Page 15 of Long Shot

“No.” Carlotta looks around. The woman beside her also smiles at me, and I vaguely remember her being at the bar the night Carlotta and I hooked up, a friend of hers presumably. “I didn’t even know about this.”

“No worries. The bar is still open if you want to order drinks.” I gesture at a few empty tables. “I’ll send Raul over to take your order.”

Carlotta’s bottom lip pushes out, disappointment evident on her face. “Okay, thanks.”

I snag Raul’s eye and gesture. Raul bobs his head, drops the towel he’s using to dry a glass, and heads to their table.

I turn back and immediately meet Reese’s eyes. She watches me as she sips tequila, her face expressionless. And yet I sense her scorn.

What the fuck? It’s none of her business. She has no right to judge me. It’s not my fault women keep showing up here. I’m nothing but honest with them.

It’s getting a bit old, actually, even for me.

“That’s it,” Marco says, observing the group. “Inhale before you take your first sip. When you have the tequila in your mouth, breathe in through your nose, swallow the tequila over your tongue, and then exhale hard over your tongue to really get your taste buds excited.” He grins and the group laughs.

“That’s what we want to do here, get our taste buds all excited,” Beck adds with a wink.

Somehow they make tasting tequila sound sexual. But, hey, sex sells.

“Then have a couple more sips to see if you can taste anything else, or if it’s the same,” Marco adds.

“This is amazing,” one of the female guests says.

“We do our tasting from light to dark, as with a wine-tasting,” Beck tells the group. “And in order of age. This next one is an añejo, a little older. You should taste a difference.” Beck, Marco, and I pour small amounts of the golden liquid into tasting glasses. We always pour enough for a few sips, in the hopes that if guests really like it, they’ll stay and order more.

I’m certain these tasting events had increased our business.

“Cade.” Carrie beckons me over.

He moved around Beck, lifting his eyebrows.

“I have another idea for getting people into the bar,” Carrie says.

“Oh, yeah?” I pour some of the añejo into her glass, then Hayden’s and Reese’s, trying to be casual.

“Yes! Paint night.”

I go still and lower the bottle. “What?”

“Paint night. Lots of bars are doing it. People come in and eat and drink and paint pictures.”

I narrow my eyes. “Uh . . .”

“I’m serious! I told Marco about it and he thought it was great. I know an artist through G Gallery who’d be willing to do it. You can go online and see what it’s all about. I think this would be a great place for it.”

“Sounds like a chick thing.”

Carrie scrunches up her face. “It’s not just for women, although I think a lot of women enjoy it. They do girls’ night out at a paint party. But couples come, as well. Hey, I’ll tell you what . . . Hayden, Reese, and I will organize it. How about that?”

I frown. “Negative.”

Carrie pouts. “What?”

Reese speaks up. “Cade likes to be in charge. Of everything.”

I meet her eyes in a sizzling clash.Oh, hell, no. She has no idea. Heat builds, as if she knows exactly what I’m thinking. “Funny,” I drawl. “I get the feeling you also like to be in charge.”

Her lips purse.

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