“SHOOT. SHOOT. SHOOT.” Brianna paced the stockroom floor, her hands fisted, her face a tight mask of nerves. “What am I going to do? He’s just a customer. Ignore him. Yes, I’ll ignore him.” She covered her face with her hands. “Darn it. Why is this happening?”
“Should I be worried about you?” Mack leaned against the doorframe of his office.
Brianna whipped her head around. “Oh my gosh. I had no idea you were in there. I’m sorry. I’m fine.” Great. Now Mack thinks I’m nuts, talking to myself in the stockroom.
“A person who’s fine doesn’t talk to herself with a look on her face like she’d rather be locked in the cooler than behind the bar. Is someone out there bothering you?” He pushed from the doorframe and headed toward the bar.
She ran to his side and grabbed his arm. “No, Mack. No one is bothering me. I’d tell you if they were.”
Mack drew his eyebrows together and crossed his arms. “Wanna clue me in about who is just a customer?”
Brianna’s voice softened. “Not really.”
“Fine, Brianna. But I think I’ll hang around the bar tonight just the same.”
“You don’t have to do that.” She snagged a clean towel, tucked it into her belt, and followed Mack into the bar. She watched him eyeing the customers, then glance at her, scrutinizing who held her attention. Brianna made a conscious effort not to look at gorgeous, heart-stopping, breath-stealing Hugh.
Thankfully, more customers had arrived, and there were at least a dozen men between the tables and the bar.
Mack looked around again. “I’ll be back. If you need me, come get me.” He headed into the restaurant, and the constriction in Brianna’s chest eased a little. She took a deep breath and grabbed an order pad to wait on the booths. Kat grabbed the pad from her hand and pushed past her.
“I’m on booths tonight.” She was halfway to the corner booth by the time Brianna called out her name.
Darn it, Kat. Brianna busied herself behind the counter, serving drinks and purposely not making eye contact with Hugh, who was talking to the guy next to him about baseball. Oh, I love his voice. What is wrong with me? He’s a man. That can only mean trouble. When he held his hand up in a little wave meant for her, a chill ran through her. She smiled despite herself, then dropped her eyes to the bar and began wiping it down. She noticed his water was empty, but his sidecar hadn’t been touched—again. He hadn’t touched his drinks the night before, either. She opened another bottle of Perrier and set it alongside a glass of ice in front of him.
His hand grazed hers when he reached for the glass. She drew her eyes to his.
“Thank you, Bree,” he said.
“Sure,” she managed.
“You look nice tonight.”
She felt her cheeks flush again. Darn it. She felt like a schoolgirl blushing all the time.
“Thank you.” She eyed the alcohol in his glass. “Was your drink made poorly?”
He didn’t even look down at the glass. “No. It’s fine.”
Then why aren’t you drinking it? Brianna saw Tracie enter the bar, silencing her before the question left her mouth. Tracie’s eyes ran from table to table, lingering over a group of two handsome men, then traveled to the bar and locked on Hugh.
“Your girlfriend’s here,” Brianna said before walking away.
“What?” Hugh turned just as Tracie sat beside him.
“Why did you leave him alone with her?” Kat whispered with her side pressed against Brianna’s back at the counter behind the bar.
“What am I going to do, stand there and gawk? I can’t even speak when I’m near him.” She looked at Kat and bit her lower lip. “Kat, you can’t let this happen. Don’t let my stupid hormones ruin my ability to think straight. Please. Layla is counting on me.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “Layla wouldn’t care if you dated a cute guy. You just use her as an excuse and you know it.”
“Not true. Look at my mother. My father left when I was eight. Todd was a weekend fling who clearly wanted nothing more, and look at your own father. He left when you were twelve. Men suck. They’re great for alleviating our needs, so to speak, but that doesn’t mean we have to mess up our lives for them. I’d rather go without, thank you very much.” She looked over her shoulder at Hugh and Tracie. Tracie leaned in close and Hugh leaned back, stiff, with a pained look in his eyes. Brianna groaned at Tracie’s brazenness and turned back to Kat.
“Not all men are like that. Look at Brad Pitt.”
“Great example.” Brianna rolled her eyes.
“Oh yeah. I totally forgot he was married when he met Angelina. Shoot. And now even that marriage is history.” Kat laughed. She peeked at Hugh. “Go save the poor guy before she eats him alive.”
Brianna took a deep breath. Why is it my job to save him? Hugh awakened all her girly parts and prodded emotions she hadn’t felt in a long time, and besides, he seemed like too nice of a guy to be preyed upon by Tracie. She handed another customer his drink and headed for Hugh.
“What are you having?” she asked Tracie.
“Cosmo,” she said, inching her long red fingernails toward Hugh’s hand on the bar.
Hugh slid his hand off the bar and lifted his eyes to Brianna’s. She read, Help me, in his gaze, but heard, Kiss me, in her head.
Brianna’s stomach tightened. “Coming right up.” I can’t believe I’m going to do this. She carried the cosmo in her shaking hand. Tracie leaned toward Hugh and her dress fell open, exposing a deep valley between her enormous breasts. Brianna narrowed her eyes, took a final step and then stumbled. The drink flew from her hand into Tracie’s lap.
“Hey!” Tracie jumped up with her hands held out to the sides, her dress dripping with the pink cocktail. “What the heck?” She grabbed a handful of napkins from the bar.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry.” Brianna reached across the bar and accidentally knocked Hugh’s sidecar over, splashing a second drink onto Tracie’s already wet dress. “Oh goodness!”
Hugh stifled a laugh, which spurred Brianna’s smile into motion.
“It’s not funny. Now I have to go home and change. Ugh!” Tracie stomped out of the bar.
“I’m so sorry,” Brianna said to Hugh as she mopped up the counter. She noticed Mack standing at the entrance to the restaurant, shaking his head. She cringed and mouthed, Sorry.
“That was brilliant,” Hugh said with a laugh.
His smile lit up his face and lightened Brianna’s anxiety. “You looked like you needed saving.”
“That, I did.” Hugh lifted his water to her and took a sip.
“I’ll get you another sidecar.” She took a step away, and he touched her hand as it trailed the edge of the bar.
“Don’t.”
She glanced back.
“I’d rather talk than drink.”
Brianna scanned the other customers. No one was asking for a drink. Kat had the booths and tables covered. She had no excuse not to talk to him—and she’d been looking for one only halfheartedly. Another quick glance at Hugh’s dark eyes sent the search for an excuse away for good. “Okay.”
For a moment he just looked at her. She was hyperaware of every breath. Every second passed as if it were in slow motion, every movement magnified—the slight lift of his lips, the sparkle in his eye, the way he licked his lower lip, leaving his lips parted just enough that she could see the glistening stripe where his tongue had just passed.
“Hello?”
Brianna blinked out of her trance and realized that the older man standing next to Hugh with an angry look in his eyes had already tried to get her attention several times. “Sorry. What can I get you?” She felt Hugh’s stare like heat from a laser.
“Bud Light.”
“Coming right up.” She focused on filling his drink. Her mind ran in seventeen different directions. Her life was work and Layla. What could she possibly talk to any man about? She handed the angry man his drink and then served a couple and a single woman. One of her favorite customers, Bill Carson, a gray-haired man with thin, gangly shoulders sat beside Hugh. Brianna felt Hugh’s eyes following her, and the emotions she’d been stifling for so many years came tumbling forward. Her stomach fluttered. Each breath felt too loud. She tried not to look at him, afraid she’d be mesmerized into stupidity again.
She handed Bill his usual Jim Beam on the rocks. “Haven’t seen you in here this week. Are you okay?” Her heart hammered against her chest as she forced herself not to look at Hugh.
Bill nodded. He was a retired postal worker, and Bree swore the flattening of his fingertips was caused by years of dealing envelopes across the postal counter. Bill had aged ten years in the last three, since his wife, Millie, had died. A road map of wrinkles covered his cheeks and forehead.
“You sure? Missing Millie?” she asked.
“Oh, you know. I miss Millie every day. My son was in town. I spent a few days with my grandson, but they went back to California.” He sighed. “How are you, Brianna?” Bill looked around the bar. “Busy tonight. They treating you okay? Because if they’re not, why, I’ll—”
Brianna loved how Bill pretended he’d stand up for her, when in reality he was so old and thin that a strong wind could blow him over. She was used to dealing with drunken men, and she didn’t feel she needed protecting, but she found it cute that he offered—and she wondered if Hugh was the kind of guy who would fiercely protect his girlfriend. Stop, stop, stop.
“They’re fine, Bill. But I know you’ve got my back.” She touched his hand. “Excuse me.” She went to serve another customer. The three that followed amped up her anxiety.
A table of guys in the middle of the bar began playing quarters, and between the whoops, cheers for the game, the searing heat from Hugh’s gaze, and Kat rushing in and out of the bar area, Brianna could barely hold on to a coherent thought. By the time the game ended and the crowd thinned, she felt as if she’d walked a hundred miles and, still feeling drawn to Hugh, felt as if she could walk a hundred more.
“What a night,” Kat said with a loud sigh. “That was insane. How are you holding up?” She rinsed a rag and squeezed it out in the sink.
“Okay.” Brianna glanced at Hugh. “He’s still here.”
“Of course he is. The man came to see you. He’s watched you like a hawk all night. You might as well talk to him. I’m going to mop up the booths.” She leaned in close. “Stop being afraid. It’s a conversation, not sex. Give the hot man a thrill.”
It’s the thrill I’m worried about.
HUGH LEARNED A lot about Brianna by just watching her, and he hadn’t enjoyed an evening as much in a very long time. She handled the customers with kindness and strength, pulling away when her professional attentiveness was met with flirtatious advances. She was nothing like the women he was used to. The models and fans he used to date would never have given the likes of these guys the time of day, and there she was, asking the old man beside him if he was missing his wife. She came around the bar to pick up money a customer had dropped and gave it back to him.
When a young guy grabbed her wrist and pulled her close, leading with his lips, Hugh stood from his stool. His chest expanded with a deep breath. I’ll kill you. Before he reached the guy, Brianna smiled like she was going to allow the kiss. Then she snapped her wrist over, breaking his hold, and grabbed his thumb and twisted it back and down—hard, causing him to writhe in agony and beg to be released. Hugh watched Mack escort the numskull out of the bar and then brought his attention back to Brianna, who was wiping down the bar once again as if nothing had happened. Hugh noticed the slight tremble in her arm, and the light that had found her eyes was gone again, replaced with a serious darkness.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Happens all the time.”
“It does? That’s not a good thing, Bree.” He didn’t even know her well, but at that moment, Hugh wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and hug away the fear she was trying so hard to hide.
She wiped her hands on her towel. “It’s really not a big deal. He just got carried away.”
“Bree.” Mack appeared beside Hugh. “You okay?”
“Fine, Mack. Thanks.” Her eyes darted to Hugh, then back to Mack.
“You sure? I can take care of…” Mack glared at Hugh. “Anything you need me to.”
Hugh smiled at the burly man and extended his hand. “Hugh Braden. Nice to meet you.”
“Braden? I know that name.” Mack shook Hugh’s hand.
Uh oh. How could he slip up like that? “You’ve probably heard of my brother, Josh. He’s a big-time fashion designer. His name is in all the fashion magazines.” Hugh had to push the conversation in another direction before Mack exposed him. “I’m not here to harass Brianna. I was just making sure the guy didn’t hurt her.”
Mack nodded, still scrutinizing him like he was unraveling a mystery. “Bree?”
“He’s fine, Mack.” She went back to work cleaning up the bar.
“Braden, huh? I’ll figure it out.” Mack headed toward the back of the bar.
Brianna stopped wiping the counter and folded her arms over her chest. “Thank you for asking if I was okay. But why are you here? You didn’t finish your drink and you didn’t watch the game. Should I be creeped out?”
Hugh leaned on the bar and answered honestly. “I’m not sure. Maybe.” He shrugged. “I was drawn to you yesterday, and I thought I’d come in and talk with you tonight. So you tell me. Creepy?”
She looked down and blushed. “Sort of.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I guess it sort of is, but how else does a guy get to know a woman around here? Do you want to have coffee with me after you’re off work?” He saw her flinch. “Listen, no pressure. I was just offering.”
Her eyebrows drew together, and she glanced at Kat as she approached.
“What’s going on?” Kat asked. “Way to nail that creep. What a jerk, grabbing you like that.” Kat looked between Brianna and Hugh. “Am I interrupting something here?”
Brianna lifted her eyes at Hugh. Man, her eyes killed him.
“Okay,” Brianna said softly.
“Okay?” Yes!
“Okay what?” Kat asked.
“Coffee. I’m having coffee with Hugh after work.”
“You are?” Kat lifted her thin brows. “That’s great. Where are you going?”
Hugh shrugged. “Wherever Bree wants.”
“What about Layla?” Kat asked.
Worry sailed through her eyes. “She’s with my mom for the night.”
“Perfect,” Kat said; then she looked at Hugh.
With your mom? She’s got a kid. Crap. She has a kid. Hugh loved children, but he hadn’t ever considered dating a woman with a child. He must have looked as concerned as he felt because Kat elbowed Brianna and nodded in his direction.
Brianna crossed her arms again. She looked at Hugh with those beautiful eyes that seemed to be filled with serious thoughts every second of the evening. “I have a daughter. Layla Michelle. She’s going to be six in a week. If you’d rather skip having coffee, that’s fine. I’d understand.”
One look in her eyes and he knew he wanted to get to know her better, but he also knew he’d have to be careful. Dating a single mother introduced all sorts of tangled webs into the equation.
“Brianna, I’d love to have coffee with you whether or not you have a daughter.”
“Really?” She arched a thin brow.
“Really.” Risking his emotions was new, considering the women he’d dated in the past never struck anything other than lust in him, but risking a single mother’s emotions—or her daughter’s—was dangerous. He thought of his own father and how he had never been with another woman after his wife died, and he wondered how he would have felt, as a child, if his father had.
His father’s voice sailed through his mind—though it was Hugh’s own thoughts that he heard. Tread lightly, son. Hugh didn’t know the meaning of treading lightly. He was an all-or-nothing guy who moved fast and trusted his gut. The thought of treading lightly scared him to death, but not enough to forgo coffee with lovely Brianna.