She gave an amused snort. “Our drinks are good, but not that good. Besides, Kelly’s not working tonight.” Having a Charmer on staff had its benefits. Especially when trouble broke out.
“Speaking of which… she told me she got a job offer out of state.”
“Well, shit,” Cass muttered. “I’m not surprised. She’s damn good with crowd control.” Hiring college students meant dealing with an expiration date, but they were also the ones who tended to apply for server positions. “How long do we have?”
“End of the month.”
She sighed. “I’ll get a posting up. We’ll need to hire two servers.”
“Leon?” he asked.
Nodding, she added a couple of cherries to a cherry blossom, pulled a draft beer, and then headed down the bar to set the order in front of a white-haired couple. After a minute of small talk, she did a visual check of the bar-top patrons. When no one signaled, she headed back to where Des stood. Together they watched the drama playing out between Locke and Isa. They weren’t the only ones. The sexual tension between the two was enough to leave helpless bystanders with third-degree burns.
Speaking of which…
Unbidden, her gaze drifted to Locke’s friend, only to be captured by his dark eyes. As he watched her, a smile curved his lips. He winked and tipped his drink toward the still-arguing couple as if he found them amusing.
A tendril of desire unfurled, taking her by surprise, and in a space she’d ignored for a long time, something shifted. Am I really considering…? Caught in that gaze, she admitted, Oh yeah, I’m definitely considering taking a chance. Maybe Isa wasn’t the only one about to get burned.
What is it about this man that calls to me? Better question: Is it worth finding out?
“You going to flirt all night or do something about it?”
Des’s voice tore her attention away from temptation and spun her into embarrassed discomfort. She shot her friend a frown. “I’m not flirting.” Much. “I’m providing backup for Isa.”
Dark eyebrows rose, and he drawled, “Right.”
That was the thing about best friends—they could always see through your shit.
The screech of a chair scraping over the floor brought their attention back to the floor. Des straightened, going from amused to intense in a heartbeat. Cass set a hand on his arm in warning. Locke was on his feet, going nose to nose with Isa. The two were so close that if either took a breath, they’d be locking lips.
Locke’s friend leaned over the table and said something that broke through the impending drama and drew the couple’s attention to their audience. Those sitting within orbit of the two made no bones about watching them. Color swept up Isa’s face, and she yanked her wrist free of Locke’s grip. His expression morphed into a stony mask, and his empty hand flexed as if he battled not to grab Isa again. It didn’t work. He caught her arm before she could get more than a few steps away.
In full-on protector mode, Des bit out, “Maybe I should interrupt.”
“She’s got this,” Cass said as Isa shoved her tray against Locke’s chest, forcing him back a step.
Isa snapped something threatening that had Locke jerking back and letting her go. She spun around, her long ebony ponytail smacking him, before she stormed toward the bar. A couple of customers scooted their chairs out of her path as she blew through.
“And I’m out,” Des declared, leaving Cass on her own.
She shook her head and waited for Hurricane Isa to land. It didn’t take long.
Isa slammed her tray on the bar top and all but snarled, “I need two longnecks for the asshole.”
Torn between laughter and worry, Cass grabbed two bottles from the nearby well, popped the tops, then set them on the tray. She kept hold of both bottles until Isa looked at her, a storm swirling in her normally calm gaze. Yep, Locke definitely knows what buttons to push.
“Breathe, babe, before you burn down the place,” Cass said.
Isa seethed for a long moment, color riding high along her cheeks, her breath short, her body stiff. Cass continued to hold her gaze, knowing that when her friend was this worked up, it could take a minute for her to step back from the edge. She just needed to wait Isa out.
Finally, Isa dropped her gaze. She drew in a lungful of air, held it, then blew it out as the angry flush slowly ebbed. “I don’t know why I let him get to me.”
The answer to that would have left Cass wading in a viper’s pit of denial. Thank you, but no.
Somewhere behind her, a phone rang, but she left it to Des to answer. Since Cass had gotten her ass handed to her the last time she’d proposed that Isa take Locke for a ride between the sheets, she decided to go for a more mature suggestion.
“You know, maybe if you explained?—”
