made me relax and I couldn’t put my finger on why.
It was clear that he was in charge here. Everyone else looked to him with a deferential sort of body language, so I did too. The low light cast his skin in a pale glow, offsetting his light-colored irises and his dark mussed hair. It wasn’t overly long, but just long enough to lace my fingers through so I could grip it as I rode his cock.
I nearly choked at the direction of my thoughts. I recovered as quickly as I could, clearing my throat and staring down at my notepad. I focused on writing down his order rather than looking right at him.
“How many glasses?” I spoke. My voice quivered just a little.
“One for each of us. A round of Guinness too,” he added.
“Sure thing. May I ask your name?” Unable to help myself, my eyes flicked back to his.
“Kieran,” he answered. His gaze assessed me, warm and kind despite the iciness encapsulated within them.
“I’ll get your drinks right away,” I replied.
I turned and practically sprinted out the door, but not before I heard his voice call out once more.
“Thank you, Leah.”
I hadn’t told him my name.
By the time I returned with a silver platter full of Guinness to start, my heart was racing in my chest. I tried to remain polite as I placed the mugs down on the table, but it was difficult when I could feel Kieran’s gaze on me the whole time. I hadn’t been able to carry everything, so I returned to the bar and grabbed one of the top shelf Irish whiskeys. I filled another tray with the bottle and small cocktail glasses and went back to serve them.
I walked around the table and picked up the bottle, placing it on the table beside Kieran. I placed the tray down and reached to open the wax seal, but Kieran reached for it first. His fingers brushed against mine and my heart pounded frantically in response. When I pulled away, I could still feel the electric heat of his touch.
“I’ve got it,” he grinned. He reached into the pocket of his gray pinstripe suit and pulled out a small pocketknife. He carved around the wax and popped it off. I handed him one of the glasses, watching as he poured it himself.
“Thank you, Leah,” he nodded politely. I quickly passed out the rest of the glasses to the other men, before turning back to Kieran.
“Is there anything else?”
“No. That will be all for now,” he answered and somewhere deep inside my soul, I was almost disappointed that he hadn’t asked for anything else.
* * *
