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"Because you're the sexiest bartender around?" I say, and immediately regret it. "Sorry. That was insensitive of me. I'm not hitting on you." I stand up to go back to Zane and Clint's table.
"You're not? That's a shame," Sage says carelessly. "I never get interesting guys hitting on me. It's usually jerks and assholes."
Did she just say that she doesn't mind me hitting on her? That I'm not one of the usual assholes making a female bartender's life difficult?
"So I'm not the sexiest 'tender around?" Sage says in a teasing tone. "That's disappointing."
I look her in the eye. "No, you are." Her eyes go wide, and the pupils seem to enlarge. "It's just that I shouldn't have been disrespectful to a working gal."
She licks her lips, andfuck meif my zipper isn't imprinting itself on my johnson right now. Don't know if I can even move away from the bar without letting everybody know I'm sporting wood.
"I don't like hearing it from some random guy while I'm working," she says softly. "But...it's you, Holt. So thanks."
Holy shit.
The next second, somebody comes up to the bar to ask for another round, and she whirls away from me to help him, and I figure if I don't leave the bar right now I'm going to do something to embarrass myself. So I grab my drink and think about work: cold lake water. The ongoing problem of invasive species. The paperwork that will be waiting on my desk tomorrow morning. More cold lake water.
That does the trick. I'm back to the table with the two sets of lovebirds by the time Sage finishes filling that order. I sit down with my back to her, hoping that not looking at her will keep me presentable in public.
I really ought to do something about the situation. Maybe this whole age gap thing isn't that big a deal.
"We gotta find Holt a girl," Zane says to Sammi. "Here we are all loved-up, and he's by his lonesome."
"Ask Sage out," Sammi says to me.
It practically blows my hair back. "What?"
She shrugs, and tucks a strand of her hair, lighter than Sage's, behind her ear. "Oh god, I can't tell you, she'll kill me."
I lean forward over the table. "You better tell me."
She raises an eyebrow. "Well. She's always had kind of a thing for you. I don't suppose you remember catching her and some of her friends swimming in the lake years ago?"
The sight of Sage naked and wet is burned into my retinas, but I don't say that. "I do remember that, actually."
"She told me about it. And just the way she talked about it..." Sammi waves a hand. "I don't know, I think she's always had the hots for you."
"And every other guy her age in town," Zane cuts in.
I shoot him a glare.
He shrugs. "Just sayin', Sage dates like a guy. Doesn't seem to be looking for anything permanent."
I sit back in my chair and sip my drink.
Maybe this would work. Maybe I could go out with her. Get her out of my system. I mean, for fucking years now I've been super-aware of this girl around town. It's like she's a stray eyelash.
Maybe a short fling would let me let go of my mini-obsession with her.
"Ask her out," Sammi says again. She smiles and nods at my drink. "You're almost empty. Go get another one."
And get another hard-on.
But that might be all to the good. I mean, I know Sage. She dates a lot and never seems to get her heart broken. Some fun together and no broken hearts? Yes, please.
I turn the conversation to work and let Clint tell the group about the guys who wanted to take a backpack electrofishing unit out on the lake today. They claimed that they were "doing it for science!" but couldn't prove any affiliation to a university or state agency. I'd bet those guys were planning on doing it for fun. We confiscated their equipment and gave them a citation.
Any time somebody asks me a question, I answer, but I'm not really participating in the group conversation, and eventually somebody notices. Sammi leans toward me and touches my arm. "Go talk to her," she says softly enough that nobody else hears her. "I mean it."
