“Bet I give better head than you.”
He snorted. “Not taking the bait, Ryder. Let’s go. Feathers is waiting, and you don’t want to get on his bad side if you want a good tip.”
Something in me thrilled at him using my nickname for our interesting customer. “Not worried about it. I’ve got that guy wrapped around my finger even though he wants to be wrapped around my dick.”
“Lovely. Can we go now?”
I tilted my head and stared at him as the best idea I ever had popped into my brain.
“Move it. We’re taking too long,” Alex complained. “Not only is the customer going to get annoyed, but Parker will notice too. What? Why are you looking at me all weird?”
“I bet if I sucked your dick, I could make you come faster than you could sucking mine.”
He coughed and sputtered. “I… what? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I shrugged as though talking about him on his knees with my dick in his mouth hadn’t felt like a punch to the gut. Good thing it was too cold in there for my core to spare blood for my dick. “What? Just making an observation. Bet I could hold out longer than you because I’m that damn good. Men are powerless against my mouth.”
He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not talking about this with you.”
“Come on. How about this? We give it a shot. You make me come quicker than I make you come, and I’ll stop working here. You come faster, and you’re stuck working with me until the next semester starts.”
His hand fell from his face, and his jaw dropped. Then, like a switch flipped, his shock transformed into anger. Scowling, he crowded into my personal space. I stepped back until my shoulder blades met the cold refrigerator shelving. He planteda hand on the shelves on either side of my head, boxing me in. Damn, in another plotline this would be hot as hell.
“I wouldn’t go to Blow Job Alley with you if my mouth could perform miracles,” he said right in my face. The words, spoken in a low, furious growl, should have felt like a threat, but they ran over my skin like light touches, making me shiver.
Okay, even in this plotline, the moment was hot as hell. Too bad it wouldn’t end with him dropping to his knees.
He shifted and leaned in until his lips brushed my ear. I shivered and not from the cold. Christ, I was going to get hard despite the frigid temperature.
“I’m too honorable a man to let you make a bet you wouldn’t stand a prayer of winning. I’d suck you so good you’d not only unload your balls in seconds, you’d forget your goddamn name.” With that raspy declaration, he shoved away from the shelf, yanked the vat of champagne from my hands, and disappeared.
I exhaled as my arms dropped limp at my sides.
What the hell had just happened? Alex had gotten the upper hand and given me the tease of a lifetime—that’s what happened.
It was so sexy my dick ached, and my knees quivered. I swallowed a lump as I lifted a trembling hand and ran it through my hair. No way could I walk out into the club like this.
Well, that determined it. We were going to make this bet and test out my theory. And if I had to pull out every dirty trick in the book to get it done, so be it.
My dick would get in that mouth. He talked a huge game, and now I needed to know if he could back it up.
“Goddamn,” I whispered over the hum of the refrigerator motor. “Wait… what the hell is Blow Job Alley?”
CHAPTER NINE
ALEX
How did he do it?
How did Ryder manage to charm every damn person who worked at Top Shelf as well as the customers? Why was I the only one who saw through his winks, sexy abs, and knuckle taps to the shallow bully beneath?
He’d started at Top Shelf precisely one week ago and already snagged his own table. Not only that, he worked it like a pro, learning the drinks, memorizing prices, and balancing efficiency and professionalism with the VIP entertainment service we provided, which was better than any club in Boston.
He was a model employee, and I hated it.
A chin landed on my shoulder at the same time as two thin but strong arms wound around my waist.
I immediately tensed.
