Your Neighborhood Bartender (The Neighborhood Book 1)

by Tarrah Anders

  I'm closing up for the night when I notice Valerie and her friend Maise lingering in their booth. I throw a towel over my shoulder and turn the music off.

  "Hey ladies, what are you still doing here?" I ask as I roll up my sleeves.

  "I'm keeping this one company." Masie replies to me slinging her thumb in Valerie’s direction. “She wanted to wait around.”

  "Oh yeah?" I ask rounding the bar.

  Valerie looks up to me, her eyes are glassy - likely from the several refills that she got through the night -she fixates on me and smiles.

  "I wanted to personally thank you for the drinks tonight and stuff,” she shrugs hiccuping her response.

  “It was my pleasure, any small part that I could take while you were celebrating and all.”

  She giggles and looks over to her friend. They share a wordless exchange as I stand observing the two.

  "Well, I'm finished here and need to lock up." I say. I look to my watch, it’s two-thirty.

  "Do you mind if I get a ride with you?" Valerie asks as she stands a little wobbly on her feet.

  "Sure. Maise, you need one too?" I ask.

  "No, just her. I live around the corner, so I'm walking." Maise returns putting on her coat.

  "Nonsense. It’s late, I'll drive you." I say. Without waiting for a rebuttal, I motion them to follow me, lock the front door, turn off the majority of the lights and then we walk down the hallway. Once the alarm is set, we're all moving out the back entrance as I point to my car and unlock the doors.

  Within moments, Maise is giving the directions and five minutes later, I'm pulling my Jeep up in her driveway. She gives me a 'thanks' and then shares silent communication with her friend in my passenger seat.

  "So." Valerie says as I back out of the drive-way.

  "So." I return. “Where am I going?”

  She directs me to her house and the rest of the ride is full of sexual tension. I have her alone, in my own space and suddenly every single line, all my moves and assuredness has vanished. I’ve seriously become a pussy. Why?

  Valerie is twisting the strap of her purse continuously in her hands and I’m white knuckling the steering wheel. My cock is hard as a rock and she smells so fucking good that I could break the zipper. I want to run my nose against the column of her neck, I want to trace her entire body with my tongue and I want to bury myself in her repeatedly day after day.

  Day after day?

  I’m not completely sure what’s happening here.

  I find a parking spot directly in front her home she points out to me and cut the engine. I hop out of the driver's seat to open her door for her, but she's beat me to it.

  "Do you mind, walking me to my door?" She asks nervously.

  And I don't mind, not a damn bit. I nod and smile with my hand on the small of her back as we walk up the pathway.

  "How come I've never seen you around before?" I ask, the question that’s been burning in my mind the whole day.

  "I just moved here last month." She replies pulling her house keys out of her bag. “From the city.”

  "That explains why I've never seen you around."

  "Thank you for driving me home and for walking me to my door. I really, really appreciate it,” she says as she lingers a moment staring at me, toying with a strand of her wavy hair.

  "No problem." I reply like a complete idiot. Why do I feel like I’m all of a sudden a gentleman? Is she a witch? Did she cast a voodoo spell on me?

  She unlocks her door, turns to me again, leans in and lifts up on her tip-toes to kisses me on the cheek. She then pulls back a little and leans back into me, this time with her lips touching mine and her hand on my shoulder, her fingertips pulling me into her body.

  “Come in?” she asks against my lips.

  Yes!

  I mentally fist pump the sky and put my hands around her tiny waist crushing her body against mine. I slowly open my mouth and my tongue reaches out to her. She opens slightly and moans into my mouth as our tongues touch. Her hands go around my neck as our tongues dance together and the kiss deepens. She manages to open her front door and we stumble inside, our bodies intertwined together. I kick the door shut and push her against the wall as my palm cups her breast and I groan. She moves her arms and palms my dick through my pants and squeezes before pulling her hand away. Her hands are under my t-shirt and pulling it up by the hem. We release another for a moment and our shirts are gone the next second. She's wearing a skirt, making my access to her all the easier. I run my hand down her ribcage, to the globe of her ass and under her skirt. She reaches for my belt, unbuckles and unbuttons my jeans. Her hand breaches my waist band and she wraps her tiny hand my cock.

  Oh fuck!

  A part of me wants to do nothing more than to slide into her hot center, but I know that she's not the type of girl that I normally hook up with, no – she's better and she deserves more. The strange thing is that that I want to give her more.

  The one woman who showed no interest in me, who conveyed that she wasn't my type, is melting beneath my touch and I want to change my ways to be the man that she deserves.

  What the hell is happening to me?

  The cockiest bartender in Mercy is doing the chasing and giving rather than taking.

  I have a new challenge in mind, and that’s making Valerie Dubois mine.

  Chapter Four

  I didn’t fuck Valerie last night. I didn’t even get my dick sucked or even try.

  We had some heavy duty over the clothes make-out, but then I remembered that she wasn’t sober, so I backed off and made plans with her for another night.

  I made plans.

  Plans that seem to be a fucking date.

  Who am I?

  What kind of sorcery does Valerie Dubois have over me?

  I don’t make plans and I don’t go on dates.

  I went home and yanked my cock to thoughts of her plump lips sucking me off, to images of my cock between her tits, in her pussy and coming all over her stomach, marking her. Making her mine.

  Mine.

  What the fuck is happening?

  I open up The Neighborhood today and was in the back unloading a vodka order from the crates stacked in the store room when Miles showed up to his shift.

  “Yo, I hear you took home the new girl in town? You hit that shit?” he asks washing his hands.

  “Come again?” I turn my head slowly, a sneer creeping to my lips.

  “Yeah, it seems like news travels fast. How was she?” Miles crosses his arms over his chest as he leans on the bar.

  “You better back the fuck up before my fist lands in your mouth and I split you sideways.”

  “Whoa! What happened to you? You normally boast about all your conquests.” He holds up his hands in surrender.

  He’s right. Normally, I would come in with a smug expression and tell him all about my escapades. What makes her so different? Why am I protective? What makes her different?

  “Did you actually grow a heart, Grinchy?” Miles looks closely at me. I shake my head and push him away.

  “Get to work before I fire you.” I point at him.

  “I hate working alongside the boss. Can’t you be like all other bar owners and sit in a dark office and never come out?” he jokes.

  “What’s the fun in that?” I turn to him and laugh.

  “So, this chick?”

  “Miles, I’m going to fire you.” I threaten, albeit jokingly, kinda.

  It’s not every day where I bartend, and my mind is completely silent. Usually, I’m sizing up the customers, and mentally gauging their soberness, their bullshit and what kind of person they are by their drink of choice. Today, I ran with the motions. I poured drinks, I cleaned and stocked the bar, and I took peoples orders. I listened to a tale of female heartache without commenting and I refilled the same bowl of peanuts for a man who just lost his job. While standardly, this is a normal day, but I did it while pouring myself into the role. I was actually the friendly neighborhood bar
tender, like the one in the movies that everyone goes to, that people depend on and that is your friend. Not like the arrogant guy giving unhelpful advice and being a know-it-all.

  Overnight, I turned into a complete pussy.

  I had that realization as soon as the doors opened at the far entrance of the bar, the sun encased her as she walked to the bar with a smile on her face and her eyes on me. Today, she wore a platinum red knee length dress, with black heels. Her hair was wavy and her make-up was simple, yet her green eyes stood out to me.

  “Moscow please?” she says, her tone gravelly.

  “You’re dressed up fancy.” I say while making her drink.

  “It was the first day at the new job, dress to impress you know.”

  “I think that the city ‘dress to impress’ versus the small town of Mercy, ‘dress to impress’ varies in definition. But I think you should dress like this anytime you come to see me.” I pull the towel off my shoulder and run it across the bar top, not really having a purpose other to keep my hands busy.

  “Funny. I figured that much about one minute after walking into the office doors. Everyone else was dressed casually and I stuck out like a sore thumb,” she takes a sip out of her drink, I watch her close her eyes in anticipation while her lips form around the lip of the jar and her throat expands to take in the liquid and to drink it down. She licks her lips and slowly opens her eyes with a soft smile forming.

  I can’t stop staring at her lips, which is a good sign. It means that the real me is still here. Except right now, I’m not envisioning them wrapped around my cock. No, I’m seeing them attached to my own, I see us making out against the back wall of this bar. Instead of my hand hoisting her leg up and grinding myself against her – I am softly touching her waist and pouring myself into the kiss.

  “Earth to Noah. Noah, come in Noah?” fingers snap in front of my face. I blink a few times and then shake my head as my eyes focus onto Valerie. “Where did you go just then?”

  “I was daydreaming.” That’s it, I’ve officially gone to Pussy Town, population one and that’s all me. “I mean I was picturing you naked.” There, that’s a little bit better.

  “Noah! Noah!” A voice calls from the other side of the bar, I give Valerie a ‘sorry, work’ look and then turned around to come face to face with the last woman that I slept with.

  “You never called,” she complained loudly so everyone sitting around the bar could hear.

  “Why does that surprise you? Do you even know who he is? Noah here is the one-night stand king. He doesn’t spend extra time with a woman and he sure as fuck doesn’t promise you anything more than a good time.” Lewis, the bar regular says while pointing his beer bottle in her direction.

  She sneers and then zeroes her gaze on me again with her hands on her hips.

  “Was that all I was to you? A good time? You said that you would call.” She spits.

  “Have you ever had a hook up? Where someone says something that they don’t really mean?” I ask her.

  “Noah here, likes one-night stands and no walks on the beach. Pull up your big girl panties, chalk up the night to a good ole’ orgasm and call it what it is… a one-nighter.” Lewis continues on, ignoring my annoyed gaze as he tells Lisa everything that I want to be saying, but would rather have it said not at my bar.

  I groan, rub the back of my neck and lean my head back. I turn around, and see that Valerie is keyed in on the conversation with a look of worry on her face.

  Shit!

  I turn around, giving Lisa my back and walk back to Valerie.

  “So, you’re a player?” she asks with a look of disappointment on her face.

  “I wouldn’t call it a player, no. I’m a realist. I have never dated any of these women, Lisa included.”

  “So then, what was that all about?” she quizzes.

  “I have always laid my intentions out there, I don’t mislead anyone. It’s not my fault that Lisa ignored what I said to her. I didn’t once imply that there would be more… hanging out.”

  “Last night and for the past few weeks, you’ve been trying to get close to me. Last night, we made plans – care to clue me in on what those intentions are?” she asks.

  “It’s exactly as you just stated, I’m trying to get close to you. I’m making plans because I want to know you. I’m drawn to you and I don’t know how else to explain it to you. I’ve gone against everything that I’m used to, to get to see you more. We could have fucked last night, but we didn’t.”

  “Because I had been drinking,” she nods and says as if to herself.

  “Exactly. I didn’t want to take advantage of you and that is not what I would have done before you. There’s just something about you that makes me want to try.”

  “What prey-tell is that all about?” She asks.

  “I don’t know, but I want to find out. I’m normally more sure in my prospects, but with you – I’m out of my element, completely. I’m not going to lie, I’m confused by it, but I don’t want to ignore it. So, yes – I’m trying to – I guess you would call it to ‘woo’ you, but I’m also not at all sure of what I’m doing either.” I admit.

  “Okay,” she says carefully and seemingly unconvinced.

  “Let me prove it to you. Let’s keep our date tomorrow night and I’ll show you that I’m trying to not be the sleaze ball that I have been, that Lewis says that I am and that this whole town knows me as.”

  She looks me up and down, then she nods after a moment. “Okay, let’s do this thing.”

  Chapter Five

  “Alright. Let me get this straight, you Noah Baker, the guy who doesn’t date women is suddenly going on a date with that hot brunette who keeps coming in here.” Micah, my bar manager asks folding his arms and leaning against the side of the bar, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “I’m not sure why this is a surprise to anyone. I can be interested in someone.” I feign indifference and continue to polish the tumblers.

  “Yeah, you have a reputation for only being interested in one night, strike that – a few hours at the most.” He laughs.

  “There’s something about her and I can’t quite figure it out. I’m acting like a complete pussy with her. We could have hooked up the other night, the offer was on the table, she was ready and willing. But I grew fucking ovaries and suddenly put a halt on the night, because she was fucking drunk and I didn’t want her making a rash decision.”

  Micah pushes off the bar and walks towards me, with the back of his hand he feels my forehead before I can push him away.

  “The fuck you doing?” I sneer stepping back in the limited space we have behind the bar.

  “You must be sick. I’ve known you since your old man passed, that’s what six years? I’ve never ever seen you hung up on a chick. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad for it. I’m tired of the chicks around here flocking to your ass and then being bitter betties because you fucked and ducked them.”

  “Fucked and ducked?” I ask hiding my laughter.

  “That’s what you do. You’re known to duck out after fucking the chicks. The chicks know it around here, anyone who doesn’t is completely stupid or has their own ideas that they can change you. I imagine that this chick has friends, friends who would likely steer her away from a guy like you. Which begs the question, how did you get the new chick to give you the time of day?”

  “I charmed her, I guess.” I shrug, wondering the same thing.

  “And when are you guys going out?”

  “Tonight, that’s why I’m here now, rather than later on tonight.” I explain, doing my best to not get annoyed.

  “Dude, you fucking own the joint – you can basically do whatever you want.” Micah points out.

  “While that is true, I like to show integrity in my job, and treat it as such.” I remind him.

  “Why do you have me here as the manager when you could just do it? Don’t get me wrong, I love working here and doing what I do, I’m just curious,” he asks.

&
nbsp; “Remember when I hired you, I said that paperwork sucks and we won’t fill out an application?” I wait for his response, when he nods – I continue. “Being the bar manager means that there’s a shit ton of paperwork. I still don’t like paperwork. You’ve been here for six years and have kept this place running, so why would I step up and do something that I don’t want to do and take away from you something that you enjoy?”

  “You really have grown ovaries.” Micah laughs. “I’ve got a shit ton of paperwork to do, so I’m going to get back to the office. If I don’t see you tonight before you take off, break a leg.”

  “That’s what is said if I was an actor, about to go on stage.”

  “You know what I mean.” Micah disappears down the long hallway and up the narrow stairs to the management office.

  It’s not long before the shift is over and I’m driving home to get ready for this infamous date, as Micah would consider it.

  Chapter Six

  I knock on the white door and wait nervously for Valerie to answer the door. I try to curb the anxiety and look up to the ceiling of the apartment porch and notice the multiple layers of paint, as the paint is chipping away in different parts of the ceiling. Why am I even noticing or caring about this? Oh that’s right, not to be nervous about the first date that I’m going on in… years.

  Valerie opens the door as my gaze is still directed upwards and steps out of the doorway to also look up to see what has my attention.

  “What’s going on up there?” she asks.

  “Just observing the structure.” I reply.

  “So, you’re not just a bartender, but a civil engineer as well?” she folds her arms over her chest and tilts her head.

  “What? No, I just -,” she stops me with laughter.