“Sure thing,” he said, then went back to scrolling on his phone.
“Buddy, I think the lady ordered a couple of tequila shots,” I heard said from farther down the bar.
I turned to see a man who had the most perfect head of hair I’d ever seen.
He had his large winter jacket hanging on the back of his stool, and it revealed a black long-sleeved tee that was pulled up at his forearms, exposing a lot of forearm porn.
He had rich, blue-black hair, butterscotch brown eyes that seemed to see into the depth of my soul, and a scowl that could freeze stone.
That scowl, luckily, was not directed at me.
No, that was aimed directly at the bartender, who was now busy pouring our shots.
“I think I’m in love,” Cody whispered from my other side.
I turned to her and asked, “I thought you were in love with Jepper?”
“I hate you,” Cody said as the drinks were thunked down in front of us, half of the contents spilling from the glasses.
I looked at the shot glass with the lime on it but Cody beat me to the punch. “No lime, Shade. You know she’s allergic to lime. She’s been allergic to lime for her whole life, and we’ve been in this bar and ordered the same freakin’ thing every month for years.”
I was actually allergic to almost all citrus. Not throat-closing allergic, but my lips puff up and everything tingles allergic.
“Oh, sorry. I must’ve forgot,” Shade lied.
I hated him.
He took the lime off the rim and tossed it onto the bar top beside the drink.
“That’s not good enough, and you know it.” Cody started to get angry now.
Shade rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. “I swear to God, y’all are so high maintenance.”
That was rich coming from him.
If he wanted to see high maintenance, he only had to look at his partner in crime.
A woman who wouldn’t step foot in the bar that her best friend managed because it was ‘too dirty.’
She hated the peanut shells on the floor and the fact that it wasn’t heated or air-conditioned.
She much preferred her drinks served at a country club bar where her every need was met.
God forbid a sweat droplet or goose bump form on that perfect flesh.
He repoured the drinks, but with his back turned toward us I couldn’t see him making the drink to be sure that he wasn’t poisoning it.
The remakes were correct, and Cody and I downed the shots like they were meant to be enjoyed.
The second round, however, was contaminated.
I hadn’t been paying attention to him making them because Cody and I were whispering fiercely about the man next to me—Cody was seriously in love—so I blindly downed the drink without giving it a second thought.
That was my first mistake.
My lips instantly tingled, and I whipped my head toward Shade. “You did not!”
Shade had a special gleam in his eye that had me fisting my hands, but his face was a mask of perfect confusion as he said, “I didn’t what?”
