She would just have to stand out, because this smile was not going away, not with the naughty montage of the past twenty-four hours playing in her head. She paused as a tremor cascaded through her body. She’d experienced those more times than she could count today.
Paxton set the vodka cranberries in front of Reed Jackson and the woman he had brought in with him tonight. She was the third different one in his past three visits to the bar.
“I hope you two are having a good time tonight,” Paxton said. “Reed, I’m not sure how you keep all these”— his eyes went wide—“drink orders in line,” she finished. She turned to his date. “Most of the folks here stick to beer, but Reed puts my bartending skills to the test. He loves to try different things. Don’t you, Reed?”
Paxton winked at him and left him at the bar with his eyes still wide.
She was in much too good of a mood to ruin Reed’s fun. Multiple orgasms tended to put her in a good mood. She should make a point of having them more often.
The bar patrons kept her busy, with everyone wanting to drink their sorrows away after the disappointing start to the game. Paxton figured she would have to call in some designated driver reinforcements to make sure everyone got home safely tonight.
Once the demand waned, Paxton turned her attention to restocking the bar before the next wave of orders came crashing through. She stooped down and grabbed hold of the cardboard box she’d brought in from her car earlier.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Donovan came up alongside her just as she set it on the shelf a few inches below the bar. “This is what I’m here for, hot mama.” He picked it up, his eyes eager. “Okay, where do you need it?”
She nodded at the bar. “Exactly where I just had it. And if you call me ‘hot mama’ again, I’m knocking you over the head with a bottle of gin.” She pointed at him. “And donotwink.”
“Next time you need to pick up a box, you call me.”
And yes, the little pain in her ass still winked at her. If he didn’t do such a great job helping them out…
Belinda rapped her knuckles on the bar to get their attention. “Donovan, Jessie needs more chicken wings. Can you get a case from the freezer outside?”
He nodded to Belinda, then looked back to Paxton. “Where’s my thank-you kiss for helping with the box?”
“I’m instituting a sexual harassment policy,” she said.
He grinned. “You know I love it when a woman plays hard to get, right?”
Paxton pointed at the kitchen door. “Go!”
Despite the dismal start to the game, the kitchen was hopping with orders for hot wings, loaded potato skins, and fried pickles. Maybe the crowd was eating their feelings as well as drowning their sorrows in liquor.
LSU began the second quarter with a quick touchdown followed by a fumble recovery in Alabama territory, and the mood around the bar instantly perked up. Of course, that meant more drinks were bought, this time to celebrate. She would definitely need to recruit more designated drivers.
When an electrified tingle drizzled down her spine, Paxton didn’t even have to look toward the entrance to know who had just arrived. She looked anyway. The drizzle turned into a torrential downpour of lust as she spotted Sawyer striding toward her with a smile so sexy it did things to her insides that should be illegal.
He wedged himself between two occupied barstools and leaned onto the bar. “Hello,” he greeted her, his voice low and sensual and infused with just enough barely veiled hunger to make Paxton’s body go liquid.
“Hello,” she returned. “Can I get you a drink?”
“What tastes good around here?” His eyes dropped to her waist. “Besides…you know.”
Her entire body went up in flames.
Stop that,she mouthed.
No,he mouthed back, slowly shaking his head.
Paxton leaned over the bar and put her lips to his ear. “Just because you saw me naked for the second time doesn’t mean you get to talk to me any way you want.”
“Technically, it was the third time. You were foolish enough to put a shirt on for a while, remember?”
Yes, she remembered that lapse in judgment. She’d put on his T-shirt to go to the kitchen for a glass of soda. He’d immediately stripped it from her body when she returned to his room and made love to her for the second time last night. They’d fallen asleep naked in each other’s arms, awakening with the sun and making love again this morning.
And then again in the shower.
Despite it being a Saturday morning, they’d gone to the law office to get a few hours of work done in preparation for Monday’s town hall meeting. The concentration it took to actually work once they got there was, by far, the greatest feat Paxton had achieved this year. Somehow they managed to get most of the agenda for the meeting nailed down between a barrage of stolen kisses and one shoulder rub that got wildly out of hand. A shudder ran through her at the memory.
