Just One Night (Black Alcove #2) (10 page)

Abby just stares at me
with black smudges running down her face. This could be one of two
things. Either she was dumped or something bad really did happen. I’m
going to go with option A, because it happens at least every other
month.

I take two steps to
meet her and she falls into me, burying her face in my chest. With my
hands out at my sides I find myself in unfamiliar territory. My arms
stay there, hanging in the air as I look back at Liam. For what, I
don’t know. Advice maybe. When he just shrugs—something I notice
he does a lot— a look of horror hits his face. I let one hand
gently pat her back.

“Um, it’s okay,
what happened?”

“I got dumped again!”
she cries, pulling herself away and running toward the back room. I
watch in silence until the back door slams closed, and I take a deep
breath.

“Lesson one, don’t
hire females—got it.” Liam chuckles. “How about we start my
training after you handle that.” He points behind me and I let out
a sigh of defeat.

“I guess you can wait
out here.”

“Logan, seriously,
that girl has got to pull it together. I can’t work with her when
she’s like this.” Beth comes out from the same room Abby just ran
to. “You have got to tell her this is the last time she can pull
this stint. Maybe tell her to stop dating all together.”

I take another deep
breath and look at my watch. It’s only five. The bar won’t be
busy for a few more hours. There are only a few people here now, who
are all females focused on us, reminding me once again I need more
guys working here. Still, I better take care of this before business
picks up. Why can’t Abby go about her job like everyone else? Half
the time, I don’t even notice who else is working because they
aren’t bringing attention to themselves.

“Hey”—I glance
back at Liam— “how about you follow Beth for a bit?”

“I’d love to help.”
Beth smiles at Liam.

“Cool.” Liam smiles
back at her.

Interesting … maybe I
could set these two up. That would sure take care of one problem.

Whoa.

Am I so afraid to lose
Sara that I want to play matchmaker?
Fuck.
What is wrong with me?

I shake the thought
from my head. Right now I have bigger things to worry about. Abby
sure as shit better have it together before Sara and the others get
here. I have to show Sara I’m doing a successful job here while
she’s away, and having a crying employee isn’t going to impress
anyone.

Sara

I walk in to the BA and
immediately my eyes and my heart search for Logan. When I don’t
spot him right away, my heart drops. I’m not getting to see him as
much as I had planned this weekend. Go figure he has to train Liam
the night of Kelsey’s birthday party. Thank goodness Kelsey chose
here of all places to spend it—I may have done some convincing to
help with the decision. Otherwise, I’d only get to see Logan
tomorrow before I left and that is not okay with me.

“Where’s Logan?”
I ask Beth, who’s behind the counter. I pretend to be distracted as
I pull up a seat. I don’t want Beth to think I’m desperate.
Kelsey pulls up a seat next to me and Ethan on the other side of her.
Some birthday party. It’s been just the three of us since we left
dinner. I should really not employ all my friends at the same
place—this leaves no room for us to have nights off together.

“He’s in the back.
Abby came in a blubbering mess
again,
and he is trying to calm her down. I think this is the third time she
has needed to have a ‘moment’ to pull herself together tonight.
We thought she was good there for a couple hours, but something set
her off again.”

Beth’s air quotes and
annoyed tone don’t go unnoticed. It’s probably another ploy of
Abby’s to get Logan alone. I swear, that girl has had a crush since
the day she set eyes on him. I don’t blame her, I was the same way.
The only difference is I didn’t sleep with every man in the
meantime.

“Don’t do that.”
Beth shakes a finger in my face. “Don’t make that sad face, and
you suck in that bottom lip before he comes out here. This place is
starting to pick up, and I don’t need him getting all distracted.
You being here is bad enough for the guy.” She winks at me with a
tight smile and then greets a few new customers who are sitting at
the bar.

I watch her for a
moment and then glance over to Kelsey
.
Am I really pouting?
Oh
geez,
kissing already, I can’t take these two anywhere.

“Whoa, you two, this
is a bar, not a hotel.” My eyes dart to the storage room.
How
long does it take to calm her down?

“Sorry, sometimes I
just can’t help myself when it comes to my wife. She’s so damn
beautiful.”

I want to roll my eyes
at them, but they deserve to be happy. After that stunt Ethan pulled
this last year while I was away, he better tell Kelsey how beautiful
she is every day, maybe even twice a day. He was such a scumbag. He’s
lucky we love him, or I would have never forgiven him.

“Aw, babe, you’re
pretty handsome yourself.”

Okay. I can only handle
so much of this when it involves my cousin.

“Stop it,” I
interrupt with a laugh. “At this rate, Clara won’t be an only
child for long. Hey, isn’t your brother coming out tonight or was
he just going to dinner because I’m thinking he is the perfect
candidate to relieve Logan of whatever he has going on back there
with Abby?”

“Sara, your family
own this bar. You don’t need anyone’s permission to go back
there.”

Very good point.

I point to Kelsey and
wink. I always knew there was a reason I liked her. Sliding off my
stool, I casually make my way to the storage room. If I weren’t in
a bar full of people, I would totally be running to Logan. I’d
tackle him in the storage room and do things to him that should never
be done in public place. I laugh to myself and push open the door.
Public places are starting to be our thing.

My humor is immediately
gone when I see Abby wrapped in Logan’s arms. My entire body heats
and I swallow slowly before I jump to conclusions. Abby looks up at
me over Logan’s shoulder and a glint of happiness flashes in her
eyes.
Oh, she would.
She totally planned this. I clear my throat. Logan turns around
quickly and his eyes go big.

“Sara this isn’t—”

I hold up my hand. “I
know. Abby get back to work.”

“But you’re not—”

“Now, or this time I
swear I will fire you, and I won’t feel any guilt about it.”

She stands there, next
to Logan, and glances between us. A smile tugs at her lips before she
steps away. “Thanks, Logan. You know how much I
love
your hugs.”

Logan rolls his eyes
and lets out a groan once she’s left. “I swear, I am going to
lose it on her soon. My patience with the woman has grown very thin
the last few days. How many times can a girl call in for cramps or a
breakup?”

I press my lips
together to keep from laughing at him. Poor guy, that girl has been
playing him. “Technically, I’d say none. You’re just soft.” I
approach him slowly. Walking my fingers up his chest, I stop and wrap
my arms around him. The tension in his body leaves at my touch.

Eww,
now he smells like her.

Before I can think too
much on this, I start bouncing and rubbing myself against him.

“Whoa, Sara, what’re
you doing?” Logan laughs. “Not that I mind it, but I do have a
shift to finish, you know.”

“You smell like her
and I don’t like it. You should smell like me.”

His chuckle vibrates
against me and I stop moving. He pulls me into a tighter hug and
kisses my forehead. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.”
I gaze up at him just in time for him to lean down and press his lips
against mine.

“Er, should I come
back?”

Regrettably, I pull my
lips away. Liam is standing the doorway. I’d forgotten all about
him. Weird, he always pops up at the
worst
moments.

“No, man, what’s
up?” Logan says, turning to face him but keeping me right at his
side.

“There is a guy here,
Conner I think, asking for you.”

“Oh cool, tell him—”

“No, he asked for
her,” Liam says, pointing to me.

That’s even weirder.

“I’ll be right
out,” I tell him and he leaves us. Logan kisses my forehead once
more and our moment alone is over. Reality is back in full swing.

Logan

Sara hasn’t moved
from her chair all night. When we came out of the storage room,
everyone had moved to a corner table by the window. Everyone being
Connor, Ethan, Kelsey, and Sara. Things start to pick up fast. The
band tonight is surprisingly good and pulling in more customers.
Training Liam is pretty much pointless while it’s busy, so I cut
him after a few hours. That and Sara knows if I’m not teaching
someone, I’ll be off sooner. Unfortunately for me, Liam is now
sitting at Sara’s table enjoying her company while I work.

I’m working my ass
off to avoid thinking of Sara and Liam. Exactly. There isn’t even a
Sara and Liam, but every time I hear her laugh reach across the bar,
he is there, in her vision. Even if he isn’t talking to her, just
knowing he is getting to spend the evening in her company while I
bust my back to make sure they have everything they need just rubs me
the wrong way.

“You’re doing it
again,” Beth coos behind me. I find her leaned against the wall as
she dries the glass in her hand.

“Doing what?”

“Watching her.
Radiating love from your eyes. Then, a fire burst into flames from
your ears when you realized who is sitting next to her. Everyone is
running for their lives, and all you care about is making sure he
doesn’t make out it alive.”

No joke. I stare at her
with my mouth open as I raise both eyebrows. She laughs. “Or you
could just be annoyed because you wish you were sitting next to her.”

“Yeah, wow, did you
really just say all that? Where do you come up with this crap?” A
laugh escapes my lips. Her visions, or whatever you want to call it,
might not have been so far off. Maybe void the fire and my making
sure someone dies, and it’s a true story.

“I read a lot.”

“Clearly sci-fi.”

“No, romance novels
can get intense, too, you know. It’s not always sex and a bunch of
guys.”

I raise my left brow as
I look at her.

“Okay, so it’s
mostly about sex and a bunch of hot guys. Hey, I hate to break it to
you, but you are the manager here right now, and if you want to be
off work, you could probably talk yourself into it. After all, it’s
pretty slow and I’ll probably get more work done if you get out of
my way. I can handle Abby. We were scheduled to close the bar
together anyway. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“You’re right,” I
say, ignoring her last comment. I set down my towel, head to the
back, and change my shirt. Then I walk right up to Sara’s table to
stand between her and Liam.

“It’s about time
you got off,” Ethan cheers, holding his beer up. I give him a fist
bump and then offer my hand to Sara.

“Feel like dancing?”
I ask. She rises quickly, clearly approving of my idea as she pulls
me onto the dance floor. Kelsey and Ethan follow, along with a few
other customers. The band must notice the amount of couples on the
floor because they quickly change the music to a slow song, playing
their version of “More Than Words.”

Sara’s slender arms
wrap around my neck as we sway back and forth. I enjoy the feel of
her touch for a moment before I switch us to a more formal stance,
showing her a few dance moves. She laughs softly as I twirl her,
pulling her back against my chest.

Behind us, Ethan
attempts the same move, but his arm catches on Kelsey’s forehead,
causing them to stop dancing to laugh it off.

“I should never have
left last summer,” Sara admits, resting her cheek against me. I
swallow, resisting the urge to ask her why she did. It’s something
I’ve asked myself over and over.

“Being with you
scares me. I’m scared of the way I feel, how I think, the ideas I
get. I think more of you than I do of my own future, and that
terrifies me. I knew it then and I ran. I don’t want to run this
time. I want to make this work. Promise me you won’t break my
heart.”

The music is still
playing, but we’ve stopping moving. She leans back far enough to
look up.

“I promise,” I say,
praying that I can keep it.

Leaning down, I kiss
her as deeply as I can in front of everyone. I don’t stop until the
hoots and hollers around us cause Sara to giggle and dash for the
door, tugging me behind her.

Sara slips her hand
into mine and I squeeze it, pulling her close to my side. Late June
in Wyoming is a great time of year. It’s warm, but not too warm, a
perfect sixty-five degrees and the wind is almost fully nonexistent.
We walk in silence until we reach Sara’s apartment building.

Living in the building
next to hers was always fun, but right now I wish we didn’t have to
choose. Without saying a word, I wrap my arms around her shoulders
and we head inside hers. For me, it doesn’t matter whose place we
pick, as long as I’m with Sara, I’m home.

Sara

I hate Mondays. Not
only because they mean the weekend is over, but because it’s the
day that signifies the beginning to a long week. The only plus side
to a Monday right now is that each one is a day closer to my moving
home. I should be thankful another week has come and gone, but right
now, I’d rather rewind a day. Put myself back in Wind Valley. Not
here, at The Silver Tap and moody as hell.

I know it’s because I
didn’t wake up to Logan’s face. I didn’t wake up to his touch
or to his smell. To arms wrapped around me. Everything is better with
him. And everyone knows that when you’re in a bummed out mood, time
passes way too slowly and nothing productive gets done.