of Reposado, knowing that was the tequila Saber preferred. I filled the glasses and started to signal their waitress, but Ted put his hand on my arm.
“I’ll take it to the table, darlin’.”
He gave me an I’m imagining you naked scan and squeezed my arm hard, too hard. I winced. He’d scratched me with his blunt nails.
“I’ll take care of you later,” he said with a leer. “What time do you get off, so I can get you off?”
“Take your hands off her now.”
Journey stepped up next to him, his growl making the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Ted narrowed his beady eyes.
“You know who I am.” Journey’s brown eyes glittered with menace. “And all you need to know about her is that she’s off limits. She’s Saber’s—”
“I’m my own defender. I’ve got this,” I said quickly, cutting in before I glared at Ted. “Let go of me, asshole.”
Yanking my arm free, I nearly knocked over the shot glasses I’d just filled. I didn’t get why guys assumed they were free to hit on me and be assholes whenever I was standing behind the bar.
“I’m a bartender, not a hooker. But clue in. Even if wasn’t working, I wouldn’t be interested. I’m not a big fan of guys grabbing me. Go have a seat, and I’ll send the order over when it’s ready.”
“Bitch,” Ted mumbled as he turned and moved away.
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t care what he thought of me.
“You need to go too, Journey.” I swung my gaze to him.
Tall, tatted, and sexy as sin in that powder-blue muscle tee of his and those jeans that clung to all the rest of him, he did a number on my equilibrium standing so close. And I wasn’t the only one affected. Most of the women in the bar were watching him.
“We need to talk,” he said in a low rumble that revved my already heightened libido.
“We already talked.”
“We need to talk again.” He leaned in. His fresh aquatic scent washed over me, making my legs tremble and other parts of me melt.
“I’m working,” I said stubbornly. It irritated me that he was immune to me while I was the complete opposite.
“After your shift,” he said, insisting.
“I’m closing.”
“After that then.” His eyes narrowed. “What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid.” Not of him exactly, more of myself and my nonimmunity issues regarding him.
“If you say so.” Journey swept his gaze over me. “I signed a contract. I’m now officially a member of the band.”
My eyes widened. “That was fast.”
“Yeah, so we gotta talk about what happened.” He dipped his chin, his thick hair sliding forward over his brow. “Decide what we’re going to say, so we’re on the same page and don’t get tripped up going forward.”
“There is no we in this scenario, as I believe you already pointed out,” I said, and his eyes narrowed in response to my dig. “Anything I decide, I decide on my own.”
“Your guy’s pretty crazy about you. I’m not planning to mess that up.” Journey gave me a hard look. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”
I was worried about that. My stomach was clamped in a vice as I worried about that and a whole bunch of other things involving the man in front of me.
“He knows I slept with someone else,” I blurted. “I’m going to tell him it was you.”
Journey frowned. “That’s not a good idea, babe.”
“I’m not your babe. Not your anything. You don’t get a say,” I said stubbornly, still registering the burn of his rejection. Deeply. “I—”
“Hey, Lotus.”
Saber’s expression was casual as he approached us. When he reached the bar, he took my hand and pulled me forward across it to lay a big one on me. Casual, he might appear to be, but his kiss was not.
“Saber!” I hissed his name as he released me, licking the tequila-tanged taste of him from my lips as I tried and failed not to notice Journey’s scowl. “You can’t do that while I’m working. You’ll get me fired.”
“It was rush hour over here.” His eyes narrowed on Journey.
I think he had suspicions, which seemed to support my decision that l needed to come clean. A reboot of a relationship couldn’t withstand a lie, even one of omission.
Saber gave me a tight smile. “Didn’t think you’d mind one more. Especially since I’m the only one who has a right to be here.”
“No one has a right to