Down to You (6 page)

“I would say I’ve been expecting you, but I
just found out I’ll be training you, so...”

She’s prickly, yes, but not overtly hostile.
I take that as a good sign and go in like a linebacker. “I’ll try
my best to catch on quick. Luckily, I have plenty of bartending
experience, so…” I say, trailing off like she did.

She nods, but her smile is clearly doubtful.
“We’ll see.”

“Great!” I say exuberantly. “I look forward
to it.” Quickly, I turn to the guy, aiming my hand in his
direction. He’s still smiling. “Olivia.”

“Marco,” he says smoothly, his eyes twinkling
with mischief. Every now and again you meet someone you just
know
is immediately attracted to you. There is no doubt in
my mind that Marco is attracted to me. He’s not even trying to hide
it. And why would he? There’s probably not a female on the planet
who could resist the charms of someone like him—dark, hot,
easy-going, killer smile. “My night just got a whole lot
better.”

Oh, he’s gonna be a handful!

“Maybe mine did, too,” I reply with a playful
grin. My ability to flirt with him is the biggest indication that
nothing will ever happen between us. It’s the guys that tie me in
knots, like Nash and Cash, that give me reason to worry.

“Turn that cutsie smile of yours on some
clients and maybe you’ll do all right, but you still better be able
to sling some drinks,” Taryn says sharply as she walks away.

Marco makes a shooing motion with his hand
and rolls his eyes. “Just ignore her. She’s in a constant state of
heightened PMS. She gets a little better once the place fills
up.”

I smile and nod, but I’m thinking,
Oh,
thank God!

“Maybe her dreads are too tight,” I
mumble.

Marco laughs. “Damn! Beautiful
and
funny. I can’t wait to see what else you’re hiding behind that sexy
smile.”

“Nothing as charming as what you’ve got
behind yours, I’m sure.”

Marco starts nodding, his smile never
faltering. “Oh, yeah. We’re gonna get along just fine.”

CHAPTER TEN- Cash

I rarely ever
dread
work, but I
usually don’t look forward to it quite this much either. I give the
room enough time to fill up and then go out to check on Olivia’s
progress. I’ve made a point to give her time to adjust before
showing my face. I figure that might make her nervous.

I know she wants me. Or at least I think she
does. I just think she doesn’t
want
to want me. That alone
piques my interest.

I don’t mind the cat-and-mouse thing we’ve
got going on. I’m willing to play a little to get her into my bed.
I’ve got good instincts about women most of the time, and my gut
tells me she’ll be worth the wait.

When I step onto the floor, I look across the
ocean of moving heads. My eyes go straight to the bar. To
Olivia.

I have a clear shot of her, partly because I
stand a couple inches over the tallest person between us and partly
because there is a little bubble of men around her. Already.

She’s smiling at a client as she mixes a rum
and Coke. I watch her take his card and run it through the machine
at the register, like she’s been doing it every day for years.

She’s good. And I’m pleased. I would’ve kept
her anyway, but it’s nice to know she’s worth it.

Oh, she’s worth it, all right.

My mind wants to drift off to visions of
laying her out on the bar when the club is empty, of peeling her
clothes off and licking her smooth skin. Ruthlessly, I wrangle my
thoughts and bring them back to the matter at hand—her audition.
She never needs to know that it’s unnecessary. She’d be hired
regardless. But I’m having her audition anyway, more for my
pleasure than anything else.

I shoulder my way through the crowd, making
my way to her end of the long, straight bar. I stop at the edge of
the semi-circle of guys surrounding her and wait until she looks up
and sees me. When she does, I see her pause. It’s nearly
imperceptible, so much so that I doubt anyone else notices. But I
notice. And that’s all that matters.

She licks her lips nervously and smiles. I
wink at her, just to see what she’ll do. She pauses again and her
cheeks get red, but then she looks away.

She frowns for a second. I don’t think she
even realizes she’s doing it.

Damn, I love that! She reacts to me even
when she doesn’t want to.

I don’t know why she tries so hard to resist
me. I’m not such a bad guy. I’m fit and healthy, a successful
business owner, I’m not in debt, and I’m pretty damn good-looking.
Or so I hear anyway.

I move in closer to the bar, leaning one
elbow on it as I turn to the group of guys. “So, what’s it gonna
be, boys? We’ve got a new bartender to audition.”

Cheers go up all around me. Olivia’s got a
fan base already. She’s gonna make me a killing.

I hear terms like bar dance, sing along, and
crowd crawl being tossed around, but then two words rise above the
rest and soon everyone has joined in to chant them.

“Body shot! Body shot! Body shot!”

Olivia is watching with interest as her fate
is decided.

“Body shot it is!” I shout.

I look at Olivia and raise my hands, palm up.
“The bar has spoken.” She gives me a nod and a small smile as she
wipes her hands on her jeans. “Pick your victim.”

She bites her lip as she looks across the bar
at all the guys watching her. I know without a doubt each one is
wishing they could be the lucky guy, but she’s a smart girl. She
knows there’s more to this “audition” than meets the eye. She’s
weighing her options and thinking about an appropriate
response.

Having worked in a bar before, she has to
know that drinking on the job is strictly forbidden, which excludes
Marco and Taryn. She probably also knows that engaging in something
like this with a client is frowned upon as well. She’s thinking it
through.

Smart girl.

An audition at my bar is always about finding
a way to keep the people happy without breaking any rules. I’m a
rule-breaker by nature, but I’m strict with my employees. This bar
is my livelihood, after all. I can’t afford law suits, injuries and
brawls.

I watch Olivia as she assesses the situation.
When her eyes fall on me, I know she realizes I’m her only viable
option. I’m not sure if I see a flicker of excitement cross her
face or if it’s just my imagination. What I’m certain I see,
however, is her reaching for that bravado again. And it’s just as
sexy as it was before.

She turns to the guys around me and treats
them to a beguiling smile. “Think my boss here will man up and do
it?”

Some good-natured ribbing begins as I get
playful pushes and slaps on the back. There’s lighthearted jealousy
and lots of encouragement as I nod to Olivia.

I offer my hand across the bar. She looks at
it, takes a deep breath then slides her fingers over my palm. I
help steady her as she puts a knee on the ledge and climbs onto the
bar.

“Clear the bar,” I say and all the guys reach
for their drinks, making a space for Olivia to lie down. “Marco,
one Patron body shot!” I call down the bar.

He quickly disengages from the girls he’s
entertaining to pour the shot and bring the salt dish and two lime
wedges down to us.

Rather than leaving it, though, he smiles at
Olivia. “Stretch out, beautiful. I’ll get you ready.”

Normally, the bartender would do just as
Marco is doing. But then again, I’m not usually involved. And for
some reason, I wanted to prep Olivia.

Olivia lies down and wiggles to get
comfortable on the hard surface of the bar.

I smile tightly as I watch him drag one lime
wedge across her bare stomach, circling her navel several times.
She’s looking up at him, grinning. He’s looking down at her,
practically salivating. I grit my teeth against the little stab of
jealousy I feel.

What the hell’s that all about?

Anyone will tell you I don’t have a jealous
bone in my body. There are too many willing women in the world to
get all bent out of shape over one. Envy is just not in me.

Not usually.

Marco’s taking his sweet time, wetting her
skin and sprinkling salt on her. Taryn switches on the body shot
music, which is always “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard. It
gets the crowd into it and lets everyone know what’s going on. I’ve
never paid it much attention, but as far as mood music goes,
tonight I’m really feeling it. I’d like to pour something sweet all
over Olivia and then take my time licking it off.

I’m about to hurry Marco along when he
finally goes to hand her the shot glass and stick the second piece
of lime in her mouth. I can’t help but grin when Olivia takes the
wedge from his fingers and does it herself. Maybe the attraction I
see in Marco’s eyes only goes one way.

I feel smug.

Olivia turns to look at me, her eyes wide and
alert. I bend to whisper into her ear. “If you’re really
uncomfortable with this, you don’t have to do it.”

I hold my breath as I lean back to get her
answer, hoping the brave one will win out.

And she does.

Slowly, Olivia shakes her head and wiggles a
little closer to me on the bar. Her eyes are sparkling with
determination. And challenge. And it makes me jerk in my jeans.

I grin at her. “All right. You asked for it,”
I say, just loud enough for the guys around me to hear. They cheer
me on.

Moving down to stand in front of her waist, I
bend and put my tongue against the skin of her stomach. I feel her
muscles contract. The salty and sour flavors cause saliva to gush
into my mouth, so I close my lips and swallow, kissing her stomach
before continuing to lick my way around her navel.

She lies perfectly still as I lap up all the
salt. When I’m done, I lift my head just a little and I see her
strain toward me. It’s a small movement. Probably nothing anyone
else even noticed. But I noticed.

Draping one arm across her hips to hold her
still, I dip my tongue into her bellybutton. She twitches beneath
me and I could swear I hear her gasp, even above the music.

When I lift my head, my eyes meet hers and in
them, whether she would ever admit it or not, is desire. Lots of
hot, sweaty, pin-me-up-against-the-wall desire.

Without looking away, I reach for the shot
glass and down the Patron. I see her chest rise with the deep
breath she takes as I move toward her head.

Cupping the back of her neck, I pull her face
to mine. I wrap my lips around the lime wedge she holds between her
teeth and I suck every last drop of juice from it. The thing is,
she never once loosens her hold on it. I can’t help but wonder if
she’s imagining the same scenario with a deserted bar and nothing
between us but heat.

When I lean back, I notice she looks
as…bothered as I feel. I think if we
were
alone, she’d have
a hard time
saying no to anything I wanted to do
to her
.

Marco interrupts the moment. “Welcome to
Dual!”

Again, cheers go up all around. Olivia’s
smile is a bit vague as she switches gears from our hot encounter
to the fact that there’s a bar full of guys vying for her
attention. But she recovers quickly, taking the lime out of her
mouth and holding it up in victory.

She tosses me a cheeky grin and then spins
around to jump off the bar and resume her position behind as an
employee behind it. “All right, guys, who needs a refill?”

And just like that, she’s in full swing as a
bartender at Dual. My only concern now is keeping Marco away from
her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN- Olivia

My first thought upon waking is of Cash.
Licking my stomach. Tonguing my navel. And then looking so hard
into my eyes.

God, I could’ve devoured him right then and
there!

Damn the bad boys!

I blame everything on my inherent weakness
for them, because my head tells me I should be looking for someone
much more suitable. Someone like Nash.

Nash.

In my head, I even sigh over his name. He’s
every bit as delicious as his brother. Obviously. They’re twins.
And even though he’s got less of the edge that seems to draw me in
like a bee to honey, he’s got so many other things I love.

My phone rings. I look at the caller ID and
no name pops up with the number, which means I don’t know the
caller. I consider not answering, but I’m already awake so I might
as well.

“Hello?”

“Good morning,” a gruff voice growls at me.
Within a fraction of a second, I not only recognize the voice, but
I react to it. My stomach flutters in pleasurable excitement.

“Good morning,” I return. It’s Cash.

“I was hoping to get to talk to you before
you left last night.”

His comment brings up an unpleasant thought
from the previous night. Just before the last of the patrons were
herded out of the building, Taryn had disappeared through the same
door I’d seen Cash use and neither had come back out. Marco had
showed me how to close up and, when we were done, he offered to
walk me to my car, so I let him. I was irritated and had no
intention of waiting around for Cash like a puppy dog. Even if he
is my employer. It’s the principle of the thing. I remember
thinking that he’s just like all the other bad boys. Fun-loving,
exciting, and, ultimately, unfaithful.

Not that it seems he has anyone to be
faithful to, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he
did.

Shaking off the thoughts, I remind myself
that I don’t care about Cash. He’s my employer and that’s it. End
of story.

“I didn’t want to interrupt you and Taryn,” I
explain, hating the waspish bite to my tone. I soften it a bit
with, “Marco showed me everything I needed to do anyway. No big
deal.”

“Marco, huh?”

Is it my imagination or is there some
venom in
his
voice now?