“Yeah, right. If she’s your definition of staff, then I’m Zoe Saldana.”
Noah guffawed. “Seriously? Where didthatcome from?”
“No idea. Just popped into my head. Maybe because I really likeZoe Saldana.”
Noah distributed the contents of a shaker between two chilled glasses. Luanne, one of their local part-timers who offered to help out on her day off, scooped them up on her tray.
Wiping his hands on a bar towel, Charlie gave Noah a thoughtful look. “You like this girl, don’t you?”
Noah polished a spot on the bar. “She seems nice.”
“‘Seems nice,’ my ass. You can’t take your eyes off her.” Charlie raised a shot glass of Jameson he’d stashed behind the bar. “It’s about time you got your head out of your ass and stopped chasing someone who only wants to steer you around the corral by your leads.”
Noah fished out his own stash and downed the rest of his pour. The whiskey trailed delightful heat to his belly.
“Hey, I’ve dated other women,” he protested.
Charlie snorted in response. “Name one.”
“You wouldn’t know her. She lives in Denver.” Noah cringed inside as yet again his most recent foray into “dating” popped up from his memory banks. Sandy had been texting him ever since he’d hauled ass two days ago, and he froze every time he tried to compose a polite message that said, “Thanks, but no thanks,” without hurting her feelings. If he didn’t nip what he shouldn’t have restarted in the bud this time, he was in danger of sliding back into that messy mudhole where what he saw as a no-strings fling meant lots of hearts and flowers to her. The last time he’d broken it off, their “casual hookup” had morphed into her accusing him of misleading her, followed by lots of crying. Messy. Had he misled Sandy? He’d turned over their conversations so many times he could practically recite them verbatim, and nowhere could he find where he’d signaled he wanted to get serious. Hell, he hadn’t even been in the market for casual when he’d met her, but she had come on strong, claiming to be interested in only a one-nighter. Since she lived in Denver—a convenient five hours away instead of right down the street—he’d capitulated. One night became two became three, and she began planning a future thatincludedhim. And it wasn’t that he didn’t want long-term with someone—he just knew he didn’t want it with her.
“Oh right. The girl you dated while I was working on your building. That doesn’t count because she’s a return to the familiar, which is something you tend to do. You need to put yourself out there, take a risk.”
Noah sliced up a lime and threw the wedges into a glass dish. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Charlie.”
Charlie merely laughed and turned to help two people who had just taken seats at the bar. Unfortunately, one of those people happened to be Germaine, a redhead who occasionally worked in the visitor’s center and someone Noah hadalmostclimbed into bed with after drinking way too many shots one night soon after he’d opened. It seemed Germaine had been on a mission to get him there ever since.
The hazards and benefits of bartending were two sides of one coin.
Germaine twisted a hank of hair around her finger. “Hi, Noah.”
He leaned his palms against the bar. “Hey, Germaine. What can I get you?”
Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she blatantly ran her eyes up and down his frame. He half expected her to crawl over the bar and take a look at the rest of him. “I’m not sure that what I want is on the menu,” she purred. When he merely lifted an eyebrow, she wiggled her pointer at his empty shot glass. “Iwouldlike to buyyouanother one of those. Open a tab for me?”
He poured himself a measure and lifted his glass in thanks.“Sláinte.”Throwing the Jameson down his gullet, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and realized he’d slopped something on it—which gave him the perfect excuse to check on Chance. Germaine and her friend were whispering between themselves, and since the bar was in the midst of a rare lull, he swiveled his head to Charlie. “Hey, I need to check on Cha—uh, I need to run upstairs.”
“Yeah, sure. I got you.” Charlie’s smooth cadence followed him as he left the bar behind. “Hi, Germaine. Who’s your friend, and what can I do for you two?”
Noah was feeling no pain when he jogged into the back hallway, aiming for the door to his loft. He pulled up when he noticed his normally shut office door ajar and a flash of kelly green behind it. Pokinghis head in, he was startled to see the hoochie mama—Hailey! Her name’s Hailey!—perched at the edge of his couch.
Her eyes grew wide, and she hopped to her stockinged feet. “Oh, I’m so sorry! My feet hurt, and Dixie said … I hope it’s okay that I’m taking a load off. It’s been so busy …”
Closing the door behind him, he took a few steps toward her. “It’s fine. I’m glad you got a minute to take a breather. Ithasbeen nuts.”
She dipped to pick up her heels, and Noah took in her long, slender neck and the fascinatingly irregular hairline at her nape. A pigtail was cockeyed, and he idly wondered if someone had tugged it.
“I should probably get out of your way so you can do whatever it is you came here to, um, do.”
All of him didn’t want her to go. Instead, he wanted to freeze the moment in this bubble where only the two of them existed. “No need to rush. Relax while you can.” She let the shoes slip from her fingers and leaned against his credenza, bracing her weight on her hands.
He stuffed a hand in his front pocket and smoothed the hair at the back of his head, searching for something to say to keep her there. “Thanks for helping out. You’re working your ass off out there, and you’re doing a great job.” God, could he sound any lamer? Except it was true. She was a model employee, the rare kind, the kind who did the hard work with a smile and a touch that made each customer feel special, whether they deserved it or not. The kind he wished he could replicate ten times over.
“It’s fun. And everyone is so nice.” She waved a hand around his office. “I see you’re a Colorado Blizzard fan.”
“You follow hockey?”
“When I can. Do you have a favorite player?”
