Boycotts and Barflies (9 page)

There was only that brief glimpse; then Grace didn’t see him again. Bianca was  certain that he hadn’t come down the stairs, but Meg couldn’t see him at the

bar yet, either. They were playing really good music at the club so they were  perfectly content to stay in the cover of the dance floor a while longer until  things cooled down. Bianca and Meg took the opportunity to teach Grace a few  new moves. More specifically, Bianca insisted that Grace practice her booty  drop, because, as she so lovingly told her, “Grace, you look like my grandma  tying her shoe, not like a woman doing a sexy dance move.”

Meg leaned over and shouted, “I can’t stand it anymore. I need to know if he  remembers me. I’m going to march over there and order a drink from Ryan.

Oh, there’s Michael. He’s back at the bar! I’ll go spy on him and see if I can hear  what he’s saying about the pizzas. You guys stay over here and I’ll be right  back.” She skipped away from her friends with a huge grin on her face, her  white dress flowing behind her.

Grac e turned around and nearly shouted to Bianca over the loud music.

“She’s not winning our bet. Those shoes are as good as mine!”

Bianca raised her eyebrows high in the air, taken aback by her friend’s  comment. “And what about me? Am I chopped liver or something?”

“I hate to break it to you, but you never stood a chance in this one, Bianca.

You like boys way too much,” Grace teased, until she felt Bianca give her rear a  hard whack and she let out a yelp.

“Just for that insult, this whole next song, you have to practice your grinding  moves on me! Show me what you got, girl.”

“Cyclone” by T-Pain came on and everyone on the dance floor started moving  and gyrating together. Grace insisted Bianca stand behind her while she  danced, especially in the low cut jeans sh e was wearing. One wrong bend and  Grace was certain a cheek might just fly out. The last thing that she wanted was  some random guy looking at her butt.

Grace and Bianca were having a great time; the beat was slow and sexy,

making it an easy song to move to . Bianca danced right behind Grace and

helped her hips find the right beat when she occasionally got off track. While  she danced, Grace had a view of a small section of the bar and could see  Michael every so often when he walked past. Whenever she saw him, Grace  would 61

become distracted and stop dancing, ending up off beat, which would annoy  Bianca to no end. When she tried to do a booty drop toward the end of the

song, Bianca growled.

“Come on, Grace, you can do better than that,” she scolded in her ear. “Now  here’s the perfect song for you.” The DJ put on “Hot in Herre” by Nelly, one of  Bianca’s favorites. “OK, listen to the music and just think of some really hot guy,  and pretend that you’re dancing for him. Impress me, and I won’t bother you  again for the rest of the night. I swear!” She held up her hand like a good little  girl scout and crossed her heart.

Grace rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll unleash the full potential of my dance moves on  you, but if I start to look like I’m having a seizure or something, please stop me.  And whatever you do, stay behind me. These pants leave little to the  imagination and I’m self-conscious enough as it is.” Grace felt Bianca snuggle

up right behind her, which made her relax more.

Trying to  get in the right frame of mind to dance, like Bianca recommended,  Grace closed her eyes. She thought back to the gym, when she was pressed up  against Michael’s chest, remembering just how good that felt. The memory of  the hard planes of his body, the heat  that was coming off his skin … it was just  the inspiration Grace needed. She started dancing, imagining Michael watching  her as she started slowly moving her hips with Bianca’s.

“That’s it, Grace. Keep it up, girl!” Bianca said encouragingly in her ear.

“N ow drop it, and remember—arch your back on the way back up.”

The first one was a disaster and Bianca started laughing. “Do you have a back  condition or something? What the heck was that? Try another one.”

Glancing over at the vast blue wall, Grace and Bianca saw a small flash of white  that appeared to be sitting on top of the bar. What the hell is Meg doing up  there? Grace’s view was temporarily blocked by the people dancing around

her. She got up on her tip toes to see if it was in fact Meg up there. When  she’d  stopped moving, though, she felt Bianca’s hands firmly grab on to her hips,  moving her body in rhythm again.

“Sorry, Bianca, I thought I saw Meg. I’m dancing, I’m dancing,” Grace

mumbled. I better give her what she wants or I’ll be doing this all night.

Never taking her eyes off the bar, she once again found her thoughts drifting to

Michael, letting the beat of the music lead her body. She threw her hands over her head and did the best few minutes of grinding of the night. Bianca let out an approving  whistle behind her, letting Grace know that she managed to impress her.

62

Grace was still scouring the bar for Meg when she felt Bianca brush the hair over her shoulder and lean in to say something in her ear.

Instead of  hearing Bianca, though, Grace heard a deep, husky voice say,

“Thanks for the pizza, Suzy.” His hot breath tickled her neck while his fingers held her in place as he rocked her hips tightly against his.

Immediately Grace’s heart thundered in her chest and h er body broke out in goose bumps as his hands moved slowly up and down her sides. She was totally mortified when she realized who she had been grinding her ass against for the last few minutes.

Grace spun around to see Michael, a sexy smirk on his face, standing so close there was barely an inch between them. With her face feeling like it was on fire, she breathlessly whispered, “Michael.” His eyes were the color of the sky on a clear summer day  and even more intense than she remembered.

He didn’t say a word but continued moving his body with hers, beat for beat, not allowing Grace’s embarrassment to end the erotic dance they found themselves enjoying. His hands returned to her hips and his eyes wandered over her body as if examining every curve and swell of her feminine figure.

On the verge of losing control, Grace glanced over his shoulder and found  Bianca standing a few feet away, laughing her ass off. She mouthed “You’re dead”to her friend, then looked back up at Michael’s perfect features, hoping he didn’t notice just how badly she was trembling from his touch.

Big mistake.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working?” she blurted out, flustered not only by his proximity but the intensity of his gaze.  She took a step away from him, trying desperately to separate her body from his and clear her head. But when she backed up, Michael simply took one step closer, closing the small distance that  Grace had created.

With a masculine confidence that set her body on fire, Michael stood there,

gazing at her. “I am working. I better go back or Jack will have my head. But

you know where I’ll be if you want to talk or anything.” His darkened eyes once

again swept down her body, then returned to her face as a sly grin crossed his  lips. “Oh, and thanks for the dance. It was really … hot.” He reached down and  took Grace’s quivering hand, kissing the top of it before winking at her and  heading back to the bar.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She just  stood there, her  knuckles tingling from where his lips had made contact with her skin, her 63

legs—jelly. Bianca came running over laughing. “Sorry, Grace, but I have to do  whatever I can to win those shoes, and I think that just increased my chances  of winning big time. You guys looked so hot together on the dance floor!”

Still unable to form any intelligible speech, Grace took off up the stairs, back to  the table where she snatched up both her own Cosmo and Meg’s, downing b oth  of them in huge gulps. When her breathing and pulse returned to the normal  range, Grace glared savagely at her so-called friend. “That was evil, Bianca!  How long was he behind me? Do I even want to know?”

Shaking her head no, Bianca bit her lip to hide her grin but answered anyway. “We switched when you stopped dancing. I thought for sure you’d notice, but  you were distracted by something at the bar. The man jumped right in and put  his hands on your hips and got you dancing again. That was the hottest thing  I’ve ever seen. You really must have been feeling it.” She cracked herself up  while Grace found herself blushing, again.

The pieces all began to fall into place in her head. It had been Michael that  whistled at her when she was dancing, and those were his commanding hands  on her hips. Shoot me now. Just kill me, Grace thought as she flung her face  down into her hands. On the plus side, he did say the dance was hot.

When she regained her composure, she looked at Bianca and said, “That was  evil and I will get you back somehow.”

“I told you, I’m just trying to increase my chances of winning the shoes.

There’s nothing wrong with that.” As Grace came down from her adrenaline  rush, she and Bianca burst into laughter. They settled down, and then Grace  remembered what had distracted her earlier. She jumped up from her chair  and looked over the rail to the bar where she found Meg, sitting on the corner  of the bar, with a notebook in her hand taking drink orders from customers

and barking them out to Ryan, who happily ran around filling them.

Grace looked over her shoulder. “Bianca, come check this out!”

“That little shit! What’s gotten into her?” Bianca peered down at Meg from the  railing, watching her not only flirt with Ryan, but Jack as well.

Thank you for evaluating PDF to ePub Converter.

To get full version, you need to purchase the software from:
http://www.pdf-epub-converter.com/convert-to-epub-purchase.html

“I have no idea, but I guess he remembered her. Come on, let’s go make Jack’s

day! Your turn to have some fun.”

Bianca whipped a mirror out of her purse and quickly fixed her hair and put on

a fresh coat of lipstick. “Let’s do this,” she said with a wink and an excited

gleam in her eye.

64

Grace had to muster all of her courage to walk down to the bar and talk to  Michael after what had just happened out on the dance floor. Every time her mind wandered back to it, she felt the blood rush to her cheeks and she began fanning herself from the intense heat radiating off her skin. If it was possible to die from embarrassment, Grace was sure she’d be in the ICU.

Somehow, she managed to force one foot in front of the other and strolled up behind Michael, who was leaning with his back to the bar, talking to Jack. “Michael!” she shouted right behind him. His hands flew up into the air as he spun, nearly spilling the drink in his hand. At first, his face was annoyed, until he saw it was Grace. Then his expression changed to a sexy smirk.

“Trying to kill me this evening? First the dance, and now you’re screaming at me? You know there’s only so much excitement my poor heart can take.” He dramatically put his hand over his heart. “So what brings you here? Did you miss me?” he asked as he leaned over the bar, his eyes twinkling.

The deep tenor of his voice made Grace’s knees weak, and she couldn’t stop looking at the sexy curve of his red lips. “No, I came to apologize for, you know  … rubbing myself all over you before. If it makes you feel any better, that was the most embarrassing moment of my entire life, and you were able to witness it.” Grace grinned uncomfortably, hoping the floor would open up and swallow her whole. “Sorry that you had to endure that.”

“Endure? Actually, I rather enjoyed myself.” God, why does he have to be

so gorgeous?

“Yo, Suzy!” she heard Jack boom from the other end of the bar. “Thanks for the

pizza!” In all of her mortification over the impromptu dirty dancing incident,

Grace had completely forgotten about the pizzas, but that discussion would

have to wait for a few minutes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bianca heading toward them. Without thinking, Grace grabbed Michael’s hand on the bar and pulled him closer. “Trust me; you’re going to love this. See the girl over my shoulder that looks like a Seahawks cheerleader?”

Michael leaned to the left so he could get a peek at Bianca. His face looked slightly frightened as he nodded his head yes.

“Just watch a master at work,” Grace  whispered and let go of his hand, instantly missing the contact. She shyly folded her hands on the bar and waited as

Bianca approached.

65

Jack had his head ducked under the bar and was rummaging through a large box when Bianca slapped both hands on the bar top and leaned over to get his attention. “Excuse me. Can I get a drink, please?” she purred, her long red hair dangling seductively over one shoulder.

Without even looking up, Jack held up one finger which frustrated the  hell out of Bianca. She was using her best stuff here, the things that made every man stop in his tracks and take notice, yet Jack wasn’t even paying attention.

“Does he know her?” Michael whispered, leaning his head closer to Grace.

His warm breath blew across her ear.

Any time he moved near Grace, her heart thundered in her chest. “Kind of …” At that moment, Jack finally looked up from the box and saw Bianca, looking every bit the Seahawks pin-up girl, draped over the bar on front of him. His eyes went from her face, to her cleavage, and back to her face in the span of one second.

Then he froze and his eyes grew wide. The box he took out from under the bar crashed to the floor sending about a thousand straws to scatter at his feet. Grace heard Ryan cursing down at the other end.

“Oh my God! It’s you …” Jack mumbled.

“How’s the eye?” she asked pointing a beautiful y manicured finger at his face. Michael turned to Grace. “She’s the one who gave him the black eye?” He was unable to hide the joy and amazement in his eyes at this discovery.

“Yep, she did. She’s got a wicked right hook.” Grace watched Jack start stammering as he tried to apologize to Bianca. She stood, tall and statuesque, with her hands firmly planted on her hips, but one corner of her mouth turn ed up slightly.

“No, wait, I really am sorry. I would never grab … I mean, OK, I guess I probably would have grabbed you. I mean, look at you … wow … but not in the line at the football game … and I probably would have waited until I at least knew your

nam e. Hi … nice shirt. Go Seahawks?” he sputtered random words out of his

mouth, trying to gauge how much trouble he was in with the fiery redhead in

front of him. He nervously began raking his hand over his beard, trying to get a

read on her.

Michael and Ryan watched their friend flounder awhile longer; then they had to come over and rub it in. “Jack!” Michael strolled over and patted him on the back. “Introduce us to your friend. She seems to be quite the football fan.

Did Jack tell you we were at the game this weekend?”

66

Ryan finally caught his breath and added, “Were you by any chance at the game too?”

Jack started furiously wiping down the bar, trying to not pay attention to the conversation that he knew was going to live in infamy, but Bianca wasn’t letting him off that easily. “Why, as a matter of fact, we were at the game this weekend, weren’t we girls?” she looked over at Grace and Meg, who nodded in agreement. “That’s where I met your friend here.”

As Jack continued  wiping off the bar, Bianca grabbed his arm. “Would you like to tell them the story of how we met, or should I?”

His face went white, his dark brown eyes pleading with her to not tell them anything, but Bianca was having fun watching him come unhinged. She took a deep breath and started the story. “Well, I had just gone and bought my jersey and was on my way back up  to the club level when I decided to stop at the concession stand and get some popcorn. So I’m standing in line, minding my own business, and as the guy hands me my popcorn, I feel someone reach over and grab my ass.” She glared in Jack’s direction as he op ened his mouth to protest, and silenced him with her hand over his mouth before a sound escaped.

“I turned to him and said, ‘What the hell to you think you’re doing?’ and he turns to me and says, ‘I wasn’t trying to grab you; I was trying to grab my wiener.’” Bianca couldn’t go on with the story because Michael and Ryan collapsed onto the bar in hysterics.

“Tell me you didn’t say that,” Ryan begged, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Jack pried Bianca’s hand off his mouth and held it in his. “Wait, that’s not exactly how it happened. Can I please tell my side of it?” Grace and Meg were on the edge of their seats while Michael and Ryan gasped for breath.

“Go ahead, Jack, I’m sure your explanation will make it all better,”

Michael laughed.

“OK, so you guys know that after the long drive, I was starving. So I went down to the concession stand, too, and I must have been next to her in line, but I

didn’t notice her.” Bianca let out an angry huff at the thought of any man not

noticing her.

Jack picked up on her irritation and smiled. “I was watching the television so I

wouldn’t miss the game. You were on the other side of me. Otherwise I

definitely would have been checking you out, trust me.” He gave Bianca a

confident wink that finally made her smile.

67

“So anyway, when I got to the window, I ordered a large hot dog—you know,  the third- of- a-pound ones—because I was hungry and had been thinking about  this hot dog all game. The guy tells me I was pretty lucky because I got the last  one. When he handed me the hot dog, I also went to pick up the hot pretzel I  had to get for someone,” he glared at Ryan who saluted him with his middle  finger, “and when I turned, the hot dog slipped out of my hand and I went to  catch it, but I missed and I guess that’s when my hand accidentally grabbed  your ass.” He looked at Bianca apologetically.

“So your lame excuse about grabbing your wiener was true?” Now Bianca was  in hysterics.

“Yes, and that’s what I tried to explain to you before you decided to deck me,”  Jack said, pointing back up at his bruised eye. “Then, when I tried to follow you  to explain, you sicked the elevator boy on me, and I was stuck looking like

some perverted ass -grabber with a black eye.”

Grace’s cheeks burned from laughing. At some point during her hysteria, she  must have taken a hold of Michael’s hand because she became very aware of  the fact that they were touching and just how good it felt when he gave her  hand a squeeze. She nervously slid her hand away from his and looked up to  find  him watching her.

“So how much of Jack’s story did you know?” Grace joked, trying to take his  focus off of her.

“He told us he accidentally grabbed some girl’s ass, but he left out the part  about his wiener. That sounds so bad. No wonder she decked you, Jack,”  Michael said as he looked down the bar. “In his defense, he did whine the rest  of the game about not getting to eat his hot dog.”

“Shut up, Mike. Why don’t you and your girl Suzy there go enjoy some pizza?”  Jack snarled as he turned his attention back to Bianca who wanted to get a  closer look at her handiwork. Jack happily leaned closer and allowed her to run  her fingers gingerly over the bruise under his eye, basking in her tender  attention.

Jack’s comment snapped Grace out of her Michael-induced haze . “Oh gosh, here.” She pulled money out of her pocket and held it out to Michael, who stood there looking puzzled.

“What’s that for? My pain and suffering because of the dance?” he teased.

“Very funny. No, it’s for the pizzas.” Grace dropped the money onto the bar, but he pushed it back to her.

68

“I’m not taking your money.”

“Take the money. The look on your face was worth every penny. And from  what I could tell, you don’t seem to like pizza with the works very much.” She  pointed her thumb in the direction of the pile of pizzas that some of the other  employees were now helping themselves to.

“Not a big fan of onions, sorry,” Michael said while quickly getting a few beers  for one of the servers.

“Yeah, it would probably make it difficult to make out with all your barfly  groupies if you have onion breath.” Grace bit her lip to keep from laughing at  the shocked expression on his face.

“How did you know about barflies? Never mind—Vicki. I need to have a little  chat with my friend later,” he said, looking up at her section of tables. He  smiled and turned his attention back to Grace with a wicked grin.

“And for your information, there’s only been one girl I’ve met in the last few  weeks that I wanted to kiss. However, the first time we met, it wasn’t here at  the bar, so she isn’t really a barfly, even though she seems to be becoming a  regular here.” He playfully raised an eyebrow as he continued unleashing the  full power of his charms on her. He moved closer, and with a sexy male

arrogance, waited for her reaction to what he said.

Grace felt her face getting hot, in part from embarrassment, but also from the  thought of what it would be like to kiss Michael, wondering how his lips would  feel against hers, how they would taste. Flustered, she nervously played with a  strand of her hair and tried to hide her face to keep him from seeing how his  words had affected her.

Desperate to change the subject, she tried to deflect his attention. “So, I want to  know how many times you’ve had pissed-off girls send you pizzas from this  place.” She glanced over at the stack of Mama Rosa’s boxes.

He laughed. “Never.”

“No one ever called an order in for you before when you gave them the bogus  number? Why not?” Grace asked in amazement.

“Probably because they weren’t nearly as clever as you,” he half whispered. Michael glanced down at the money which was still sitting in front of him. “Please take this back. I don’t want it. I gave out the number; I should be a man  and face the consequences.”

“But I feel bad. I stuck you with a bunch of pizzas you won’t even eat. The least  I could do is pay for them.”

69

“You know what you can give me instead of money?” His eyes had that naughty  twinkle in them again. Grace’s heart fluttered when he began slowly running  his thumb over her wrist.

“I’m not kissing you.”

“Who said anything about a kiss?” he asked innocently.

“I’m not giving you my phone number. I don’t know you that well. You could be  a stalker or something.”

“I don’t want your phone number either. Well, I do, but that’s not what I want  right now.”

Completely confused as to where he was going with this, she narrowed her  eyes suspiciously. “What do you want then?”

“Your real name, please. I’ve seen pictures of the girl Suzy that Jack was with,  and let’s just say he wasn’t very ‘selective’ for his first time, if you know what I  mean. Every time I call you Suzy, I see her face, and it’s starting to make me ill.  Besides, you seem to already know my name, so I think it’s only fair that I  know yours.” He stood, confidently waiting for her answer.