“You’re terrible,” she admonished. “And you make a horrible first impression.”
“I think I make an awesome first impression,” he replied, sending a grin in my direction. “I’m Reece Anders—the love of Roxy’s life.”
I couldn’t resist that grin. “I’m Steph Keith.”
“Ah, the infamous Steph.” He glanced at Roxy. “Where is—”
“On break.” Roxy’s smile was too bright, too wide. “Sorry about his rude interruption. He’s socially damaged.”
“I’m also very thirsty,” he replied, eyeing the tap.
Roxy cocked her head to the side. “You see Jax over there? Why don’t you get him to serve you?”
“That’s mean,” he murmured, but he was still grinning as he pushed off the bar. “I’ll be back.” He wheeled around, heading toward Jax, who stood farther down the bar. As he rounded me, he tapped my shoulder with his fingers. “I like it when she’s feisty.”
I laughed outright as Roxy let out an exasperated groan that Reece largely ignored. “He seems like a handful,” I said once he was over by Jax.
“Girl, you have no idea.” Her eyes widened behind the glasses. “But he’s . . . he’s a great man, and I’m so incredibly lucky, like more than you can realize.”
“Oh, sounds like there’s a story there.”
She smiled softly. “There is. I would . . .” She trailed off as another smile nearly split her face. “Perfect!”
Realizing she was staring at something behind me, I looked over my shoulder. My mouth dropped open. A woman had just walked in, and I . . . I didn’t even know what she was wearing.
It was a dress. I think. A dress made out of . . . black duct tape, maybe? That’s what it looked like. Skintight, it was nothing more than strategically placed stripes of some kind of black material. It crisscrossed her svelte body, leaving very little to the imagination with the amount of side boob that was visible. Her heels were high enough to make me feel like a wimp for caving in and going with flats.
She strutted in our direction, her hips swaying in a way that drew the attention of nearly every man in the bar. The tall, statuesque blonde had confidence for days.
“You know what I need,” she said to Roxy, who was already grabbing a bottle of tequila. She glanced in my direction and her bubble-gum-pink lips pursed. “You’re hot. Wow.”
I opened my mouth, but I had no idea how to respond to that. At all. Nope. Nada.
“This is Steph.” Roxy placed a shot on the bar. “Steph, this is Katie.”
“Hi,” I said, wiggling my fingers.
Her gaze dropped and she checked me out more boldly than most of the guys there had. “Wait.” Her pink-tipped, super long nails grazed her shot glass. “Is this the Steph?”
“The Steph,” Roxy agreed. “She was the next one to walk into the bar after Aimee.” Heavy meaning dripped from her words. “And . . .”
I started to frown. First, Reece referred to me as the “infamous Steph,” and now I was “the Steph”? What in the world was going on here?
“Wow. This is awesome.” Lifting the shot to her mouth, she slammed the drink like a pro. “This is so freaking awesome. I knew it. I totally called it.” She tipped her fingers off her temple. “I’m psychic.”
Wordless, I shook my head as I glanced at Roxy. The bartender’s cheeks were turning red as she gave a lopsided shrug. “Katie has been dead on when it comes to her predictions.”
“It’s a gift. A curse. I fell off a greased-up pole one night. Hit my head. Long story that I’m sure I’ll have time to tell you later.” She propped a hip against the bar while I simply stared at her. “Is that your purse?”
When I nodded, she reached for it and, completely shell-shocked, I watched her open it and pull out my phone. Normally I would’ve been all over that, but all I could do was gape at her as her fingers flew over my phone.
“I’ve texted Roxy and me from your phone. So you now have our numbers and we have yours. There’s no escaping us. We’re going to adopt you as our new best-est friend-est in the world-est.” She slipped my phone back in my purse and plopped it down on the bar in front of me. “You’re going to get breakfast with us on Sunday. Of course, you’re probably thinking ‘Oh hell no,’ but you’re totally going to come.”
I was still gaping at her.
“There is so much we need to tell you.” Turning back to Roxy, Katie started to speak, but stopped, clapping her hands together. “I have the best timing. Ever.”