Waitressing isn’t bad, but the real fun is behind the bar.
Cohen holds up his hand, stopping me from being loud, and points at his phone. “Sylvia.” He walks toward his office at the back of the bar.
I nod, stand in the corner, and watch Archer work. When a woman hits on him, I cringe. Not that I blame her. It’s a hot sight. Watching him move around the bar, making drinks, is hypnotic. He gives the woman attention yet doesn’t. I’d think he went home alone every night if Cohen hadn’t let it slip that he has his fair share of late-night hookups.
Jealousy pricks my veins at the thought of him giving women what he gave to me.
“Sylvia has a family emergency and needs to leave,” Cohen says when he returns, referring to Noah’s babysitter.
“Uh-oh,” I mutter at the same time he calls out Archer’s name.
Waving Archer over, he points at me. “Finish training her. Noah’s babysitter had to bail.”
Archer doesn’t spare a glance in my direction, as if I weren’t here. “Have Georgia cover for the babysitter, and you stay here.”
Cohen shakes his head. “The faster she finishes training, the faster she’ll be put to work. It’s only for a few hours. No way am I having her train on the weekend. It’ll be too chaotic. Let her shadow you.”
I perk up. “I’m a quick learner.”
“Sure, whatever,” Archer mutters, turning away and stalking to the other end of the bar.
“Text me when you get home,” Cohen directs me. “Or if you need anything.”
I give him a thumbs-up. “I got this. Now, get to Noah.”
Cohen leaves at the same time Archer tosses a drink book to me. “Study this.”
I play with the book in my hands. “Study this?”
“It’s the drink list.”
I set it on the bar, flip through the pages, and hold it up. “I’m more of a hands-on learner.”
“Whatever,” he grumbles. “You don’t learn shit from that book anyway.”
“Yet you told me to study it.”
He’s already setting me up for failure.
“Why do you hate me so much, Archer?”
I need the answer. This bickering is a never-ending game with us, and it’s getting out of control. Over a year has passed since we hooked up. This rivalry, enemy shit needs to end. All it’ll do is ruin company morale and drive a wedge between him and Cohen. If it ever came down to me or Archer, Cohen would choose me.
Archer silently stares at me, working his jaw as though he doesn’t owe me an explanation.
“How about a truce?” I thrust out my hand toward him.
“Sure, whatever.” He ignores my hand and walks past me. “Now, study your book.”
I grab his elbow, stopping him. “You’re going to train me, or I’ll tell Cohen you wouldn’t.”
He jerks out of my hold. “Really?”
At his movement, sharp hints of his cologne—a light sandalwood—drift up my nostrils.
It’s all man.
Like taking a hike on a crisp autumn day.
“Really.” A deviant smirk flashes on my lips. “I was quite the tattletale growing up.”
That’s a lie. My mother’s absence didn’t provide much opportunity to have someone to tattle to.
He jerks a glass from a stack and points at me with it. “Have you ever made a margarita?”
I shake my head. “Not professionally, but I’ve drunk a few.” I’ve also purchased the frozen ones in bags and enjoyed them during our girls’ nights. “I tend to drink alcohol in red Solo cups, poured from a keg or cheap vodka.” I’m a college student on a budget.
“You were drinking Hennessy at Bailey’s,” he deadpans.
My breathing slows. He remembers.
“You were buying.” I grin. “I planned to have the drink and then go home.”
“Yet you didn’t go home.” His eyes turn hooded. “You went home with me.”
I nod timidly. “I did.”
Something shifts in him, in the mood, and he reaches out. Our gazes meet, his eyes unreadable.
“Georgia.” My name is said in a tight whisper.
I close my eyes.
“Bartender!”
My eyes flash open, and Archer pulls back.
“We need to get our drink on!” an obnoxious man shouts. “Which means, we need drinks.”
I glare at the jerk.
How dare he interrupt us.
For once, since our night together, Archer gave me something other than anger.
His vulnerability screamed his truths.
A moment when he stopped pretending.
Archer clears his throat and swings his arm toward the guy. “He’s all yours.”
Thankfully, after being here with Cohen so much, I know my way around the bar and where everything is. I know all the menu items since I helped create it.
After I take the man’s drink order, I drift to the group