Six Months Later…

“Blair.”

I turn to my left and smile. It is impossible not to when Jake Gunner, the blue-eyed, dark haired bartender who has been training and working side by side with me for the last three months, is smiling back at me. He is also the guy I secretly fantasize about each night when I go home. Okay, also during our many shifts together. It’s almost impossible to avoid. The man is sexy in a dangerous kind of way. Hair the shade of deep dark chocolate, eyes almost dark as night, and shirts that do nothing to hide the strong tattooed arms and chest hidden beneath.

I first met him two weeks after Nate so graciously took off and left me without looking back. I quickly found that even though Nate’s money was dirty, he did contribute to the living expenses. I was stuck with an apartment and bills I couldn’t afford and felt like my world was falling apart. I had to consider the idea that I might soon be homeless.

With the help of a few friends, I was dragged out for a night on the town. They felt I needed it and gave me no other choice but to accept their offering. Quickly I found myself drunk and feeling even more sorry for myself. When I drink I tend to ramble…a lot. I immediately befriended a girl behind the bar and went on and on to her about my life and the hell it had become. I freely offered explicit details about Nate and the last couple of years of my pitiful existence, and she graciously listened. I wish I could take it all back now; I was a hot mess and the next day I paid dearly for it.

But out of that disaster of a night, one great thing did come of it: a job.

The next morning while I sat at my kitchen table, with my head in my hands, Sadie handed me a piece of paper. The name Miller’s, a number, and one name: Jake. Now here I was, working at a local pub with, in my opinion, the sexiest bar manager in town. So I guess in a sense, I did win.

Did I mention I have nasty, dirty thoughts almost daily about said manager?

“I need three shooters and a Bud Light.” Jake’s voice jerks me out of my daydream. He winks as he continues to mix the remaining drinks ordered by a group of guys at his end of the bar. It’s hard not to get lost in the way his arms flex and his back muscles tense under his snug shirt as he moves around behind the bar with ease.

It was hell spending a five-hour shift horny and lusting after your coworker.

“Blair.” I am lost in thought once again and have still not gotten the drinks he requested. The sound of his voice suddenly sends me into overdrive as I spin around and ignore the fact that I have just been caught staring openly at him. With a racing heart from what I’d describe as sexual tension, I get busy with everything he requested. I move toward his end of the bar and place the drinks in front of the guys, instantly loving the way Jake looks at me—the sexy grin and his eyes that rake over me slowly.

A few of the guys make a comment or two about my ass and cleavage, but that comes with the job. Rarely did I get through a shift without at least one guy talking about what he would like to do to me, but I just tune it out. It’s for the best. I dress for the job, wearing tight jeans and low-cut shirts or sometimes crop tops. It all makes for better tips.

Jake, on the other hand, doesn’t appear as though he cares much for their remarks. He steps in close behind me, pressing the front of his body against my backside. It is the first time he’s ever expressed this kind of possessiveness and it sends a shock of delight through me.

“Let’s keep it clean, gentlemen.” His voice is full of warning and chills rake through me from the dominance it conveys. “Or you and I will have a problem.”

Without even thinking twice about it, I push back just a little further and can feel him against my ass. Involuntarily my eyes flutter shut for just a moment as I imagine what he has hidden beneath those jeans of his. From the feel of it, there most definitely is something very special indeed.

“You keep rubbing up on me like that, I may be forced to close down early,” he whispers against my ear as he squeezes my hip. “You’re making it difficult for me to be a good guy here.”

Heat rises to my cheeks and I look back over my shoulder wanting to tell him to go for it, but before I can, he steps back and begins working the bar once again. Even though he pretends to be busy, I notice more than once that he glances in my direction.

I, of course, stand there practically panting with yet another long list of erotic thoughts about Mr. Dangerous.

This job is some kind of crazy torture, but it’s one I won’t walk away from even though it leaves me feeling shaky and twisted up inside.

Whitney, my best friend and biggest supporter, is the one who convinced me to accept the job in the first place. She knew I needed it. She is also the one who for the last few months got to hear me go on and on about how I wanted to mount him and never let go. I don’t see this attraction getting any easier to handle in the future, either. I feel like I am about to combust, and Jake Gunner will need an army to keep me from taking what I want from him.

I do my best to ignore Jake as I work my end of the bar. Distance is good; it keeps me from embarrassing myself any more than I already have. The guy knows I have a thing for him—I haven’t once hidden the fact he makes my heart race.

I do my best to ignore him when he openly flirts with the female customers, but it is difficult. I want to be the girl he gives that sexy grin to, the one he winks at as he gently touches my hand.

“Eyes over here.” I look away from Jake and find Whitney and Sadie sitting down in two open stools at my end of the bar. “Watching him is only making you look desperate.” I glare at Whitney, making her laugh as I grab two glasses and start to make their drink of choice.

“If I was stuck here with him for hours upon hours you better bet I’d be lusting.” Sadie’s eyes roam over Jake and I have to look away from her to keep myself from acting possessive. He is not mine, though the jealous feelings I get make it seem otherwise. “And the moment the doors were locked and I was left alone with him, you can guarantee I’d be sampling what that sexy man is hiding beneath those jeans. He is so good-looking, Whit. Tell me you don’t feel the same.”

“I never said he wasn’t.” She tosses a ten onto the counter as I place their drinks before them. “But I’ve also been in here almost every weekend since Blair landed this job and I’ve witnessed him with at least half a dozen bar whores. So, with that being said, I think she needs to steer clear.”

“I was telling her to screw him, not marry him.” Sadie lifts her glass and takes a generous gulp.

“I think she should refrain from screwing him too.”

The two of them carry on about me like I’m not standing two feet away.

“But I do think he’d be really good at it.”

“Excuse me?” They both look away from Jake and meet my stare. “I won’t be screwing him or anything else for that matter.” I am completely aware of the fact that my statement sounds unsure. “Can you two talk about something else, other than me and my sex life?”

“What sex life?” Sadie mumbles the words but I hear them clearly.

“Again, none of your business.” They are two of the nosiest people I know.

“I’m just saying that you are twenty-three, single and gorgeous.” Sadie waves her hand in the air in front of her. From the looks of it, I would have to guess she’s been drinking for quite some time prior to showing up here. “You should be enjoying yourself and not spending every day being so standoffish because you got wrapped up with some douchebag that made you leery of all guys.”

Her voice is carrying throughout the bar and I look around to see who is looking in her direction. Thankfully with the jukebox and loud talking, it seems most haven’t heard her.

I work my end, walking away from her in hopes she lets it go, but she only talks louder. “If Mr. McHotty Bar Manager can make your toes curl, then I say go for it.”

My eyes widen as Sadie practically screams these words and immediately I search out Jake, who of course is standing only a few feet away, smiling widely. His eyes lock on mine, just before they slowly shift downward as he scans over my body once again. Chills cover my arms and neck and I shift nervously, feeling excited. All I know is I’m going to kill Sadie the first chance I get.

Jake sidesteps Liam who is stocking the cooler that holds the beer bottles behind the bar. In doing so he brings himself closer to me. There I stand with a tall glass in one hand and the nozzle to the Bud Light draft in the other, and I know I have to look like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Did I hear something about toes curling?” Jake whispers in a deep raspy tone. I hang my head to hide the blush I know is covering my face. “That’s when you know it’s good,” he adds, his warm breath fanning over my neck and shoulder. “Has it ever been that good for you, Blair?”

I swear the temperature inside Miller’s just went up twenty-five degrees. I want to find that inner strength inside me. The one that helps me look up and meet his stare, but I can’t. I know if my eyes connect with his, I will most likely do something that I’ll regret. Like tackle him to the ground and grind on him like a cat in heat or something worse.

So instead, I wait for him to back away and then I turn to face my friends who both smile knowingly.

Bitches. Both of them.