Page 50 of Above ’N’ Beyond

“It’s not that.” He pointed to the bottle. “That’s the same label I had at your aunt’s last night, but it tastes different.”

“Sorry.” Bella’s lips curved in an impish grin. “I should have known Paola would serve that at her house. The Il Caggio and Pierazzuoli Chiantis are two of Tony’s favorites. He doesn’t have a key to the cooler where I keep the top-shelf bottles, but he knows where I hide it. He only thinks I don’t know that he knows where the key is, but I do know. And since he doesn’t pay a dime here, I can’t afford for him to keep pilfering all the good stuff.”

Jamie already knew where she was headed. “You switched the bottles. Or the labels.”

She laughed, then sobered. “Please don’t tell him. My wine distributer and I have an understanding. I feed him very well when he comes here, and he gives me spare Il Caggio labels. Every time a delivery arrives, I use a heat gun to remove the original labels off a similar but significantly less expensive wine, then slap on the Il Caggio labels. Tony can’t even tell the difference. He only thinks he knows good wine, but he doesn’t.” Her smile broadened, brightening her face like a ray of sunshine.

“I promise I won’t tell.” He clinked her glass again. “You’re a very crafty woman. I’ll have to remember that.”

The smile on her face vanished. He hadn’t intended for there to be any hidden meaning behind his words. Maybe she was just worried he’d throw her under the bus and tell Tony about her subterfuge.

She cleared her throat, then picked up one of the cameras. “I put all the sim cards in, but I can’t get any of the cameras to sync to my phone. I don’t know if there’s something wrong with them or whether it’s because my phone is old.”

“Could be your phone’s operating system isn’t capable of communicating with the camera app.” He picked up the camera that was already plugged into an outlet beneath the bar. “Want me to test them out on my phone? That way you’ll know if it’s the cameras or your phone.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

He unlocked his phone, then set to work downloading the app in the instruction manual. “You need to create a login name and password. Write it down, in case you forget it. You can change it later if you wind up getting a new phone.”

She reached for an order pad and pen sitting on the edge of the bar near the waitress station. For a moment, she tapped the pen on the bar, then scribbled something down and slid over the pad. Her login name was Gnocchi, her password Freedom2023! Freedom from Paola?

Jamie entered the information, creating the account, then popped a sim card into the back of the camera. “Here.” He pointed to his phone. “Watch what I do.”

Bella stood next to him. She was so close all it would take was the turn of his head and he could kiss her.

Focus. On. The job.

The air conditioning didn’t help his predicament any, kicking on and carrying her scent into his nose and lungs.

“See?” He turned to Bella just as she leaned in closer. Warm breath washed over his face as their noses bumped. When her breast grazed his arm, every hair on his body stood up straighter than a class of police cadets on graduation day.

The tip of her tongue darted out, drawing his attention to her lips. Glistening, rosy lips that had him leaning in, just a little.

You can’t do this.

Getting information from her was one thing. Kissing her again and doing a swan dive into her pants was an entirely different matter.

When a pink blush crept to her cheeks, it was obvious whatever was going on in her head was similar in nature.

A few seconds and a few beeps later, a blue light blinked on the first camera, then a computerized monotone voice announced, “Sync complete.” Soon after, he had the same results on the other two cameras.

Bella took a sip of wine, then licked her lips again, which did nothing to erase the feel of her leaning gently over his shoulder. “I guess that confirms it,” she said. “It’s my phone. I’ve been meaning to trade it in for an upgrade. I just haven’t had the time.”

“That’s understandable. Running a restaurant is a labor of love, but it’s also a heavy burden. You almost never get a day off.” He cued up the camera and tapped the screen.

“So true.” Her blond brows rose. “Most people don’t know that.”

He aimed the camera at Jax, who’d lain down in front of the door and was watching people on the sidewalk. “You seem surprised that I do.”

“Well, it’s just that…”

“Just what?”

“You’re not what I expected. You’re…nice.”

Jamie laughed. “What did you expect?”

“That you’d be—”