Page 1 of My Ex Girlfriend's Brother

CHAPTERONE

cash

After slippingmy last customer’s tab into the register, I braced myself on the bar and tried to calm my rising fury. I was tired of shitty employees who didn’t show up for their shifts that I ended up having to work. I was too old for this shit, and I’d worked too damn hard to have my own business to keep hiring people who couldn’t even bother to call to say they weren’t showing up for their shift.

“Can I get some help here,” a voice that sounded so damn smooth and fine said from behind me.

I turned back around to find one of the hottest guys to ever walk into my bar sitting before me with a chiseled jaw covered in dark stubble and gray eyes rimmed with long, dark lashes. His pink pouty lips had me wanting to lean over the bar to see what they tasted like.

I gave a slight shake of my head to rid myself of my lust-induced fog and gave him my best smile. “What can I get for you?”

He looked to all the bottles behind me and then back at me as he sunk his teeth into his bottom lip. “What do you suggest?”

“Well, it depends on your mood and the type of man you are.” I arched a brow, waging to see if he was interested in more than just a drink.

“I’m up for anything once,” he smirked. “And tonight, I want to have a good time. Do you have anything like that?” The playful tone in his voice had me ready for a good time as well.

I leaned forward and placed my elbows on the bar, my hands clasped in front of me. “It depends. Are we talking about a drink or somethingmore?”

He looked me up and down, and I watched as those gray eyes of his turned turbulent, like a summer storm that pops up out of nowhere as his pupils dilated. “I’m a greedy guy. How about both?”

I could definitely do both. Maybe Rodney not showing up tonight wasn’t such a bad thing. Otherwise, I would have missed out on the man sitting in front of me.

“Do you like bourbon?”

He shrugged. “I’ve only had the cheap stuff, and it was… okay, I guess,” he shrugged his broad shoulders. The corner of his mouth kicked up.

“Well, how about I introduce you to some good bourbon, and you let me know what you think? Every man should taste an excellent bourbon at least once in his lifetime.” He nodded as if he agreed with me, and I knew it was time I found out his name. I extended my hand. “By the way, I’m Cash.”

He reached out and shook my proffered hand. I wouldn’t call what I felt by our simple touch a zap of electricity, but my entire body heated instantly, and my cock stiffened behind my zipper. “I’m Jordan.”

“I haven’t seen you in here before, Jordan,” I said as I grabbed a bottle of Woodford Reserve and poured a finger of it into an old-fashion glass.

“It’s my first time. I moved here about a month ago and got tired of sitting on my couch watching TV night after night.”

“Well, we can’t have that now, can we?” I chuckled. “What brought you to our cozy town of Oasis?”

“I got offered a job I couldn’t refuse, and I thought it would be great since my best friend from college lives here, but I should have realized he wouldn’t have much time for me now that he’s working full time and has a wife.”

It was good to know he was at least out of college, though not by much going by how young he looked. I couldn’t imagine getting married right out of college. My sister had tried that, but it didn’t work out for whatever reason. She didn’t like to talk about it.

“What do you do for a living?” I asked, pushing his drink toward him.

“I’m an architect working at McArthur Architects,” he beamed with pride. I wanted to acknowledge him somehow since he acted like it was a big accomplishment, but I had no idea if it was a good place to work or not. Architecture wasn’t my thing. Well, this architect was, so I asked another question.

“Where’d you live before Oasis?”

“In chilly ass Minnesota,” he laughed before he took a sip of his drink, rolling it around in his mouth for a moment before he swallowed. He lifted the drink in the air. “Not what I was expecting at all. It’s good, man. A good adult drink.”

That made me laugh, but I understood him. He was probably used to drinking cheap beer in college.

“It must be quite a change to go from living in Minnesota to the desert.” I poured myself a drink, wanting to enjoy Jordan’s first real bourbon with him. “Especially in August.”

“Yeah, you can say that again. I only lived there for a little over a year, but that year was too damn long. I actually went to school here in California, but up north.”

“Oh, yeah, where’d you go to school?”

He took a sip of his drink before he spoke. “Do you usually ask all your customers this many questions?”

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