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“Fine. What do you recommend, great server extraordinaire?”
“Two options: a pint of beer on tap, or a shot of whisky. Pick your poison.”
“I haven’t done a shot since college.”
He pulls out a shot glass and places it on the counter. “Sound like the perfect night to—”
“No!” I wave my hand and then reach for the glass and push it aside before he can waste any liquor. “I willnotbe taking shots, college frat boy style.” I have to lean forward and crane my neck to get a peek at the colorful labels of the beers on tap, not that far down. Because I’m now inches away from Parker, I can smell his cologne. Spicy, woodsy, and fresh.
I catch sight of a name I recognize, on the beer tap at the end of the lineup. “The Long Trail Limbo IPA sounds good. Two.”
“So youaregettin’ after it.” He pulls out two pint glasses.
I laugh. “Nope. One’s for Annie.”
“I knew you had a good heart, hon.” Annie places her wrinkled hand on mine and gives a squeeze. “I could see it in your eyes, minute you stepped in here. Prissy thing, but with a kind soul inside.”
She leans in toward my ear as Parker steps aside to fill our pint glasses. “And seems to me likehesees right to that good heart you got, too. Lit up like a Christmas tree, when he saw you sittin’ here.”
A fluttering sensation stirs in my stomach.
Hunger?
Something else?
Parker returns with the brimming glasses. The minute he sets Annie’s down she swipes it up. “Gotta leave you two kids to it. It’s time for me to treat this crowd to a tune fromThe Lion King.The Circle of Life. This one’s going out to Ed.” She points up to the light-adorned creature looking down on us.
I laugh into my beer and then take a sip, and—oh my gosh , this issomuch better than a Cosmo. It’s smooth, juicy, and rich. The hops play over my tongue, and the faintest buzz starts up in my veins.
Maybe it’s alcohol on an empty stomach.
Maybe it’s the fact that Parker is now leaning on the bar with both elbows, looking at me with his incredibly gorgeous chestnut-brown eyes.
“So, you’re up next,” he says, in that deep, intimate tone he seems to use only with me. “Right after Annie. Got your tiara in that purse of yours?”
“No way. Not in a million years.”
“The night’s young,” he says, his eyes dark as they lock on mine. “I’m gonna get you up on that stage.”
I take another long sip of the flavorful beer. “I’ll be on the floor, if I don’t eat something,.”
“One order of Dirty Fries, comin’ up.”
Before I can stop him, he leans back and shouts down the bar, so he can be heard over the crooning soprano voice now drifting toward the rafters—Annie, on the mic. “Yo, Delilah, a large, down here, when you got a sec.”
I shake my head when he turns back to face me. “You might get in trouble, giving orders. Doesn’t she mind getting bossed around by the temporary help?”
He shrugs. “Nah, it’s cool. I help her out, she helps me.”
I sink my lips down over the rim of my glass and draw in more liquid. Miraculously, I’m not fretting abouthow much,exactly, Parker and the tattooed, pretty young Delilah help one another.
How could I worry, when Parker hasn’t even left the six inches of bar in front of me, despite the fact that this place is teeming with thirsty customers?
He’s ignored everyone since he walked up to tend to me.
I might as well be wearing a tiara, because I feel like a princess.
“Good trip to Broad Hollow?” he asks.
