Thus, she took the advice she would’ve given her patients: step away from the problem to create a solution.
“An extended vacation will help.” It always did. And maybe after a few more months of holiday, she’d be reinvigorated to get back to her work.
That’s why the anonymity of waitressing in a bar held massive appeal. Most of the time, guests didn’t even look at the waitress. Not really. They expected nothing other than a smile and quick service. They weren’t searching for anyone to help them understand their emotional baggage. They just wanted someone to bring them a beer.
Linx didn’t seem convinced of her decision. He dropped his elbows to the table and leveled his eyes at her. “What if the vacation doesn’t help?”
She was absolutely not going to consider that. Not a possibility. Nope.
“Then I guess I’m screwed.” She tried to toss her hands wide, but ended up nearly whacking someone nearby. She tucked them in front of her instead.
Linx shook his head. “Does your work make you as happy as you were on the stage just now?”
No. Absolutely not. That was a very large negative. Hence the whole selling, leaving, and life-sabbatical thing.
“Can I ask you a question?” she asked.
He nodded. “Sure.”
“Anything?” she asked.
“That depends.”
So, no. Not anything. Just some things.
“Ask your question, and maybe I’ll answer.” His proximity had her turned all topsy-turvy.
She tilted her head to the side. “You think I have promise as a musician?”
He choked on his beer but recovered. He dropped his forehead to his hand and smiled. He didn’t, however, answer.
“That’s ano,then.” She let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Do you want to be a professional performer?” he asked, like he was suddenly taking her comment seriously.
“God, no,” she said, matching the intensity of his tone.
He pinched his lips together and nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”
She chucked him on his shoulder gently with her fist like she would’ve done with any of her brothers. He caught her hand and gripped it in response. The maneuver clearly intended to prevent a secondary attack, but instead of doing the brotherly thing and dropping her palm, he held her hand and opened her fist so it splayed against his. The heat between them crackled, the big mitt of his palm against her small hand. This encounter was totally going in her diary. Then he kissed her knuckles and she nearly came on the spot.
Was it possible for a girl to come from just the slightest hand massage and knuckle kiss?
She was certain the answer to that was now yes, yes, it was.
“You know what?” He stared into her eyes like she was the only person in the universe. “I like your plan. I want to help.”
“My only rule on this holiday is that everything has to be fun.” She extracted her hand from his. Not because she wanted to, but because she couldn’t exactly have an orgasm in the middle of the bar. “Which leads to my question… How are you going help me have the time of my life, Mr. Linx?”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” he said this all mysterious-like. “And call me Cedric.”
Cedric. Mysterious and sexy and—
“Dimefront, huh? That’s pretty awesome,” she said, cutting off her roaming thoughts about his mysterious sexiness.
The expression that crossed his face did not show he thought the Dimefront thing was awesome. Maybe she misread. However, any hint of dissatisfaction was long gone, quickly replaced by the effortless charm of his perma-grin with a dash of smolder.
“I guess I gave myself away up there,” he said.
