Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
I was going to have sex with Rush.
Tonight.
At least, I was going to try, and I wasn’t going to be shy about what I wanted any longer. The first problem was that I was drinking too much. The second problem was that I kept looking over at Rush, who was behind the bar. I was in a booth sitting across from Tony, my date, who had just finished explaining his “five-year plan” and “ten-year plan” for his future.
“I just can’t see myself ever having kids,” Tony was saying, his blond buzz cut shiny under the booth’s pendant light. “Like I said, my five-year plan involves finding a partner I can relocate to Manhattan with. And if the ten-year plan includes a robust investment portfolio, I just don’t see how saving for a kid’s college fund would fit into that.”
I took another swig of my second margarita of the night. This guy’s dating profile had claimed that he was “chill, laid back, and just liked having a good time,” but having drinks with him felt like drinking with a spreadsheet in human form. He seemed more like a robot than a chill, laid-back guy.
“I’ve actually always wanted to be a dad someday,” I said. “That’s why I mentioned that on the dating profile.”
“Oh,” Tony said, looking up at me with wide eyes. “You did?”
“Yeah,” I said. “It was in the second paragraph.”
He waved a hand through the air. “I mostly just look at the photos. Someone has to be at least an eight out of ten level hot for me to want to spend my time going on the date, you know?”
I didn’t bother asking him what number I was on his mental scale of “hot,” but I figured I must have been at least an eight if he’d deemed me worthy of going on a date.
I looked over at Rush again. Charlie was sitting across from him, and the two of them looked like they were having the time of their lives. Charlie’s head was thrown back in laughter. Rush’s eyes were wide and bright as he told an animated story, talking with his hands.
And as Tony launched into another rant about how he hated people who slept in on the weekends, I found myself already making a serious dent in my second margarita. Fifteen minutes later, the alcohol was hitting me like a truck. A man wearing a suit in the booth behind ours had overheard Tony talking about the stock market, and Tony was now ignoring me and talking to the businessman instead.
The two of them seemed like they were hitting it off a whole lot better than I had with Tony.
“Gonna grab another drink. You want one?” I asked him.
“No thanks,” Tony said, barely glancing at me. As I got up to go to the bar, I saw Tony get up and sit down at the other guy’s booth instead.
And Shawn Wood strikes out again.
I made my way over to the bar, sitting at the stool near where Charlie had been. He was off playing Skee-Ball with my brother now.
Rush was behind the bar, making a drink and looking obscenely sexy in his fitted black henley shirt with the sleeves rolled up on his forearms. I could have watched him work forever, perfectly making drinks that would take me fifteen minutes to craft.
“You should tell your bartenders to go easy on the tequila in those margaritas,” I said to him.
He glanced up at me from under his lashes. “Most people tend to like when their drinks are strong.”
“Not saying I don’t like it,” I told him. “But aren’t bartenders supposed to pour light?”
Rush shrugged one shoulder. “I want my customers to be happy.”
He slid the drink he’d just made over toward me.
“I didn’t even ask for another,” I said.
“I knew you were about to.”
I clutched the chilly glass. “Fair enough. Guess you’ve got me all figured out.”
“This one has a splash of passionfruit in it. Try it.”
I took a sip, groaning at the delicious, tart-sweet flavor. “This is dangerous.”
Rush nodded once. “Going to go on the menu starting next month. It’s a banger.”
“Now I’m just going to get even drunker and go back to my date and make him hate me even more than he already does.”
He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms and leaning against the bar. “That bad?”
“Worse,” I said. “I think he’s having a better date right now with the guy in the booth behind ours. I don’t even think he remembers my name.”
“Sounds like you’re dodging a bullet.”
I let my gaze linger on Rush for longer than I normally would have. I couldn’t stop looking at him, really, and maybe it was because the alcohol was making me more daring, but after such a shitty date I couldn’t bring myself to care.
He also looked way too good for how little sleep he got this morning. He’d only had a short nap before coming into the brewery. Now it was well into the evening and he still managed to look like an off-duty movie star.