AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At that look, the voice in the back of my mind reared its head, shouting at me that I was falling for it again. Only, this time, I wasn’t so sure it was an act or a game. But it left me feeling off-kilter all the same, and I much preferred my feet to stay on solid ground.
I pushed up, knocking my knuckles against the bar as I pasted a smile on my face.
“As fun as this has been, I actually have a lot of work I should probably get to.” I hiked my thumb over my shoulder. “It was lovely meeting you, Romero. We’ll be rooting for you guys this season.”
His chest puffed up proudly. “You better be. And it was awesome meeting you. Hope to see you soon, sweetheart.”
Without giving Beau another look—because I wasn’t sure I could handle it—I whipped around on my heel and bolted back to my office, not because I needed to work, but because I neededto hide from the man before I did something epically stupid, like let my guard down again.
Chapter Twenty
PRESLEY
I struggledto concentrate on my work, my thoughts trailing off to the man who I’d spent the better part of my life convinced I hated but was starting to question whether or not that was the case anymore. I didn’t understand how he could piss me off so badly one moment, only to turn me on in a way no other man had ever been able to before.
We were oil and water.
No, that wasn’t right. When it came to me and Beau, we were like fire and gasoline. A dangerous combination. Some might even argue lethal. So why was he the only man who could make me feel so... out of control and wild? I was levelheaded in all things in my life. I thought through every scenario or decision before I acted. Except where he was concerned. With him, I acted without thinking. He could make me impulsive and reckless. He could push my buttons like it was his sole purpose in life, eliciting a reaction from me that no one else could.
And what did it say about me that there was this part of me that actually enjoyed that unbridled feeling? I felt like I was sitting in the front car of a rollercoaster, steadily climbing tothe highest drop, with my hands in the air and my heart in my throat. It was terrifying and thrilling all at the same time.
A knock on the door yanked me from my musings. I blinked, clearing my vision and bringing myself back to the present to find Donovan standing in the opened doorway leading into my office.
“Hey, Boss. Closing time.”
“Already?” My head whipped back to my computer to check the time. It was five after midnight. I’d been so busy thinking about Beau that four hours had flown by without my notice. “I didn’t realize.”
I pushed out of my chair and had to brace myself against my desk when a pins-and-needles sensation shot through my legs and feet. Four hours of sitting made my knees stiff and put my thighs to sleep.
Donovan gave me a curious look. “You good?”
“Yeah.” I smiled, shaking my legs out. “Just sat for too long, I guess. I’ll meet you out front in a second.”
I preferred to help my staff close out on the nights I worked to closing. Diane had always run a tight ship, but there had been managers in the past who sat back while the rest of us did the grunt work, and I found it was more of a struggle to respect them as my superiors if they weren’t willing to get their hands dirty like the rest of us.
When I was promoted to this position, I told myself I wasn’t going to work like that. Every night I helped wipe down tables and counters, close out the till, and stack chairs.
I walked past the kitchen, waving and issuing the staff back there a good night as they worked to clean and shut everything down for the next day, and headed to the front of the bar.
Sure enough, Freddy was parked in his usual spot, but what made me stop short was the sight of the man sitting beside him.
“What are you still doing here? And where’s your friend?” I asked Beau once my feet came unglued from the floor. I rounded the bar, giving him a bewildered and suspicious look.
He tilted his head to the side. “Just hanging with my new pal, Fred, here. And Romero took an Uber back to my place. He caught a pretty early flight this morning, but I wasn’t ready to leave just yet.”
I grabbed a towel and got down to cleaning, spraying the countertop down and scrubbing it until all stickiness and streaks were gone, restoring it to its glossy shine. “Well, it’s past close, so...” I trailed off, hoping he’d take the hint and leave on his own, but my favorite regular had something else in mind.
“The big guy and I were talking, and we had an idea,” Freddy started. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what he said next. “We decided we’d start splitting shifts.”
I cast Beau a flat look, my eyes narrowing as he smiled in a way that clearly indicated the idea was all his. “Is that so?”
“Yep. I’ll take Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and he’ll handle Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. We’ll trade off Sundays.”
Freddy looked so damn proud of himself, like he’d just come up with the best idea to ever be idea-ed in the whole wide world.
“Huh.” I crossed my arms over my chest, popping a hip out. “Those just so happen to be the days I work to close,” I stated with a glower in Beau’s direction.
He smirked unrepentantly. “Well, would you look at that? Talk about a happy coincidence.”
