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This job required me to wear strappy dresses worthy of Queen Margaery Tyrell, but he barely cast me a second glance as he slid a tip in my direction. One twice the cost of the expensive drink. It would cover one hour of Nurse Bernie’s pay. Nameless Barmaid that I was, I offered him a grateful thanks as he moved off.
Dolly blew a kiss at his back, and winked at me. “A girl can dream.”
My smile stayed bland, hoping she hadn’t caught a whiff of the tumultuous thoughts running through my head.
“What did you say?” I asked. My words were lost in the thumping noise that filled the dimly lit club on a Friday night.
A client, one of her regulars, was all over her. He lifted her up onto the bar to perch prettily, so she could yell in my ear, “Toby just called me. He wants to see you.”
Dolly would be in a heck of a lot of trouble if our boss found out she was keeping her phone on her at work.
I shook my head at her. Even before Toby and I had broken up, I’d made it clear he couldn’t come here.
She nodded. “Says it’s important. Can you meet him out back?”
Message delivered, she turned her attention back to her punter, and giggled as he slid his hand up her thigh. “Naughty boy,” she said to him, her voice lost in the pounding music. They kissed.
For a second an image flashed through my mind of Marco DeAngelis lifting me up onto the bar and sliding his hand up my thigh.
Both of his hands upbothof my thighs.
A shiver ran through me. Damn that man for being hot enough to set this place on fire.
I put an ice chip in my mouth and tugged the back of Dolly’s skimpy silk dress to get her attention. “What does he want?”
She shrugged. Then a playful smirk came onto her adorable face and she waggled her perfect dark blond brows. She pointed at her ring finger. “Maybe to propose?”
I rolled my eyes. I’d told Dolly I was done with Toby, but she’d bet me he wouldn’t let me go so easily. I hoped Toby had not come here with big plans to win me back. Once a cheat, always a cheat, as far as I was concerned.
My fateful encounter with Marco had cleared my head. Made me realise the last thing I needed right now was a man to complicate my life.
I wished I could ignore Toby, but he was insistent once he got an idea in his head. And I owed him money for covering one of Mom’s emergency medical bills. I couldn’t afford to keep him waiting.
A serious look came over Dolly’s face. She pushed her guy’s wandering hands off her hips and leaned close to me. “You haven’t taken that other job offer yet, have you? You’re better off marrying Toby. He’ll be good for you.”
I shot her a chiding look as I pulled my frilly apron off. If she found out I was pregnant, she’d be telling me to propose to Toby myself.
The bar was busy, but not as much as it had been earlier in the evening. By this point in the night, the hostesses already had the clients well-plied with alcohol. No one would notice if I took a few minutes break.
Why on earth was Toby here?
Mom popped into my mind and an edge of panic rose inside me. Had something happened? Had Nurse Bernie called Toby when she couldn’t get hold of me? The No Phones In The Club rule always had me worried something would happen to her while I was out of contact.
Yelling at Susie, another barmaid, that I was taking five, I scarpered. Hurrying out of the door behind the bar, I dashed through the kitchen and emerged in the quiet corridor at the back of the club. I hesitated for a moment, torn between whether to go to the locker room to call Mom, or out back to see if Toby was already here.
The back door won. It was nearer.
I hurried out, and to my relief found Toby already waiting, leaning against a wall in the alley that ran behind the club, smoking a cigarette.
My dad had been a smoker. A heart attack had got him in the end. I hated cigarettes.
Toby knew that. He crushed the cigarette underfoot and gave me a sheepish smile. “Hey baby.”
He pulled me into his arms and tried to kiss me.
I pushed him away. “Stop that! You’re drunk,” I accused.
“Dutch courage,” he said, giving me the puppy dog eyes that used to make me melt.
