“Well, if that’s what it takes to get you in my arms what will it take to get you under me?”
I pinch him on the ass. “Don’t be a dick. I need a friend.”
He chuckles. “Well pinching me on the ass isn’t going to get my friendship. I love being pinched on the ass by a hot little spitfire—turns me on…”
He pauses when he sees the glare I shoot him.
Clearing his throat, he continues, “I’ve never had a female friend before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.” He grins, and keeping his arm around me, he leads me to the bar. “Did I do good that time? Maybe, I deserve a drink for controlling my urges.”
Walking around the bar, I grab a longneck, open it and pass it to him. “You’re a big flirt and would probably run a mile if this little spitfire accepted what you keep offering.”
I wink at him before turning and leave him with his mouth hanging open as I make my way down the bar to serve Ramon. The grin on my face says it all… I love having the last word. It doesn’t happen often, but that felt good.
Placing a whiskey in front of Ramon, I look back up the bar at Hunter and laugh out loud. He’s grinning at me and toasts me with his longneck.
“Rosie, stop flirting with the customers,” Ruben tells me. Anger flashes in his eyes as he passes by the bar towards the floor.
Sticking my tongue out at Ruben’s back, Ramon laughs. “I take it you and my brother aren’t getting along.”
I snort—very ladylike—but he’s starting to piss me off. The anger is even worse now that I’m not crying every time he looks at me with disgust written across his face. “You could say that,” I respond to Ramon’s observation. “He might be your brother, but he’s a dick.”
“Hmm.” he nurses his whiskey. “What’s he gone and done?”
I ignore his question.
But he persists. “Rosie, if you’re calling my brother a dick, don’t you think I have the right to know why?”
Slowing my movement down as I wipe the bar top, I meet his eyes and try to hold back my tears, but me being upset is obvious. So I tell him the truth, “After… After,” I clear my throat, “well, I think you know what I mean, so afterward he told me not to ‘let the staff know I’m sleeping with the boss.’ I don’t want to be with anyone who isn’t proud to acknowledge our relationship. He was more than a quick fuck, and I thought it meant more to him as well. But I was wrong. I’ve been there before and I’m not going there again. So now you know why I think your brother is a dick.”
Uncapping a bottle of still water, I take some strong gulps and nearly splutter when Ramon opens his mouth.
“I think I’d have to agree with you. He is a dick for that. But in his defense Ruben does have the habit of saying one thing and meaning something completely different. And whatever you have going on with Hunter is going to make him admit the mistake he made sooner rather than later.”
“I don’t have anything going on with Hunter. He’s a friend. He doesn’t want me either. It’s nice to have a friend—a male friend who doesn’t want anything else from me. It’s refreshing.”
Leaning on the bar, I take a closer look at Ramon. He’s a cute McKenzie, the baby of the family, although he looks nothing like a baby with his overgrown long hair, blue/green eyes and five o’clock shadow.
“Rosie, you’re staring.”
“Yes I am. You’re cute,” I blurt out, and watch as Ramon blushes. Grinning, I take hold of the hand he’s just run through his unruly hair, and sobering up, I say, “We’re both in love with someone who has no idea.” I meet his sad eyes. “I’m here if you ever need to talk, and I don’t just mean because I’m in love with your idiot of a brother. Sometimes it’s easier talking to someone you’re not close to. Anyway, the offer stands.”
Ramon slides his fingers between mine and holds on…and that’s how Ruben catches us.
“What the fuck is going on? Hunter isn’t enough for you that you have to move on to my brother,” Ruben snarls.
I try to pull my hand free from Ramon, but he refuses to let go. He winks at me before turning his head toward his brother. “You screwed up. What’s it to you who she chooses to be with? And before you get your shorts in a wad, it isn’t me.” Ramon looks back at me. “I’m comforting a friend and offering her suggestions about how to get a sexy guy like me to take her home for more than sharing his bed.”
“Fuck, this! Rosie, I’ll pick you up tomorrow at eleven in the morning.” Ruben heads back the way he came, but stops and walks back to us. “Keep your hands off my woman,” he growls to Ramon and makes sure he includes Hunter in his statement.
Ramon releases my hand and grins like an idiot. “Well, well, well. It looks like my ‘dick’ of a brother wants more than to scratch an itch,” he says after Ruben disappears into the back of the club.