been trying to sit with her all night. She ain’t open for business.”
For the first time all day, Baby felt a genuine smile on his face. “Of course, she’s not. She’s too good for any guy here.”
Josh raised an eyebrow. “That include you?”
Baby rolled his eyes. “She’s especially too good for me.” But that didn’t mean he was going to leave her to drink alone if he could talk her into something otherwise. “What is she drinking? White wine? Some sort of import?”
“Tequila shots.”
Oh hell. He couldn’t help his smile.
“You know her? I haven’t seen her around.”
“She’s the Eagle’s Nest’s new lunch waitress.”
Josh grunted. “She’s not the type we normally get around here. I give it another hour before her polite ‘no’ doesn’t keep the hounds at bay anymore.”
Probably not what the older man wanted to worry about on a busy Friday night.
“You won’t have to worry about it.” Baby got out the cash to pay his tab.
Josh handed him back his change. “Am I going to have to worry about you?”
“I’m not going to push it if she doesn’t want my company.” God knew he’d come in here to drink alone, so he understood the appeal. “But I’m going to make sure nobody else pushes it either. I’m just going to make sure the lady gets what she wants.”
And he hoped like hell that was him.
Chapter Five
“Mind if I join you?”
She was already shaking her head no before she looked up at him. Baby didn’t blame her. In the time it had taken him to settle up with Josh and then order the other drinks he’d decided to use as bait, another guy had sauntered over to Quinn’s little booth, vying for her attention. She’d turned him away.
“Thank you, but I’m really trying to—” Her brown eyes met his and he saw the flare of recognition in her eyes, followed by embarrassed pleasure.
He liked to see both of those things. She remembered him. And she was affected by him, at least a little bit.
The demons that had been riding him all evening suddenly seemed far away.
“B–A–B–Y.” She spelled out his name with an adorable little slur. “Baby.”
He shot her a smile. “Q–U–I–N–N. Quinn. Would you mind if I sit down?”
She gestured her arm out to the booth seat across from her. “Are you a waitress here?”
He chuckled. “Nope.”
“That’s good. Because if you were, you’re a pretty bad one.” She pointed at his tray with the multiple drinks as he slid into the booth across from her. “I didn’t order any of that stuff.”
“You didn’t have to. I brought the Baby assortment. Guaranteed to help in whatever stage of drinking you’re at.”
She studied the tray with the six different beverages—two of each kind—like it was a science experiment and she was in charge of dissecting it.
“I don’t know what those are,” she said solemnly.
He picked up the two smallest glasses from the tray and set them on the table. “Two shots of Roca Patron if we’re trying to ramp up the party.”
He slid the two slightly taller glasses in front of the shots. “These are Palomas, also tequila-based, but with some other yummy stuff in there if all we’re trying to do is keep the party going at a steady pace.”
She slid lower in her seat to stare at them. “Ooh. I like the pink, it’s so pretty.”
As soon as she said it, she popped her hand over her mouth, and her brown eyes shot up to his almost in trepidation, like she expected him to mock her.
He just smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Josh, the bartender, liked them, too.”
Josh’s exact words had been ‘damned prissy pretty princess drink,’ but close enough.
She nodded solemnly. “What are those? They look dangerous.” She pointed to the last two glasses.
He winked at her. “Those are plain water. In case your party has already gotten out of control and you need to cool it down completely. You are acting a little wild, Quinn. Josh might call the cops on you if you’re not careful.”
Her eyes narrowed like she couldn’t quite decide if he was teasing or not. He just kept smiling. She eventually dropped her gaze to stare back at the table. Baby handed the tray to a waitress as she walked past, then propped his elbows on the table.
Aerosmith blared through the bar’s speakers, but it wasn’t too loud over in this corner.
“They look like a bunch of soldiers, don’t they?” she asked. She had lined up her five shot glasses—two empty—around