I’m suddenly brimming with so much excitement, so many ideas, that I can barely contain it all.
As we start chatting, I find out that they saw an online review of Brews that mentioned “the book rec bartender.”I can barely process this delightful turn of events, but they want a book and beer pairing, so that’s what they shall get.As I begin quizzing them about their trope and voice preferences, I can feel the suggestions rumbling to life within me.God, I love doing this.Soon, I’m serving up dark, heady IPAs and suspenseful thrillers, followed by a delicate rosé and a light and funny rom-com.The girls are giggling and thrilled with their pairings, and I’m ringing in their orders when Jenna sidles up to me again.
“You’ll be happy to know your number one customer is back.”
I don’t look away from the screen as I ask, “Oh yeah?Who’s that?”
“The man who looks at you with puppy dog eyes anytime he’s here.”
At the same time, I begin to hear the hoots and cheers of “Keegannnn.”My neck practically snaps as I twist toward the front door.
And then I see him.The most handsome, perfect, gorgeous, broad, delicious, freshly ice-bathed man to ever grace planet Earth.
I inhale sharply.If I were an anime character, I’d have huge throbbing red hearts for eyeballs right about now.
“Oh my god.”I’m fumbling to finish putting in the drinks, hardly able to concentrate now.To Jenna, I say, “You said he looks at me with puppy dog eyes?”
She snorts.“You’ve never noticed?Since the day you started working here, girlfriend.”She flips the bottom of my ponytail and drifts toward a returning set of customers.
I’m blinking rapidly as I close out the screen.Is she for real?How had I missed that?I can’t think about it for too much longer though, because Griffin’s gaze lands on me and it’s full tractor beam mode.I float away from the register and toward him, pulled by forces that must be of extraterrestrial origin.This feels veryNightbeastinspired, and in the back of my mind, I laugh, but I can only grin like a fool.
“Hi, roomie.”I grip the edge of the countertop, willing my hands to stay on this side of the bar.Even though every inch of me is dying to hop into his arms, pop his backwards ballcap off, run my fingers through his hair, and kiss him until I run out of breath.“Welcome back.”
The grin on his face is ear to ear.The air is swollen, charged with restraint and unspoken sentiments.
“I wish you weren’t behind that bar right now.”His voice is gritty and deep.My thighs clench, and my knuckles are turning white from how hard I’m clinging to the edge of the bar.
“Guess you’ll just have to wait until I get home,” I say, rolling my lips in.The look he gives me in return is sexy enough to unravel me right here in this packed bar.The people, the clamor of conversation, the live acoustic guitar that’s strumming on the other side of the room—it all disappears and my focus shrinks to only him.
Griffin Keegan is looking at me like he’s ready to eat me alive.
Like there’s nobody else in the entire world.
Like Spacey Casey is exactly who he’s been waiting for.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CASEY
Griffin hangs out at the bar for the rest of my shift, with those puppy dog eyes and bulging biceps that could make me say yes to anything he wanted.Once I’ve tipped everyone out and grabbed my things, we walk to his truck in expectant silence.
I want to hop on him.Hold his hand.Suffocate him with kisses.
But I can’t.Right?
“Why are you so quiet?”He pokes me and I shrug.
“Just trying to contain myself until we get home,” I admit.He grabs my bike from the bike rack and pops it in the back of the truck while I go around to the passenger side.I’m barely seated with the door swinging shut before he has my face in his hands, giving me the hungriest, deepest kiss of my life.
“Why wait for home?”he asks with a silly grin once we’ve come up for air.
“Because people will see?”I giggle as I buckle my seatbelt, and he pulls out of the parking lot, heading for his house.“I don’t know.We lived in a sex cave for a few days, then you left, and now I don’t know what the rules are.”
“Who cares if people see?”
“Well…I guess it seems easier if they don’t.”I frown, thinking about the situation.“I guess I don’t know how to categorize what’s going on between us, so…”
He sniffs as he slows to a stop at an intersection.“Two friends having a good time, right?”
