“Great! We lost.”
I stared at him, a little shocked. Surely I heard him wrong. No one should be happy their kid lost. “And that’s great?”
“Yeah,” he says with a laugh. “Because that means the season is over. You have no idea how insane the practices are.” He puffs his cheeks and lets out a loud breath, emphasizing that it’s a lot. And then he looks at me curiously. “Didn’t Liam tell you you’re on the VIP list? Next time, just come straight to the front. You don’t need to wait.”
“Must have slipped his mind,” I said while my sisters audibly gasped. Ralph stepped aside to let us in and I touched his arm as I passed. “Thanks, Ralph.”
“Shut up! VIP?” Autumn blurted, grabbing my hand as we made our way through the door. “Holly! Since when do you have bar pull? Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?”
“It’s nothing,” I muttered, feeling my face heat up. Thankfully, it was dark and crowded, so my sisters didn’t notice. “Let’s get a drink.”
Dahlia led us to the bar, weaving through the crowd like she owned the place only to abandon us with, “I have to pee. Order me a seltzer beer. I’ll find you in a minute.”
I nodded absently and scanned the bar. My heart thudded as I searched for Liam. He was working a double this weekend, although he said that his shifts were different from everyone else’s. He floated where needed. So, he could be making drinks, or bussing tables, or even kicking people out.
It took a painful minute, but then I saw him. He was at the far end of the bar closest to the dance floor, laughing at something a customer said as he filled a mug with the perfect balance of beer and foam. He looked radiant, completely in his element, exuding confidence. Liam was handsome this morning, but seeing him work the bar was sexy. Before I could stop myself, I was crossing the room and standing right in front of him.
When he saw me, his face lit up. “Holly! Twice in one day. How lucky am I?”
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice steady but the wordsoulmatekept flashing before my eyes in bright gold letters. I felt like I was going to puke, cry, and pass out all at once. But I didn’t want Liam to know I was freaking out. So, I put on my best smile and said, “Maybe I’m the lucky one.”
Liam leaned forward, resting his hands on the bar, his eyes locked on mine. There was an intensity in the way he looked at me. It drowned out everyone and everything around us. A girl could get used to a guy looking at her like this.
“What brings you in tonight?”
I hesitated, wondering if I should come up with some excuse, but clearly, I still had some alcohol in my veins because the truth slipped out before I could think of something smart to say. “I wanted to see you.”
His grin softened into something warmer, something that sent my stomach flipping in the best way. “I’m glad you did. Is it lame to say I missed you? I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to talk since breakfast. We had two bartenders and a busboy call out tonight. Thank God it’s Sunday. We’d be dying if this were last night.”
Before I could say anything else, Autumn's voice cut through the moment. “Holly!”
I turned to see her pushing through the crowd. “What are you doing? I was ordering drinks, and then you disappeared. You can’t do that to me! I nearly had a heart attack! I nearly…” She looked past me to Liam and said, “Oh! Hi. Who are you?”
“Autumn,” I said, shooting her a warning look. “This is Liam. Liam, this is my sister.”
“Liam?” She questioned, her eyes raking over his crisp white button-down and the way he’d rolled the sleeves up to hiselbows. “Are you flirting with my sister, or are you on a first-name basis with all the pretty girls tonight?”
My jaw dropped. I was shocked. Mortified! I couldn’t tell if Autumn was trying to size Liam up or see if she had a chance with him. I didn’t know whether to laugh off the comment or scold her. I didn’t get a chance to do either because my other sisters decided to join us.
“Found them!” River shouted, and a second later, she and Dahlia were beside us. They both had drinks and when River noticed me looking at her hands, she added, “If you wanted a drink, then you shouldn’t have run off.”
And now we could add public scolding next to humiliation on the checklist for tonight. And here the adventure had started so well.
“Ignore them,” I said playfully, but really, I was begging both Liam and the universe to listen. “In fact, ignore all three of my sisters because they are evil judgey sprites.”
Dahlia arched her eyebrows, trying her best to give the warning look Mom used to do when one of us took things a step too far. I ignored her because, in my opinion, they had gone too far! Bringing my sisters out semi-drunk to unintentionally meet my potential soulmate might have been the worst mistake I’d made this decade.
Liam gave Autumn one of his easy, disarming smiles and handled the insult with ease. “It’s safe to say the regulars know my name, but I don’t give it out to just anyone.” He reached for a glass and effortlessly filled it with ice as he said, “It’s nice to meet you all.”
“How do you know Holly?” River asked.
“The short answer is, we met at a bar.” Liam turned and grabbed two bottles off the shelf behind him and filled a shot glass, then emptied the liquor into the cup. He added a dash of grenadine and then filled the cup with fruit juice. He thentopped it with an orange slice and handed it to me. “Here. Can’t have you being the odd one out.”
“Oh. Thank you.” I dug in my purse for my debit card, which had buried itself somewhere beside my wallet, three pens, a condom—that magically found its way into my purse, likely due to a little minx named Dahlia—and a half-eaten snack-sized bag of Cheetos. “I’ll start a tab.”
“Your drinks are on me tonight," Liam said, refusing my card. “Theirs too, if they’re nice to you.”
“Well, aren’t you sweet?” Autumn leaned on the bar. Her gaze noticeably dropped to his ring finger. “And single?”
