a sensitive stomach.”
The woman suddenly grinned. “What’d you say your name was?”
“Tell him it’s Olivia.”
The woman picked up a phone and punched a couple of buttons. A moment passed before she spoke. “It’s Sonia. There’s some woman here named Olivia who says—”
There was a pause, a quick okay, and then Sonia hung up. “He’ll be here in twenty minutes. You can wait in his office.”
Liv slid off her stool to follow Sonia down a hallway behind the bar.
“So who are you?” Sonia asked, looking back over her shoulder.
“Huh?”
“Mack doesn’t do this—let random women sit in his office. So you must be someone.”
“He got me fired last weekend. I’m here for revenge.”
“Can I watch?”
“I’ll even let you help.”
Sonia opened the door to a back office and waved her arm for Liv to go inside. Liv sank into Mack’s desk chair and kicked her feet up on the surprisingly tidy surface.
Sonia grinned. “His file cabinet is color-coded. Sometimes when I’m mad at him, I mix them all up.”
Liv laid her hand over her heart. “Can we be best friends?”
“Yep.”
As soon as Sonia left, Liv leaned back in the chair and studied the office. The decor was spare but professional. A couple of file cabinets lined one wall beneath a framed black-and-white photo of what was probably Temple before it became Temple. The only personal touch in the room was a line of photos tacked to a fabric pinboard beneath the prefab cabinets that matched the desk.
She tried and failed several times to avoid staring at them, so she finally just gave up and studied them. They were obviously family. They all looked like Mack—dark hair, big smiles, same eyes.
“Comfortable?”
Liv danced her feet along the desk to swivel the chair around. Mack stood in the doorway wearing jeans and a black button-down with the sleeves rolled up. He leaned against the wood frame with his arms crossed, smiling like a man who knew he was good-looking and was used to getting his way because of it.
Liv rolled her eyes. “You practice that pose in the mirror?”
He winked. “Every day.”
“Your office is clean.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I figured you the type for an overflowing trash can and dirty coffee cups.”
“Then you figured wrong.” He pulled away from the door and walked inside, pointing at the photos. “That’s my family.”
She shrugged.
“You’re not even curious?”
“Not really,” she lied.
He moved closer to her and started rattling off names. “That’s my brother, Liam. His wife, Allison. Their two kids. They’re pretty much the cutest kids on the planet.” He pointed to the last picture. “And that’s my mom.”
Liv would’ve known that even if Mack hadn’t pointed it out. He had the same dark hair, golden-brown eyes, and long lashes as the woman in the picture. Not that Liv had spent any time studying Mack’s eyes or the length of his lashes. They were just obvious, like the plumes of a peacock. A person could admire the beauty of the bird while hating its aggressive mating behavior.
Liv crossed her legs at the ankles. “Your manager thought I was some girl you’re stringing along.”
He chuckled. “She has no filter.”
“I know. I like her.”
Mack sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk. “So do I. She’s been with me since I opened my first club.”
“Poor thing.”
“I’ve gotten used to the attitude.”
“I was talking about her.”
He winked again. “Give it time. You’ll start to like me. Everyone does.”
“Only if you have Chinese food to replace the leftovers you ate.”
“Damn, you still salty about that?”
“I take food very seriously.”
“Gavin said I could eat them,” he defended.
“They weren’t his to give away.”
“Is that why you don’t like me? Because I ate your lo mein?”
“No. I don’t like you because you spend more on hair products than I do.”
“It takes a lot of work to look this good, honey.”
“Exactly. No woman could ever compete with that. I bet you have a mirror in every room of your house and practice smiling into them.”
“Don’t you?”
She snorted.
“So you seriously don’t like me?”
She gave him another side-eye. “You say that like it actually surprises you.”
At his silence, she stared, incredulous. “It does surprise you.”
He shrugged. “Everybody likes me.” He hooked an ankle over the opposite knee. “I take it you changed your mind about the job?”
Liv dropped her feet to the floor. “Yes, but not for me.”
He squinted, sending a spray of minuscule crinkles around his eyes. “Not sure I follow.”
“If you really have openings—”
“I do.”
“—then I need you to hire a girl named Jessica. She’s