AllFreeNovel
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A girl’s gotta have supplies for every hour of the day.
“All good.” I do my best to ignore the nagging reminder that tonight will be one of my final nights working at the Mademoiselle. “So, what’s up? Last time we saw each other was on New Year’s, right? You had your tongue down some professional bull rider’s throat.”
“Oh yeah, Katy.” Nico runs his fingers through his hair, brushing back the strands that seem to prefer their unruly place on his forehead. “She was awildride.”
“Let me guess, her favorite position was reverse cowgirl?”
He lets out an exaggerated gasp. “Who do you take me for? A gentleman never tells.” Nico chuckles, and the sound reverberates off the glistening chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. “I’ll just say she can hang on much longer than eight seconds.”
“Oh my, what a gentleman you are.” I lean over the bar. “But the real question is, canyouhang on for long enough?”
“Eight seconds, eight minutes, eight hours. I’m in no rush.” He gives me one of his signature winks, and I roll my eyes.
“Shut up,” I scold, trying to conceal my laughter.
I mechanically wipe down the bar, hoping to shake off the simmering embers landing in my stomach from his mere presence.
I’m still a woman with eyes, and it’s as plain as day that there’s undeniable chemistry crackling around us like a hair dryer tossed in a full bath. Dangerous, maybe even deadly.
“If I remember New Year’s correctly, you had the DJ and a finance bro fighting over you the entire night. Didn’t one of them throw a punch?”
“Aladynever tells.”
Nico leans his elbows on the bar and inches his face closer to mine. “At least tell me who you picked?”
My eyes widen with mischief. “What makes you think I had to pick?”
“You are something else.”
“I know.” I throw the dirty rag over his face and lean back on the sink beneath the rows of liquor on the wall. “So, are you going to tell me why you’re here, or is it some big secret?”
Nico yanks the rag off his face. “My brother flew me out from California so he could hand deliver me to a tailor and make sure my tux is fitted for the wedding next week. Can you believe it?”
I shrug. “I’m with Luca on this one. You’re the best man with the worst track record.”
“How are you still not over that yet? It was one picnic, one time, a year ago,” Nico says plainly. “It’s not my fault none of you liked the lunch I packed.”
“Lunch usually consists of something other than two cases of beer and a bag of salt and vinegar chips.”
That was the last time we gave Nico responsibility over anything during our occasional group weekends at the beach.
“For me, it was the perfect picnic.”
“Not everything is about you.”
The corner of his lip curls toward the ceiling. “In my world it is.”
“Oh, I know. But you still haven’t explained why you’rehere, in my bar?” I fold my arms and settle them on my chest.
I suppose it’s not my bar for much longer.
Nico is no stranger to the Mademoiselle’s trivia nights from the times he visited his brother in the city, but he’s never come to the bar alone.
Come to think of it, we haven’t been alone in each other’s company before.
“I have a date around the corner soon,” he says. “Had some time to kill. Ave said you were working tonight, so I thought I’d drop by and say hi to an old friend.”
“You’re in town for the first time in months, and you’re already going on a date?”
