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Approaching the back entrance, Thea comes out from her place. Damn, she’s beautiful. There’s something about her that… I often find my mind wandering back to her. I check the time. Six. Weird, usually she’s in earlier to help open the place.
“Running late?” I ask, stepping right next to her while she locks the door. Without second-guessing, I kiss her cheek. “How was your day?”
Thea shoves her keys inside her tight jeans and turns her attention to me. I smile and tilt my head, expectant to know what she did, who she was with, and just to listen to her voice.
“My day was… interesting. I worked for a while at the park on edits. Matt helped. We came over to open the bar and then I went to my apartment to change. Did you just arrive from Los Angeles?”
I nod.
She leans forward and kisses my cheek, caressing the corner of my eyes. “You look tired. Why don’t you head home? We’ll be fine.”
“And miss another night with you?” I grab her hand and kiss it. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
She interlaces our fingers—as if it is the most natural thing in the world—and we both walk toward the bar.
“You work too much, Coop. Tomorrow we should do something—hiking?” Our eyes lock, and that energy that whirls between us is there.
“We’ll do whatever you want,” I blurt without second-guessing. Damn, I’m fucked.
“Look what you brought, Butterfly,” Matt says when we find him. “Glad you’re both here because we’re ready to open.”
He kisses her cheek and then mine. His eyes havethatshine to them.
“What did you do?” He shakes his head. I arch an eyebrow. “Decker?”
He tosses his hands in the air. “I posted on social media that I’ll be at the bar tonight, but security is on it. They’ll maintain the number of patrons.”
I close my eyes briefly and shake my head. Thea squeezes my hand. I open my eyes and find her smiling at me.
“Cooperson, you know that we’re going to have fun,” Matt says. “I serve. You two do the fancy stuff.”
I glance at Thea. “It’s your bar, Butterfly. How do you want us to help?”
“It’s Reed’s, but I get it. Usually, I’m the one in charge. Matt can take orders and serve the easy drinks. If he gets slammed with customers, you and I can split the bar.” She tilts her head toward the counter and looks to her left. “Reed, we’re ready whenever you want.”
ChapterThirty-Nine
Matthew
“What’swith the murderous glare, Cooperson?”
Tristan redirects his powerful scowl from the badass-motorbike guy to me.
I raise my hands as a sign of surrender. “What the hell? You’re foaming at the mouth.”
He shakes his head in disbelief. “Aren’t you paying any attention? Have you not noticed how many fuckers have tried to get inher pantstonight?” Tristan angles his chin toward Thea, who is tending the bar while he’s mixing drinks. “The fucked-up pickup lines are driving me insane… ‘Hey, baby. Are you a magician? Because every time I look at you, everyone else disappears.’” He scoffs in disgust.
I chuckle. “Hey, that’s a good one. Easy alpha-boy. She’s used to it, and she’s not taking the bait.”
He mutters something about pigs and pieces of meat, I think. “I swear, one more, and she’s outta here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We don’t own the bar yet.” His tight jaw compresses harder—if that were even possible—and it dawns on me. “You have a thing for her, don’t you?”
Tristan’s eyes lower as he gives me one hard head shake. His face says it all. I can’t help but laugh when he growls.
“You two are adorable.” Thea is right next to us. “But either you start moving your asses and work, or take this little lover’s quarrel elsewhere.”
Tristan pushes me lightly.
