I smile down at him.
I originally didn’t have plans today, but that changed the second Riley stepped into my kitchen. Staying busy this afternoon will keep my mind off shit I don’t want to think about, and having Nolan around will just make this entertaining. He’s always saying the craziest stuff.
He slaps the hand I hold out for him with all his strength.
“Let’s do it.”
EVEN IF I DIDN’T GO out every Saturday night looking for someone to take home, I would’ve still gone to grab a drink after I finished up for the day at Ben and Mia’s. There’s nothing like a cold beer after a hard day working in the sun, and I plan on tossing back a few before I get to my usual reason for walking into McGill’s Pub.
The crowd is heavy, which is typical for a Saturday night. All the pool tables are taken, and there’s a line forming to play darts at the other end of the bar. Some girls are line dancing in the middle of the room, all of them wearing short jean skirts and cowboy boots. I give the group of them a smile and they move closer together, swaying their hips a little more now that I’ve noticed. I fucking love that. Any of them will do tonight, and if they don’t want to separate from each other, that’s fine. There’s no crowd limit in my bed.
Hattie, one of the owners and the sweetest bartender in this town, comes to stand across from me as I grab a stool at the bar.
She gives me a wink and a smile, her friendly face never giving me anything different. “How are you doing, darlin’?”
I lean in, playing up my game. “I’ll be great once you leave Danny and run away with me.”
I’m just messing with her, and Hattie knows it. Even if I didn’t think highly of her husband, I despise cheating, and the people who do it. I don’t care if you are in a shit marriage. Get the fuck out of it before you fuck someone over.
A laugh falls past her lips. “You want a beer?”
“Yeah, that sounds good. Whatever’s on tap.”
She places the glass in front of me and disappears into the back for a moment, reemerging with a plate of food. I take a sip of my beer and watch her walk out from behind the bar and carry the plate over to one of the booths lined along the wall. She sets it down in front of a woman whose back is to me, her dark hair pulled up to reveal the delicate pale skin of her neck. The woman looks up from the tablet she’s holding in front of her, and I catch her profile.
I no longer give a damn about the chicks line dancing, or any other woman in this bar.
Hattie bends down and plants a kiss to the top of her head, obviously knowing the young woman. The two of them exchange a few words, and then Hattie comes back behind the bar.
I wave her over, setting my glass down.
“Who’s that you were just talking to?”
Her smile softens and her eyes grow distant, as if she’s thinking of a fond memory. “That’s my niece. She’s just the sweetest thing,” she answers, glancing over at the woman in the booth. “Didn’t even know I had her until yesterday. She just moved in with Danny and me.”
“Huh.” I follow Hattie’s eyes, wishing the woman was sitting on the other side so I could see all of her face. But I’m not going to lie. What I have seen has got me way the hell interested.
“No.”
I turn back to Hattie, confused by her response. “No, what?”
That gentle smile of hers is gone, replaced with lips tightly pursed together. She wipes the counter down with a white rag but keeps her eyes on me. “Don’t even think about it, Reed. I know how you operate, and that girl over there is off limits. Find someone else to take home tonight.”
I tilt my head with interest, unable to contain my grin. “Hattie, darlin.’” I flatten my hand against my chest. “Keeper of my heart. Don’t you know making someone forbidden to me only fuels my need to walk over there and talk to her? I can’t stop myself now.”
Her hand stills on the rag. “Reed,” she warns as I stand from my stool and drop some cash on the bar for the beer I won’t be drinking.
“This is all your fault,” I call out behind me, making sure Hattie sees the smile on my face before I focus all my attention on the woman I’m walking toward.
This isn’t Hattie’s fault. Not at all. I’d be walking over here no matter what she just told me.
So much for throwing back a few beers.
Beth