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Harlan only moves enough for her to squeeze past him and says, “Can’t stand the heat, beautiful?”

“What heat?” she asks, pausing to tilt her head back so she can meet his eyes. “The fryer?”

Harlan waves his hand up and down his body. “This heat.”

For a moment, Vanessa is struck speechless, which is something I’ve never witnessed before.

“What’s going on here?” I hear Miles ask.

His arrival pulls Vanessa out of the stupor, and she hightails it through the kitchen and goes back to the bar area.

“The women were talking out in the alley, and I was just keeping an eye on them,” Harlan informs Miles as I step into the kitchen.

Miles jabs his thumb over his shoulder. “You better get out there, Annie. We just got slammed.”

“Crap!” I hurry through the door, and seeing how many patrons there are, I feel guilty for taking a break.

I quickly begin taking orders. Half the floor is crowded with some of the patrons dancing and chatting. Suddenly, a group of women comes in, and it eats up a lot of the space.

“That’s the bartender everyone is talking about in spin class,” I hear one of the women say.

Glancing at the counter, I see Miles has joined Owen. When I head back to collect a round of beers, Miles catches my eye and says, “Shut the door if any more people come in, so we don’t go over capacity.”

I nod to indicate I hear him and start keeping an eye on the door while helping with orders. Within ten minutes, six more women arrive, and pulling the door shut, I take up position by it so I can guard it.

Hey, at least all these women are good for business.

Someone pulls on the door, and I open it slightly and say, “Sorry, we’re at max capacity. We have to wait for people to leave before you can enter.”

A pretty girl smiles at me while craning her neck so she can get a look at the bar counter. When she spots Owen, she lets out a little shriek and replies, “That’s okay. We’ll wait.”

This is insane, but I can’t blame them.

Three minutes later, a group of women leaves, and the pretty girl and her friends are able to come in.

The process of women rotating through the bar keeps repeating itself for close to twenty minutes, then suddenly the door is yanked so hard, I stumble forward and slam into one heck of a hard chest.

“Sorry,” I blurt out, even though it’s not my fault, then I ramble the usual line, “We’re at full capacity. You’re welcome to wait until people leave.”

I stare up at the huge man, who looks like he spends every second of the day lifting weights. His features tighten as he looks down on me as if I’m nothing but an annoying fly. “Do you know who I am?”

God, I’m so not in the mood for this guy.

Ignoring his stupid question, I smile sweetly and say, “Please step away from the door.”

Within a split second, he loses his temper, and letting out an angry growl, he shoves me backward while coming inside. He has two friends with him who also look like bodybuilders, and they laugh when I slam into the wall and lose my balance.

“Owen!” I hear Miles shout, panic lacing his tone, and before I can hit the floor, I’m caught and settled back on my feet.

“Tha—” My eyes bug out of my head, and my mouth drops open when Owen moves unbelievably fast and with so much precision, it looks like he’s done it a million times.

His fist slams into the angry guy’s face, and I swear the huge man’s feet lift off the floor for a couple of seconds before he falls flat on his back, out cold.

Holy hell!

The two friends go for Owen, but faster than I can blink, he knees one and grabs the other in a choke hold.

That’s when I see Owen’s face. The dead look in his eyes. The predatory curl of his lip. The dangerous expression.