Page 28 of The Perfect Heart

But just as important as enjoying the work, or perhaps even more importantly, I enjoyed working, supporting myself, doing something on my own for the first time in years. And for the first time in years, I felt capable, the knowledge boosting my dearth of self-esteem.

It was just Joseph and me closing the bar tonight—even Nash was out for the evening at some beer tasting at a small brewery over in Wenatchee—so all the dirty work fell to us. I pushed out into the dark and shivered after the warmth inside, my boots crunching in the gray, slushy snow in the alleyway behind Tipsy Tiki. The dumpster was around the building in a dark corner, and I reached back before heaving the bag into the dumpster, listening as it hit the rest of the pile with a satisfying crash. My first few times trying to make that throw, I hadn’t been so lucky, and picking out bar trash from the snow was a horrible experience.

As I trudged back inside the Tipsy Tiki, arms wrapped around me for warmth, my breath frosted in the air as white puffs, tiny snowflakes tingling on my cheeks and eyelashes. But it wasn’t the cold that shot icicles down my back—I froze, the door halfway open, as the feeling of being watched again prickled over my skin.

My heartbeat pounded in my chest, and I raced inside without so much as a glance over my shoulder. The door slammed shut, and I allowed myself to breathe only when I saw Joseph putting away the last of the glasses.

Until I noticed the beer on the bar. Joseph didn’t drink after closing because he didn’t want one more thing to clean up. Maybe this time had been an exception?

“Was your day so bad you had to grab a beer?” I laughed, though it sounded high-pitched and nervous to my ears.

Stooped behind the bar, Joseph straightened, his gaze sliding to the beer bottle before his eyebrows creased again.

“Not mine. I thought it was yours. It was here when I came back with the glasses from the dishwasher.”

“It’s not mine,” I said, my voice faint.

Joseph shrugged and grabbed for the beer, pouring it out before chucking the bottle in the trash and returning to his closing tasks.

But I couldn’t move, fear gripping me like icy fingers. There wasn’t a single other person in the bar other than the two of us.

Right?

My gaze swept the room, but I didn’t see anything—no dirty footprints, no one sitting at a table, nothing. Joseph, the prankster, had to be playing a trick on me. That had to be it. There was no other explanation.

Right?

Chapter 14

Nash

SCROLLING THROUGH OUR next purchase order, I stopped when a shadow fell over my office. I looked up to Nicole standing in the doorway, hands braced on either side of the doorjamb as she leaned in.

She had a soft smile, but her eyes held another type of warmth. But instead of responding, my body tensed—I was still upset with her for confronting Halle. No matter how I tried to frame it, I couldn’t believe the woman had the gall to warn her off me as though she had any right to do so, as though she had some claim over me. Never mind her lie that we still had some kind of romantic connection.

“Do you need something?”

Nicole’s smile faltered at my flat tone, but I wasn’t about to pretend to be anything other than her boss. But she rallied, her body language fawning and sensual as she crossed the room to my desk, leaning her ass on the edge. She was, I noticed, wearing a low-cut top that left me wondering if she would get cold and tight jeans that showed off every curve.

But again, instead of responding in the way Nicole wanted, I only grew more annoyed. Nicole never did anything without thought behind it, without some goal in mind, or with the thought of getting what she wanted. It was how she had always been, and I had known that going into our short fling. But I hadn’t paid it much attention, thinking it wouldn’t matter.

It was clear now, though, that I had been very wrong.

I leaned back in my chair to face Nicole, hands clasped in my lap as I fixed her with a stare. “What do you want, Nicole? I’m in the middle of the purchase order for next week, and I have to get it out in time.”

She nudged my leg with her foot, the gesture both teasing and intimate—just as I had done to Halle the other day. But it wasn’t Halle, and I had to grit my teeth to keep back the words I wanted to say.

“Hey, what’s with the face?”

Nicole’s smile only grew sweeter, flirtier, and she pushed herself off the desk to move closer, so close her knee brushed mine. My gaze flicked to the open door, hoping no one was passing by to see us.

“Hey, come on.” She nudged my knee with hers. “We had something special, right? Don’t you miss that?”

I stared at her for a moment, long enough her smile faltered again, and her knee moved from mine. What exactly was Nicole’s game? She’d seemed fine after I ended it between us. Was she jealous now that Halle was back? Did she think or sense something was going on between us and was staking her claim?

Whatever was going on, I couldn’t read it in Nicole’s expression. And, in all honesty, I didn’t care. All I cared about was that she had made Halle think she had to stay away from me.

Nicole bit at her lower lip, a move that used to drive me crazy with desire. “How about it, Nash? Why don’t we give it another try? How about drinks tomorrow night? See where the night takes us?”