“Hi,” I say, caught off guard by the introduction.
“So…busy night here,” Jake says.
“Yeah.” I grab a bar towel and wipe at an invisible spot on the bar top. “How did you know I work here?”
“You think I only came to see you?” Jake shakes his head. “Pretty damn cocky, aren’t you?”
“Please. You wrote the playbook on cocky.”
Tuck laughs and Jake shoots him a look.
“I asked around,” Jake says.
“Why, do your sheets need changing?”
“Don’t be so defensive, Miranda.”
“My boss accused me of doing sexual favors for you today.”
Jake chokes a little on the sip of beer he was swallowing. “Is that right?”
I nod.
“Because you couldn’t stop chanting Jake’s fucking hot?”
A smile sneaks onto my face as I roll my eyes. “If I was going to chant about you, that’s not what I’d be saying.” I stop wiping the non-spot on the bar top. “Because you requested me as your housekeeper.”
“Are you down with that?”
“Does it matter?”
“Why doesn’t he think I’d request you for something besides your looks?”
“He doesn’t like my work. Apparently my vacuum lines aren’t straight enough.”
Jake sets his bottle down on the counter and gives me an incredulous look. “You’re joking, right?”
“No. He really said that about my vacuum lines.”
“What a prick.”
I shrug. “I’m used to dealing with pricks at work.”
Jake’s eyes dance with amusement. “Do you get a break?”
“No.”
A loud whistle from the other end of the bar makes me turn. A man is waving his empty beer bottle at me.
“Duty calls,” I say.
I deliver a round of fresh drinks and close out some customers, wondering in the back of my mind if Jake is still there. I have an excuse to go find out because I need to see if they want more drinks.
There’s a woman standing between Jake and Tuck, her hip resting against the bar as she faces Jake, her eyes wide with adoration. She’s twirling a lock of hair around her finger and her breasts are mere inches from Jake’s arm. So cliché. I guess some things never fail, though. She’s attractive, so the old here are my tits, take me right now game will probably work.
I don’t want to look at Jake to see if he’s enjoying the attention. I kind of hate that I even want to look. The guy’s a pretentious asshole.
But I swallow my pride and look anyway. My breath catches in my throat when I see those eyes the shade of the sky before a summer storm, because he’s not paying any attention at all to the hair twirler.
He’s staring at me.
Chapter 6
Jake
I guess it’s time to admit I like Miranda. That’s not something that happens to me much. Physical attraction, sure. But I normally don’t even think about whether I like the women I fuck. It’s not like we spend much time talking.
The lurch of excitement in my chest when she locks eyes with me, though…What the hell is that? I take a long swig of my beer, finishing it. When she sees me set the empty bottle on the bar, Miranda gets two more Heinekens and walks over.
Her brows are arched in question. I nod and look over at the blonde loaded down with cheap perfume next to me.
“Can you move?”
“Like…closer?” She smiles seductively.
“No. Like farther away.”
She scowls and pushes off the bar, mumbling about what an asshole I am.
Miranda’s smiling as she opens the beer and slides it across the bar toward me.
“I didn’t think I liked her until just now,” she says.
“I’m an asshole because I don’t want a woman grinding on my thigh while I try to drink a beer in peace?”
She considers. “No, you’re an asshole for other reasons.”
“Your hair looks really good down like that.”
“Is this where you offer to pull it as I’m screaming your name?”
My cock twitches to life in my jeans and I shift on the stool. “Hey, if that’s what you want, I’m game.”
“No.”
“Well, it’s a standing offer. Or a sitting-on-my-face one. Or from behind.”
“I’ll pass.”
I take a pull on the fresh beer, my eyes never leaving hers. “You’re attracted to me, though.”
“Oh, I am? Thanks for letting me know.”
I shrug. “I can tell. The way you looked at me when I got out of the shower the other day. The way you looked at me just now.”
She narrows her eyes slightly. “You have a nice body, yes. A woman experiencing a sexual drought as long as mine can’t help but see that. But you ruin it with your arrogance.”
“I like to call it confidence.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“Miranda, I like you, too.”
Tuck laughs next to me. “He does. And this motherfucker doesn’t like anyone. Not even his own mother.”
A surge of anger rolls through me, canceling out everything else. “You’re a fucking asshole, Tuck. Fuck you.”
I take out my wallet and pull out two twenties, not even looking at Miranda as I slam them onto the bar top. I have to get out of here.
Tuck can find his own goddamn ride home. I push through the crowd in the bar until I get to the front door.