I feel his eyes on me. “So,” he goes on. “You drinkin’ alone?”
“Genius,” I mutter. Not that I have to explain matters to him, but it’ll be easier than him annoying me for however long it takes for him to drink his bourbon. “Look, it’s been a long week, okay.”
“I get it. It’s tough at the top. You shoot anyone this week?” I side eye him and he laughs. “What? It’s a reasonable question, you are a cop.”
“Yeah? Well, sometimes it’s not all about getting the bad guys, Aust. Today I had to peel a kid off the road in a traffic accident.”
He loses the grin, then averts his gaze to the front. “Yeah, I can see how that would be rough. What happened?”
“The Dad fell asleep at the wheel.” I shake my head.
“Did the kid make it?”
I shake my head.
“Fuck.” The bartender returns and Haze immediately orders two shots. “Don’t think a dry martini is gonna cut it tonight, Little One.”
I swallow hard. “And on New Year’s Eve, Aust. What the fuck?”
“Life ain’t fair, that much I know.”
I glance at his arms as he leans his elbows on the bar. He’s covered in tattoos, and there’s something about them that doesthings to me, even after all this time. Must be the booze talking, and having more probably won’t help that, but tonight I just don’t care.
When the shots arrive, he slides one over to me. “I find alcohol always takes the blues away.”
“You’re forgetting I’m me and I rarely ever drink.”
“Not tryin’ to get you drunk and disorderly, but you’re off duty, and it’s New Year’s.”
I raise the shot to my lips, halting as Haze holds his glass out to me. I sigh, clinking it as the liquor spills over the side. Our eyes lock.
“You want me to count down?” He smirks.
I roll my eyes, raising the glass once more as I take the entire shot, wincing as it goes down.
There’s something extraordinarily sexy about the way Haze watches me, like he’s enjoying every second of seeing me drink a shot, which is crazy.
He piques a brow. “Another?”
I shake my head. “I shouldn’t mix my drinks.” Plus, there’s a new martini waiting for me.
“Well, we finally got the business permit for the Nomad Brothers security,” he says out of nowhere. “Secured a location this week. We sign off on it in a couple of days.”
Haze and his brothers have been talking about setting up their own shop for years, but he and Brew have always lived up to their names — nomads, they’re never in one place for long, but they always come home.
“You’re finally doing it, wonders will never cease.”
“New Orleans is home, and it’s probably time I put down some roots.”
I feel his gaze on me again. I switch glasses, taking the martini into one hand as I swirl the olive around in the glass.“Thinking of settling down again?” The words sting, even though we both know we can’t be together.
“Did those words come out of my mouth?”
I shake my head. “Putting down some roots means exactly that.”
“Or it could mean gettin’ a house and stayin’ in one place. Besides, I was married one time, and that didn’t work out so well.”
“Speaking of which, when are you gonna sign those papers?”
