Blame It on the Bikini - By Natalie Anderson Page 0,19

day. She was such a fool to let herself be distracted. Especially by Brad Davenport. She drew a deep breath into her crushed lungs. No more distraction.

‘Nothing I can’t manage,’ she lied and brought the bottles back to the line-up of shot glasses to pour more cherry-cheesecake shots for the trio of babes at a nearby table who were wearing ‘so hot right now’ dresses and drinking in the vision of killer-in-casual Brad.

‘Really?’ He watched her with absolute focus, as if he had no idea that he’d caught the undying attention of every woman in the building. But he knew it already—it was normal for him.

She nodded and looked down to concentrate on pouring the vodka in the glasses, not trusting herself to speak again without snapping at him. Suddenly she was too stressed to be company for anyone, and his utterly innate gorgeousness irked her more than was reasonable.

He put both palms on the bar and leaned closer. ‘Mya?’

That underlying note of concern in his deep voice didn’t help her combat the melting effect his mere presence had on her bones. His observation of her made her butter-fingered—not good when she had to flip two glass bottles at once in performing-seal fashion. Smashing the spirits would see the dollars coming out of her pay packet. ‘I need to concentrate.’ She offered a vaguely apologetic smile. ‘We’ll have to talk about the party later.’

‘Sure.’ He eased back and flashed her a smile that would easily have coaxed her own out had she looked long enough.

But she resolutely kept her eyes on the glasses as she fixed the cranberry layer in them, because she was not allowing him to distract her any more. She put the shots onto a tray, lifted it and slowly walked out from behind the bar, to carry them to the divas. They were all looking over her shoulder, checking out Brad.

‘You know him?’ one of them asked in an overly loud whisper as Mya put the tray on the table between them. ‘He’s single?’

‘Permanently,’ Mya answered honestly. She glanced around and saw he hadn’t moved. Worse he had a smile on, not his usual full-strength-flirt one, but a small twist to the lips that somehow made him even more attractive. It was so unfair the way he could make hearts seize with a mere look. She turned back to the pretty women. ‘But he loves to play.’

And no doubt he’d adore three women at once. Maybe if she were to see him go off with the trio for some debauched night, then she’d blast away the resurgence of this stupid teen crush and be able to concentrate wholly on the wretched assignment she had ahead of her.

One of the girls stood and went over to talk to him. Mya went straight back behind the bar and tried not to pay attention to the high-pitched laughter. But she knew it was exactly two and a half minutes until he joined the women at their table. Mya decided to let Jonny serve them from then on.

She ignored the way the women leaned forward and chatted so animatedly. She ignored the laughter and smiles that Brad gave each of them. Most of all she ignored the way he tried to catch her eye when she walked past a couple of times. Peripheral vision let her know he looked up and over to her; she refused to look back. She had far more important things to think on. And then she was simply far too busy. People began pouring in as the sun went down but the night warmed up.

‘Jonny, if I don’t take my break now, I’m going to miss it altogether.’ She leaned across to beg him.

‘Go now.’ He nodded. ‘Pete and I can handle it.’

She grabbed the oversized ancient laptop she always lugged round in her satchel all day and took it out to the small balcony Brad had led her to the other night. She didn’t really know why she’d brought it with her—it wasn’t as if she’d somehow type on her feet as she worked her shifts at the café and then the bar.

Her heart sank as she scrolled to the relevant document. The cases were all cited, but she’d have to try to get copies of them to read them in full. What library was going to be open at midnight? She didn’t have the Internet in her small flat as she couldn’t afford the connection. She didn’t even have a landline. She’d have