It was rare, because I’d grown from a girl to a woman, and my once short, straight blonde hair was now long with wavy curls, woven with streaks of light browns and blondes.
Just when I was about to bolt and send over a different server, he leaned forward and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Uh…yeah…sorry. Gran Patron Platinum or Suprema. Neat.”
That voice chased away all my worry. Eclipsing it in song. A rich, velvety sound filling up my ears and tickling my senses.
“Please,” he said a little harder than the last, jarring me from the faraway place my mind had just gone. A smirk ticked up at the corner of his pretty, pretty mouth, like he knew precisely where my head had been.
God, this guy was dangerous. And had very expensive taste in tequila.
With one harsh shake of my head, I regained my composure, that feigned smile back in full force. “Sure thing. I’ll be right back.”
He only nodded, but his eyes softened a fraction.
Just like quicksand.
I wondered what it’d be like if I jumped in.
Tearing myself away before my mind had a chance to entertain any more ridiculous thoughts, I spun around and put some much-needed space between us. I stopped to check on a few other tables on the way back to the bar, all the while pretending I couldn’t feel the heat of his stare penetrating me, or my spine tingling in awareness where his gaze traced along the skin exposed from the draping, backless fabric of my blouse.
When I returned with his drink, he mumbled a quiet, “Thank you,” and I found myself having to force myself not to linger or stare, but couldn’t help it when he kept those grey eyes trained on me and tipped the crystal to his pouty mouth, just enough to wet his lips. His tongue peeked out for a taste, and my knees went a little weak.
Good God, he was a sipper.
With shaky fingers, I touched my forehead and felt the heat there. Self-consciously, I tucked a thick lock of my long bangs behind my ear and did my best to clear the lump from my throat. Still, my voice was hoarse. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can get for you,” I said, fumbling as I backed away.
Every instinct told me I needed to run, that there was something about this beautiful stranger I couldn’t resist. What scared me most was the intensity of his stare telling me that he knew exactly what I wouldn’t be able to resist and he wouldn’t be opposed to using it against me.
I almost breathed a sigh of relief when I found him gone the next time I made my rounds, a hundred-dollar bill trapped beneath the empty glass. However, the overwhelming rush of disappointment distorted the relief.
WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?
I stood on the sidewalk outside the old building. People milled around, laughing as they hopped from bar to bar along the popular river walk, out drinking their cares away.
It was super late, close to two a.m., and the crowds were beginning to thin.
And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I shouldn’t be here.
Night clung to the sky like a blackened drape.
Oppressive and hot.
Like some kind of ominous warning telling me not to step through.
Maybe I was just looking to get laid, which was probably a damned good idea right about now, because maybe it’d undo the knot that’d had me wound up like a fucking kite all day.
But not here.
Because I was curious, and fucking curious and me usually turned out to be a bad combination.
Chewing at my lip, I leaned my shoulders back and craned my head to peer down the street, hoping for something else to catch my attention.
But whatever waited inside these old brick walls seemed way more interesting than anything else within a thousand-mile radius.
I pushed open the heavy doors to Charlie’s.
Last night I’d come to get away and tonight I found there was nothing I could do to stay away.