Page 27 of Wish You Were Mine
“Your boss didn’t give you New Year’s Day off?” I asked, trying to mask my sudden disappointment. “Doesn’t he know you have cool people to hang out with?”
“He actually does…” He chuckled—a low, throaty sound that made my stomach flutter. “Since I am said boss—a manager, anyway. I set the schedule, but because I got tonight off, I figured I should let someone else have tomorrow night off with their family.”
“That’s actually really considerate,” I said, liking that he seemed to care about his staff…but also kind of wishing he’d been a bit more selfish since it would have been fun to hang out with him tomorrow.
“Yeah. Though, if I’d known aboutallof the cool people Ky had invited here this weekend, I might have been inclined to be a little more selfish.” He winked.
I blinked, a little startled that he’d just said exactly what I’d been thinking seconds ago. And then my heart fluttered in my chest because…he was hinting that he wanted to hang out with me more, right?
“Next time we’ll have to ask Ky for his guest list,” I said. “But it sounds like you help run The Garden then?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I took on a lot of the responsibilities a couple years ago, when the owner had to step away for some family stuff.”
Okay. So, he wasn’t just hot and grounded, he was also responsible. The dangerous trifecta.
We lapsed into a brief silence, the kind that teetered between comfortable and uncertain. I didn’t want him to get bored and head inside, so I searched for something—anything—to keep the conversation going. Then I glanced at him and said, “Oh, hey, I never asked. Did the pineapple punch end up being the fun kind?”
“It was definitely the fun kind.” He grinned, amused.
“How many cups did you have?” I narrowed my eyes, wondering if he was drunker than he seemed and just better at hiding it than Josh had ever been.
“Just the one.” He leaned back, resting one arm along theledge behind me. “Got a good buzz, but it’s gone now.” Then he asked, “And how did your mojito treat you?”
“It was perfect.” I smiled. “Just enough to warm me up and make me giggly, but it wore off during the games. Which was just what I wanted since I don’t like getting drunk”
“Me neither,” he said.
“So you’re more of the drug-dealing type than a druggie.”
His brows knitted together. “What now?”
And I realized that that comparison probably sounded really bad since he hadn’t been able to read my thoughts. So I rushed to say, “You know how people say you can either be a drug dealer or a druggie. But if you try mixing the two, you just end up really poor and high…”
“Yeah…”
“So since you’re a bartender, you’re just dealing alcohol instead of drugs.”
Okay…that definitely sounded better in my head.
“Right…” But he thankfully seemed to understand my nonsensical logic because he added, “I’m a responsible supplier of questionable decisions.”
“Exactly.” I smiled, liking the way he’d worded it since I wouldn’t mind making a few questionable decisions with him right now.
We fell into a brief silence as the snowfall thickened, swirling through the air like confetti from the sky. I lifted my arms from the warmth of the water to catch a few drifting flakes, but the sting of the cold made me laugh and draw back quickly and settle farther down into the warm water.
“Cold out there?” he asked, a glint of amusement sparking in his eyes.
“Freezing,” I said, rubbing my arms. “And I just realized, with Miles and Bash already inside, I’m now morally obligated to help you put the hot tub cover back on.”
“Oof.” He winced. “Don’t remind me about that part.”
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna be regretting my decisions when I finally climb out.”
“Better just stay here all night then, right?” He glanced at me.
“A little longer, at least.”
We shared a quiet smile. Then he said, “Can I ask you something?”
