Just as predictably, Dewey hauled out the same worn argument. “But that stuff’s expensive, boss. One day won’t hurt.”
“It will if we get a surprise inspection.”
“Ain’t gonna happen. I made sure you passed with flying colors in January. ’Member?” Dewey’s grimace widened.
“That was January. Inspectors come from all different counties and change all the time. I appreciate you looking out for my bottom line, but toss it.” Noah pivoted and nearly collided with Dixie holding out the dog’s leash. “Where did you find Chan—uh, Lex Luthor’s leash?”
Her eyebrows stitched together. “Right where you left it on the floor. Why do you keep calling him Lex Luthor when his real name’s Chance?”
Noah narrowed his eyes. “What makes you say that?”
She jammed a hand on her hip. “When are you going to admit I know everything that goes on around here? For instance, your pigtailed Fräulein just waltzed in with some magazine model. They’re at table five.”
“What?”
She pointed a finger in the general direction of the dining room, which was currently out of sight behind a wall. “Hailey Bailey.”
“Hailey’s here?” He sounded stupid even to his own ears.
“Yes, with a man who could have walked out of a Calvin Klein underwear ad. Who is he?”
Irritation flared inside him. “You’re the one who knows ‘everything that goes on around here,’ so you tell me,” he snapped.
“I’ll go see what I can find out.” Her nose inched up as she spun away from him.
Shit. I shouldn’t have talked to her like that.Noah’s knotted shoulders relaxed a tic when he remembered Hailey couldn’t go out with him tonight because she had a business dinner. Why hadn’t she mentioned it was athisrestaurant, though? Wait. Did business dinners usually involve Calvin Klein underwear models?
Noah’s annoyance ebbed as he reminded himself he had her all to himself Friday night.Take that, boss man.
He straightened, yanked on his rolled-up cuffs, and nonchalantly strolled behind the bar, where he busied himself counting glasses and inventorying bar towels. Sliding his gaze up to the reflection in the bar’s mirrored back wall, he watched as Dixie stood at a table talking to Hailey and someone Noah couldn’t see because Dixie blocked his view. From what he could tell of Hailey’s outfit, she wasn’t dressed to impress. She was back in a roomy sweater, and her face was scrubbed free of makeup.He began whistling, and she swiveled her head his way, caught his eye in the mirror, and quickly looked down.
Huh. Not the reaction he expected. Not that he expectedanyreaction. He was simply going about his regular routine.Nothing to see here, folks.When Hailey darted another look his way, he returned a frown. She shrugged her shoulders and buried her nose in the menu.
He turned away from the mirror and faced the dining room, taking in a fuller view. At her feet was a work-looking backpack, which made him gust out a puff of relieved air. Thiswasa working meal, not a date.
Dixie sauntered away from the table, and Noah got his first look at the underwear model. Shit, the guy was fucking pretty! A younger version of Tom Brady, right down to the chin dimple. And he was looking at Hailey like he wantedherfor dinner. Hailey wore an expression that switched between bored and impatient.
As he sometimes did with bar patrons, Noah studied them, imagining their dynamic. The dude might have been her boss, but he was a Ken doll trying to impress the smart girl so he could make time with her, and she was on to him. Her body language screamed, “No way, José.” A conversation erupted in Noah’s head where Hailey told the guy to get stuffed. Then his fabricated exchange took a major detour to her with Noah, alone in his apartment, where her body language sent far different messages.“I’m so hot for you, Noah. Take me now and—”
Dixie slapped the bar top. “One Herradura Reposado and one house red wine for table five.”
“Herradura Reposado?” Noah scoffed as he plucked up a tulip-shaped glass. “That the best he can do?”Cheapskate.
Dixie’s painted eyebrow rose to her hairline. “It’s forher.”
“Oh. Good choice.” He busied himself fixing their drinks.
Dixie’s other eyebrow lifted. “Kind of a skimpy pour on that red wine, isn’t it?”
Noah splashed a little more into the glass. “There. Happy?”
She grinned. “Oh, I’m ecstatic.”
At least one of us is.
God, the dinner hadn’teven started, and Hailey was praying for it to end already. She fought to keep her eyeballs pointed at Cliff or, at the very least, in the opposite direction from the delectable stud currently glaring at them from behind the bar. She didn’t need the distraction, nor did she need him to come over, get all friendly, and spill the beans about how she’d been waiting tables for him last night. Fortunately, Dixie had kept her comments to the vague, “Evening, Fräulein.” Cliff hadn’t seemed to register the confusing greeting.
Sheesh.Who knew helping someone out could become so complicated?
