Page 71 of The Ghost of You

Noah pulls back from me, letting go of my arm. “He’s gay?”

I nod as I step back but Noah is faster than I am and his arms wrap around my hips, resting on my lower back. “We need to talk.”

I put my hands on his chest, feeling the race of his heartbeat and the hardness of his muscles. “We will.”

He hesitates to let me go but then a howl comes from the door. We break apart when we hear the brogue of Asher’s voice.

“I’ll be right back to grab their orders,” I tell him, stepping away before his brothers see how close we are.

I run behind the bar and collapse onto one of the coolers.

“Well that got interesting.”

I hold my hand up in front of Liam. “Please don’t.”

“Oh no baby girl. I am going to say something. That man,” he points to Noah, “has got it bad for you. He just needs to realize it before it’s too late. Maybe don’t tell him brother dearest kissed you the other night.” He pauses then a big grin comes across his face. “Actually please do. Maybe they will duke it out at the bar, in front of us. Shirtless.”

“You and your fantasies. That is never happening.”

“A man can dream.”

“You should get a job at the gay bar down the street.”

“No way honey, too much drama for me.”

I make my way back over to the Taylor brothers to grab their drink orders. Seraphina walks in with Darnell so I grab Darnell a beer and make a margarita for Seraphina.

I return to their table and set down all the drinks. “You guys have quite the party going on. What’s the occasion?”

Mason walks over to me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Starlight Studios just got a huge job.” I glance over at Noah and his jaw is once again tense. “Dee talked to some friends and he got a huge up-and-coming band out of LA to record here.”

“No way. That’s amazing! Congratulations!” I give Mason a hug and hear Noah cough behind me. I roll my eyes at him. “Well I need to get back to work but I’ll try to celebrate with you on a break.”

I can feel Noah watching me as I sling drinks the next hour. His eyes follow my every movement as I serve tables. He watches me closely as I go up to Mason, Asher, and Darnell who are playing darts in the back. It starts to get annoying and I want to yell at him but Sera knocks over the table of drinks and I rush to go clean it up.

I run back behind the bar and grab more towels and a bus tub for the glasses. Sera, Carson, and Noah help me clean up the mess. Noah sneaks in small brushes against my hand as I do. He helps me carry the dishes to the kitchen. And I thank him as I walk back to the bar and throw the wet towels into a bucket.

“You know you have my towel still.”

“What?”

He gestures toward the towels I just threw. “Reminded me of that night.”

My cheeks flush. “Well, I’m keeping it as payment for embarrassing me.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“You saw me buck ass naked, it was completely embarrassing.”

“You saw me naked too.”

My cheeks go redder at the thought of Noah naked. Thank god for the dim lights of the bar. “Yeah well you seem to not care.”

He grins at me. “I don’t and neither should you.”

“Why’s that?”

“There is nothing embarrassing about that body you are hiding under those clothes.”

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