The smile on Preston’s face was condescending.
“Sweetheart,” he said, leaning even closer, “it’s adorable that you think I needed an apology or that I’d allow you to pay for anything. This is business mixed with a whole lot of pleasure. And for the record, the only time you’ll be allowed to pay for anything is when you ask me out on a date. Then you can pay.”
I hummed at his nearness, and the scent of his cologne did things to me. We were only centimeters apart, and I was dying to kiss him again, but the familiar sound of Cooper’s voice broke the spell.
I leaned back to see my friend Cooper Evans come sauntering in with his husband, Greg. Callum and Declan followed them in and walked up to the bar.
“Hey, Nick. How’s it going?” Cooper asked, eyeing me and Preston. Then his eyes widened as he elbowed Greg.
“Babe, watch the elbow,” Greg grunted, holding his hand over what I knew had to be washboard abs.
Preston seemed to get the idea as he glanced at them. “I’ll let you get back to work. I’m going to go see Alejandro. Call you later.” He winked, making me blush.
“Good to see you again, gentlemen. Enjoy your evening,” he said to them with a smile, then looked back at me before turning away.
“You too,” Cooper called out.
I watched as he made his way back to Alejandro’s office. “Bye.”
Cooper whistled. “Oh, holy shit. It’s a good damn thing my brother is always late.”
Callum laughed and put his hand on Cooper’s shoulder. “Dominick would have been fine, Coop. He’s over all that.”
Cooper scoffed. “Yeah, okay. You keep thinking that, old man.”
“Asshole,” Callum chuckled as Declan put his arm over his shoulders.
Snapping out of the Preston-induced haze I’d been in, I greeted my friends with a smile. “Hey guys. What can I get you?”
Declan spoke up. “We’re celebrating my husband’s birthday. We thought we’d get here early since we all have kids now. The others are on the way. Can you set us up in the usual spot?”
I nodded. “Happy Birthday, Callum. Sure thing. Follow me.” I nodded toward the reserved section Alejandro kept for them.
The Portland Pirates were regular customers at the bar, and Alejandro kept a section closed off in case they showed up. Greg and Declan were both on the team, followed by their other friends, who trailed in a few minutes later. Where you saw one or two, you usually found the rest of them. They were a tight group, and nice guys.
Alex and Christian Hayes walked in with Marcus and Aidan Monroe. As they made their way back to the table, I pulled out a notepad to take their order, just in case they ordered something different from the regular IPA.
Once I had their orders, I looked up to see Jackson and Simon Kincaid talking to Dominick Rossi and his new husband, Jesse Evans. I stood and waited for them to approach the group so I could get their orders as well.
“Hey, guys. What can I get you? And congratulations,” I said to Jesse and Dom. “I heard you guys got married.”
Dom nodded and looked at Jesse. “Yeah, we did. Thanks, man.”
I nodded with a smile and took their orders for PIPA, just like the rest of them. When I reached the bar, Ben was waiting.
“Twelve PIPA’s for the Pirates,” I laughed. They, like everyone else, loved the locally brewed Portland IPA that we called PIPA.
Ben chuckled and opened the bottles. We each picked up six bottles and took them to the tables where they were laughing about something. I could have put them on a tray, but I liked it when Ben helped out. He was getting to know them as well as I was.
Once we’d served them, we went back to the bar as customers began to trickle in. A short time later, Cooper came over to the bar.
“Hey, man. Need more beers?”
He smiled. “Nah, not yet. I just wanted to talk to you a minute.”
I nodded. “Sure. What’s up?”
Coop looked over his shoulder. “I know this is none of my business, but are you…going out with Preston James?”
