“I don’t get much time to clean. The bar is always full and when it isn't, I don’t want to waste my time with cleaning.”
“Still,” she muttered as she wiped errant dust onto her skirt.
I folded my arms. “You just got hired. Do I have to fire you already?”
Ivy grinned and my world tilted on its axis. She looked good enough to eat when she smiled like that. I quickly refocused on my task of locating an apron for her before I got myself in all kinds of trouble. “Here you go,” I said as I opened a box and found the aprons. I passed one to her. “And here’s an order book and a pen. That should be enough to get you started off.”
Ivy took the apron and tied it around her waist. Maroon looked good on her. Once it sat right, she took the booklet and pushed it into a pocket and the pen into another. She glanced up, tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. “What do you think?”
“I think it suits you,” I said as I fought back the strong thrust of arousal. My dick twitched eagerly. Ivy Johanson did things to me, wonderful, strange, amazing things. She always had. “Why don’t you go out front and wait for me? I’ll be right back.”
Ivy nodded and walked back out into the bar. I leaned my head against the office door and forced myself to calm down. I wanted her with an intensity that was making my head pound. I’d been too young to love her the way she needed when we were younger, but damn I wanted to try again.
I’d only been around her for a few minutes and I was already rock hard. I rubbed a hand over the bulge in my jeans, and my body responded by pulsating.
“What the hell was I thinking?” The last thing I needed was to let my own lust cloud up my brain and spoil things. I had a plan and I wasn’t blowing it all from lack of control. I had managed to stay focused for so long. That couldn’t change now.
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to calm down. Once the erection disappeared, I sucked in a breath and headed out to meet her.
She was sitting at the bar easily chatting to one of my delivery guys. The fool looked besotted.
I felt jealousy rip through me. I wanted to tear his head off.
This whole thing would not be easy.
Chapter Nine
Ivy
It already felt like a big mistake.
There was no way I would be able to work with Cooper without losing my mind. So far, we’d only spent a little time together in his bar and I was already climbing up the walls. How was I gonna work here all the time when I felt overwhelmed in less than an hour?
Cooper leaned over the sink to show me how to use the dishwasher. We were in the kitchen in the back of the bar. Here, the usual staples were produced. Onion rings, greasy burgers, French fries, hot wings. “We have a cook that comes in every day, but sometimes he needs a little help with the dishes when things get too busy.”
At least that's what I thought he said. It became so hard to focus when every word out of his mouth was deep and sexy as hell. The water from the sink had splash onto his shirt and it gripped his muscles tightly.
Suddenly, I suspected that the universe was doing this to me on purpose. Cooper was being dangled in front of me like bait on a hook. He might look delicious, but I would end up with a bruised soul and a broken heart.
But it wasn't like I had a choice. As long as I worked here, I could afford to eat and live like a normal human being. If I turned this job down there was no telling where I’d find another job in a small town like Springston. Most people got a job, worked at it, and died at that job. So I knew there weren’t going to be a ton of open positions just waiting for me to be picky.
I would just have to wait and look for something better once I felt more secure. After all, I intended to be here for a very long time. My dreams of city life had shattered into a thousand pieces. I knew now it wasn’t what it was cracked up to be I had no plans to leave anytime soon. Right now, I felt as if I needed my small, safe hometown, where I could lick my wounds in peace.
“Since it's Friday, it's going to be busy,” Cooper said as he straightened and dried the front of his shirt with a towel.” So you'll probably have a long shift.”
“It's a good thing I suppose. I can jump in feet first.” I chewed my lower lip. “I hope I don’t make too many mistakes.”
“You'll do great. Don't worry about it. If you really get stuck in the weeds, I'll help you out.”
I smiled gratefully at him.
Then his expression changed. “Right. Follow me.”
Cooper led me back out to the front where his day bartender worked behind the bar. Melanie was a stunning woman, tall, leggy and big breasted. She welcomed me right away. I liked the way she smiled at the customers and her laugh was loud and crazy. She was a character, that was for sure.
“How you gettin’ on, shug?” she asked as she cleaned down the bar. “Is Cooper helping, or is he just talking your ear off about nonsense?”
Cooper laughed. “Don’t undermine me in front of the new hire. Why don’t you get back to work?”
“I’m always working, hon. That’s why your pockets are so full of money.”
I smiled at the two of them, but a little knot tied in my belly. They had such an easy way about them that I wondered if more might be going on. Was he dating her? You couldn’t blame him if he was. She was gorgeous, confident, and outrageously fun.
This troubling thought stayed with me even as we walked from behind the bar to the tables that filled up the rest of the space. The Red Royal was a lot bigger than I’d first thought. Different from when you just glanced around the room. It all seemed to change when you were actually memorizing where the tables were and the numbers associated with them.
"Ok, so you'll just come up and take their orders and bring them to the bar, or to the kitchen in the back. Easy, right?”
"Kind of," I muttered as I tried to remember which table was which. "Why can't there be actual numbers on the tables?"
Cooper laughed. “It’s not that hard. Look.” One of his hands wandered down to my lower back and perched there. He pointed to the tables as he directed me around the room.
Abrupt like, my brain just completely powered down. My heart raced at the pressure of his hand on my body and I swore I’d melt if he didn’t remove it soon.
How could he still get to me like this? We hadn’t seen each other in so long, but the moment I laid eyes on him, it was like I got sucked into it all over again. Like no time had passed. It was more surreal than those Salvador Dali paintings with the melted cocks. I shivered.
“You’re not even paying attention to what I’m saying, are you?” Cooper asked, his hand dropping off.
I glanced up at him.
His eyes bored into mine, so sexy and alluring, something else lurked there too. Lust.
The way he looked at me made me wonder if he was having the same issue, I had. A strange expression crossed his face, and I sucked in a breath. He was definitely feeling it too.
“Sorry,” I said quickly as I stepped away from the immediate vicinity of his magnetic, mind altering presence. “I guess I’m just still a little…overwhelmed.” I cleared my throat. “One more time and I’ll pay close attention.”
Cooper’s eyes lingered on me and my body heated as those gorgeous blue-green eyes swept along my body from head to toe and back up again.
This was terrible. Already my mind had drifted off to thinking about Cooper and me in very compromising situations. “I should go over the menu and familiarize myself with the dishes.” I snatched the menu from one of the tables and covered my face with it. I needed to break up the intensity before I ended up doing something really stupid. The one saving grace was that soon, the Royal would be flooded with patrons and I could focus on work, instead of on Cooper.
Yes, this was what I thought, but it didn’t happen. Instead, even as I took orders, made change, and tried to remember who ordered what and where, Cooper’s eyes lingered on me. Whenever I turned around, our eyes locked before he’d return to working behin
d the bar.
I had to admit, I was just as guilty. Every time he was obviously busy attending to a customer, my attention surreptitiously returned to him. That grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, those strong biceps flexing underneath the sleeves of his shirt, the laugh that echoed from his lips as he chatted easily. All of it was so perfect.
Oh God, he was perfect.
Why did he have to be so damn perfect?
Cooper was strictly, strictly, strictly off limits.
“Sweetheart, can I get that beer or not?” a customer drawled at me as his friends chuckled.
I shook my head. “Sorry about that. Yes, I’ll grab your beers right away.” I pushed through the crowd and made my way to the bar.
Cooper strolled toward me and smiled. “What can I get for you?”
“Three beers,” I said and leaned against the bar.
“Everything all right?”
“Everything is fine, except for my feet, which I think might be dead. I’ve never walked so much in my life.”
Cooper laughed. “It’ll get easier. Customers treating you okay?”
“Yeah, actually. They’ve been pretty patient with me, so that’s nice.”
“Our crowd is pretty laid back. You shouldn’t have any trouble from anyone.” Cooper pulled out three bottles and pressed them against the bar. One by one, he popped the tops with the heel of his hand.
“Impressive.” I nodded. “Where did you pick that up?”
“I hung out with some very interesting people in high school.”
“By that, you mean the other bad boys of the school who obviously taught you some more bad manners.”
“Don’t judge me.”
I chuckled. “No judgement here. We all had our secrets in high school.”
“Yeah? Didn’t think you had any. I thought you were as pure as the driven snow.”
I grinned. “That’s my cover story. Right, I need to deliver these to my customers.”
“Hang on, you’re not going to finish this conversation?”
“Sorry.” I shook my head as I carefully maneuvered the tables while carrying the beers on my tray. It took a bit of practice not to spill them all to the floor, so I had to take my time. Once the table was in range, I smiled victoriously at the fact that I hadn’t dropped anything.
And then I dropped everything.
Chapter Ten
Ivy
The tray crashed to the floor, glasses shattered, and beer splashed everywhere. Especially on me. I shrieked and jumped, before I glanced up slowly.
Every set of eyes in the bar were on me. The room had gone quiet.
My stomach dropped and the urge to flee bubbled up until a hand wrapped around my arm.
“Are you okay?” Cooper asked, his face full of concern.
“Uh yeah. I think so.”
“You’re bleeding,” he said as he examined my leg. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Mel?”
“Already on it, shug,” she said as she moved to clean up the mess.
“I’m sorry. I can clean it up. I did it.”
She waved a hand. “It’s your first day. None of us are immune to a bit of clumsiness. Go get cleaned up and then get back out here asap, so I’m not left alone with these wolves.” She turned towards my table of customers and called out to them cheerfully, “I’ll get you guys your beers in just a minute.”
“Take your time,” the man at the table replied, then he grinned at me. “Congrats on the new job.”
Cooper chuckled.
I wallowed with embarrassment.
He led me through the bar and into his small office. “Sit,” he instructed.
I perched on a chair.
He dug around and rustled up a first aid kit. “Let me see your leg.”
I stuck my leg out and saw the streak of blood that had slid down my skin.
Cooper picked up my leg carefully and peered at it. “Hmmm…don’t look too bad,” he commented as he settled down in the other chair and laid my leg on top of his. Then he started to clean up the cut. “It’s really not too bad,” he said again and he smiled up at me. “Could have been much worse.”
I groaned. “It already was worse. I can’t believe I dropped that tray in front of everyone. I’m so embarrassed, I thought I was going to literally die.”
“Don’t be a drama queen,” he mocked. “Everyone does it at one point or another. That’s the nature of the job. Just be glad you didn’t drop an entire tray of hot wings in anyone’s lap.”
My eyes widened. “You did that?”
“Yup. Hectic night, low on waitresses, only me and Mel to work the bar. Someone had to deliver the food, and if you send her out to the tables, she never comes back. She just talks everyone’s ears off.”
I chuckled. “Was the guy pissed?”
Cooper groaned. “I wasn’t that lucky. It was a woman and yeah, she was pissed. To make it worse, she was the mother of one of my exes. To this day, she swears I did it on purpose, and won’t look at me without trying to burn a hole through my skin.”
I cracked up. “Okay, so maybe I wasn’t so bad, after all.” I couldn’t think of anything worse than drenching someone’s lap with hot wing sauce.
“See? You can already laugh about it now. I can kinda laugh about it. It'll be better after more than a month has passed.”
“Oh, god…” I tried to breathe. “This was recent.”
“Real recent.” He grimaced. “Real, real recent.”
“Oh, my god.” I wiped at my eyes. “You poor thing. I bet your face was red.”
“Nah, I took it in stride after I hid in the back office for a few minutes and I laughed. I didn’t do it on purpose, but her expression… Just perfect. That and the fact that she never liked me, so maybe it was a bit of revenge from the universe.”
“I’m starting to think you did it on purpose.”
He winked at me. “You’ll never know, will you?” He dug around and pulled out a Band-aid.
As he opened it and slid the tabs over my skin, I became acutely aware of his hand on my body. Shivers ran up my spine. When I glanced up his eyes locked on mine. I swallowed thickly. “I should get back out there. I don’t want to leave Melanie all by herself. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“Let me get you something to dry off with. You’re covered in beer.” Cooper shifted and placed my leg onto his empty chair.
My eyes followed as he reached up and dug into another box. His shirt hiked up slightly and showed off a sliver of his back, the skin golden. Higher up, I knew there were tats. I wondered what it would be like to trail my fingers over his skin until he shuddered against me? Like I did that night so many years ago.
“Here we go,” he said as he carried the towel over and handed it to me. “You can dry off with this. I’d use a bit of soap from the bathroom too, or you’ll feel sticky.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I want to be sticky for an entire shift.”
Cooper grinned. “Go ahead and get cleaned up. I’ll meet you out front.”
“Okay.”
Cooper disappeared and I watched until he was gone. Once I was alone, I sighed. Some shady part of me thought he was going to dry me off with the towel and I’d held my breath just ready for him to do it. I knew how insane it was. Way too intimate—tempting fate.
I pushed myself up and walked to the bathroom. My leg stung a bit, but it wasn’t too bad. I could still move and if I could move then I would work. I needed the money and as packed as the bar was, I knew Cooper and Melanie needed the help.
I wet the cloth with soap and water then wiped down my clothes the best I could. I’d have to wash them when I got home since I didn’t have anything else suitable for working in a bar. I should look into getting some more appropriate clothes too. I’d bought things thinking I’d be working as a journalist, but that wasn’t going to happen. At least, not anytime soon.
When the aroma of yeast didn’t clog my nose I dropped the towel into the laundry basket and fixed my hair in the
mirror. I sucked in a deep breath, pushed through the door and walked back out into the bar. No one paid attention to me, except to ask for drinks or food. I smiled and relaxed. All I had to do was focus and eventually, I’d be done.
I worked hard for the rest of the session. By the time I was done, I was slightly sweating and very tired. I sat on a stool at the bar and laid my head on the coolness of the wood once Melanie wiped it down. “It feels like I’m dead.”
She laughed. “I’m sure it feels like it, but you’re as alive as you’re ever gonna be, hon.”
“This place is always this busy?”
“Usually. Weekends are the heaviest, but we do a pretty good business.” She swung a towel over her shoulder. “How were your tips?”
I popped up. “I forgot to count them.”
“Oh shug, you’re gonna want to do that. Trust me.”
I gathered up the money I had tucked away and started to count. When I was done I did it all over again and gasped. “Two hundred dollars!”
Mel grinned. “I told you. And that’s just starting. This place is great when it comes to people loving a good drink and a sweet smile. Stop frowning at your ticket book so hard and you’ll make even more.”
I grinned happily. “I’ll have to remember that.”
“Congrats,” Cooper said as he poured me a drink and sat it in front of me. “I think you’re going to fit right in here.”
I picked up the glass. “Thanks.”
He clinked his against mine and I took a sip. Jack and coke. It was a classic and I drank it down too quickly. It hit me fast, warmth spreading throughout my body as the oaky whiskey laced my lips. It was the perfect way to end an oddly satisfying night.
“I just need to count up the till and lock everything up for the night.” Cooper nodded.
“Mind if I get out of here?” Mel asked. “My boyfriend’s waiting in the car.”
“No problem. Tell Jeff I said hi. Goodnight.”
Let’s Start Over Page 4
