Her Dirty Bartenders (Men at Work #5) - Mika Lane Page 0,30

Marni said, reaching for a ringing phone.

I looked at him, the sensation of our kiss the night before replaying itself all the way from my core to the ends of my fingertips.

“You just get here?” he asked, putting his glasses away and scraping his hair back into a ponytail.

Dammit, he smelled good, just like he had last night.

“Um, yeah. Just got here,” I stumbled. “Where’s baby Jax?”

He took a deep breath. “With his mother. But after last’s night’s stunt, I now know I could expect the little bugger at any time. Hey, thank you again for your help. You were a total savior.”

He took a step closer to me, his gaze solid.

And being the idiot I am, I took a step back. “I’m happy to help anytime. He’s a great little guy. So easy going,” I chirped.

Robbie nodded, taking my elbow and walking me away from the front desk. “I also want to thank you for that delicious kiss.”

Oh no. He was just putting that shit out there like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Which it might have been for some people. Not me.

“Um, yeah, it was super,” I stammered. “Well, I have to go change,” I said, pointing toward the women’s locker room and making a dash for it.

As I pushed the door open, I made the mistake of glancing back over my shoulder.

He was standing there, smiling, and shaking his head.

21

Cab

“Hey, Stell. How are things going?”

Already back at work, I stopped cutting lemons to face Cab, my dimpled former flame. How did the guy I’d secretly lusted after all my life—okay, I’ll be honest, had been pretty much in love with all my life—turn out to be such a disappointing douche?

I’d asked myself that for years, until it finally faded from my thoughts.

And now it was back.

Hello!

“Oh. Hi Cab,” I said, turning back to my lemons to avoid his gaze.

Four years of college and I was slicing lemons. But menial as it was, I focused on the bright side. Once I got into a groove, it was kind of like meditating. And I loved getting every last seed out. I looked at it as a personal challenge.

Next, I turned to polishing glasses, another never-ending chore. My spotless glasses were works of art, and I organized them for easy access for when the club was really rolling. The shorter time someone waited for a drink, the sooner they could order another one.

No one had told me that. I’d figured it out for myself.

“You’re getting some pretty big guns there from all the lifting you’re doing,” Cab said, mimicking hand weights.

Why was he so desperate to start a conversation? I continued to ignore him.

But he didn’t take the hint.

Big sigh. “You know, Stell, if we have to work together, we’re going to need to talk.”

Oh, for Christ’s sake.

I turned to him, slamming a glass on the bar and flicking my braid back over my shoulder. “Cab, what the hell do you want to talk about? Because in case you haven’t noticed, I have a lot to do. It’s going to be busy tonight, and I need to get things set up for Maze.”

Who hopefully would not find any more evidence of my having crashed the party where he’d kissed me.

Shaking his head, Cab pressed his lips together and looked down.

Yeah. Now he was getting it. Douche.

And it wasn’t his day to work, so what the hell was he doing here, anyway?

“Stell. Please?”

Against my better judgment, I met his gaze. Which was a mistake. A big, damn mistake. The same sensation I’d gotten from locking eyes with him, ever since I was a prepubescent teenager following him around like the love struck punk that I was, bowled over me like no time had passed, no hearts had been broken, and no one had moved on with their lives.

How did he do that?

After disappearing on me just when I thought he was mine and I was his, the jerk still had the power to jumble my thoughts and make it hard to breathe.

Fuck all. I had enough going on in my life, the latest problem of which was getting rid of my cheating ex-fiancé, without having to deal with anything superfluous like my first love.

There. I’d said it. He was my first love. He knew it, and he took advantage of it.

And he would again.

“Stell, Marni told me what happened with your wedding. I just wanted to say how sorry I am—”

I held a hand up. “Thanks, Cab. It’s