“Not like that.” Her gaze jumps around the bar. It’s not crowded tonight. There are a few people from around town, and the seasonal workers are easy to tell apart from the tourists, mostly because the tourists don’t visit the local dive bar. Bootleg Tavern isn’t recommended by the locals, but it’s the biggest bar in the area.
When she brings her attention back to me, her jaw is tight. “There was a time I could get us free drinks all night long.”
Her bold statement comes out of nowhere. “How?”
“Flirting. Showing my tits. Giggling.”
“That usually works on a guy, but why?”
She drapes her long locks over a shoulder and gives me a sexy pout that goes right to my dick. “I could show you.”
The lilt in her voice tickles my eardrums and makes me think of an old bombshell cartoon character. A modern dark-haired Marilyn Monroe. But it’s not right. It’s not Elodie. She’s holding tension in her shoulders and the stiff way she’s sitting. She does not want to show me. “No, sugar. I’m buying all your drinks tonight anyway.”
Her eyes shine, but there’s more shame in those hazel irises. “I would order huge meals on dates. I only nibbled at it and took it all to go.”
Dates? Wasn’t she with that bastard? The con dawns on me. “And Dwayne got a free meal?”
Wetness shone in her eyes. “I would go on three dates in a night so we’d all have a free meal.”
Anger pushes at my temples. That’s a lot of pressure for a young girl dating her superior. “Did you want to do that?”
She gives me a tiny shake of her head. “I did it anyway. I told you that we worked as chefs together, but his brother also served at the same restaurant. So we ran the con in our workplace. Damon would act like he didn’t know me and the rest of the staff thought it was funny.”
Ran the con? Something about the way she said it tells a whole other story. “Did you do stuff like that a lot?”
“Yes.” She casts her gaze down. “It was just...”
I cup her chin and lift her face up. “It’s okay, sugar. You can talk to me.” We’re an oasis in the middle of Bootleg. Even Silas is chatting across the room with some ranchers.
“I’ve never told anyone about this,” she whispers. Her brow furrows and she looks around. “I shouldn’t be talking about this in public.”
I dig out my wallet and toss down well more than what our drinks cost. “Have a good night,” I call to Silas.
He nods goodbye to Elodie, but his attention is on the money.
“Where are we going?” Elodie asks as I help her off the stool.
“We’ll drive around. So you feel comfortable talking.”
She stops, her hands on my arms. “This is a date. I don’t want—I want to have fun.”
I asked her to dredge up some of her worst memories, and she did. When the subject of my past got too heavy, she changed it. “I think you have fun when you dance.”
That lovely blush dusts her cheeks. “That’s private.”
I lead her to a small clearing by the old jukebox. Silas doesn’t like to have a band, but sometimes people dance. I pull her close to me as I check out the selection. “What should I play?”
“I don’t think Silas and I have the same taste in music,” she says wryly. The swell of her breasts pushes against my arm, and an electrical current runs right to my dick. “Do some country songs.”
“Something with a good beat?” I flip through options.
“No, something slow.” She points to “Cowboy Take Me Away.”
“Are you trying to tell me something, sugar?” I put money in and a few seconds later, the first notes flow through the speakers.
“There aren’t as many about whiskey distillers taking me away.”
I chuckle and pull her into my arms. “Even less about vodka and gin distillers.”
