three minutes. I don’t want to brag, but in this moment, I am more than happy to be a minute man.”
She burst into nervous laughter, her cheeks staining red. “You are so bad. Here I was thinking my dad might one day see you as the fine, upstanding gentleman I know you can be instead of the miscreant he thinks you are.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “Even fine upstanding gentlemen have needs. I need you.”
“When I get back to work, we are going to have a talk.”
I frowned with confusion. “Why when you get back to work?”
“Because I need to check my schedule and find somewhere to squeeze in a little time with you.”
“And then I can squeeze my way into you,” I replied without missing a beat.
She bit her lower lip. “You are a tease.”
“I’m not teasing. You name the time and place and I will be there.”
“I will and you better damn well be there.”
I winked. “I wouldn’t miss a chance to be with you.”
Chapter 42
Evie
Nelle was scowling at something behind me. I turned around to see what had her encouraging premature wrinkling. “Will you stop?” I scolded.
“I can’t help it,” she muttered.
“Yes, you can. This is why I didn’t want to come here. You are going to be picking apart that poor bartender all night. Give him a break.”
“He sucks,” she said. “No wonder he doesn’t make any tips. I wouldn’t tip him a penny.”
I sighed, sipping on the drink that really wasn’t all that good, but I was not about to tell her that. “If it wasn’t for him, you would never have a day off. He is a necessary evil.”
“Evil maybe, but I’m not sure how necessary it is.”
“Pay attention to me,” I demanded.
She finally looked at me. “You are a needy date.”
I laughed. “You have no idea just how needy I am.”
“Gross.”
I shrugged. “It’s true.”
“I guess that means you guys still haven’t managed to find some alone time this week?”
I groaned. “No. He had to go out of town to talk to someone about something that had something to do with a boat. He told me but I honestly have no idea what he was talking about. He gets really excited about his project and he speaks a totally different language.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her eyes drifting over my shoulder again.
“No, you are not.”
“Did you guys figure out what to do about your daddy?”
I rolled my eyes. “There is nothing to do about Daddy,” I answered. “He doesn’t want to be rational and I can’t make him get it. He’ll either come around or he won’t.”
“That is really too bad.” She wasn’t looking at me.
“Oh my god,” I said. “Go. I can see you are dying to go say something to him. Just do it and bring your ass back here. With a fresh drink for me. I don’t want another one from him.”
“Ha! See? I told you! He’s terrible.”
“He is, but that’s not our problem right now. Right now, me and you are catching up on girl talk. One night of bad drinks is not going to hurt anyone.”
She scoffed. “I just want it made very clear I’m not the shitty bartender.”
“No one would ever think that,” I told her.
She disappeared behind the bar. It was always like this when we came in on her days off. She called me Type A, but she was just as bad. She was very particular about what she did and didn’t like in her bar. It was very much her way or the highway.
She returned ten minutes later with fresh drinks for both of us. “There,” she said with a sigh. “I feel much better.”
“Good, now focus on me.”
“Oh, you poor, deprived girl.”
I grinned. “I like all the attention.”
“Fine, let’s get back to the daddy and boyfriend situation.”
I wrinkled my nose. “That is not a pleasant conversation.”
“Your dad is giving new meaning to the term overprotective father,” she commented.
“It is so dumb. The more I think about it, the more I realize how alike they are. I think if my dad could pull his head out of his ass for five minutes, he would see how awesome Xander is. The way his mind works is incredible. I love to hear him talk about his project, even if I don’t understand a word he is saying.”
“You got it bad,” she said as she shook her head.
“I do,” I confessed. “I so do.”
“I think you are doing the right thing, for what it’s worth. Giving it time to cool