Give Me a Reason (Redemption Hills 1)

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Jud.”

“Why don’t you take this one? I think you’re ready,” Leann suggested, stepping back so Eden could take the lead.

It was basically the last test for a new server before they were let loose—serving me so I could judge if they were ready or if they weren’t going to work out at all.

I was in tune with my bar to know well enough Eden was handling it just fine, but still, she inhaled like she was preparing to run a race when she took a confident step forward.

Energy surged.

Could feel her heart beating manic in the space.

I attempted to swallow around the rocks in my throat. To sit still around this feeling in my gut that churned every time she got close.

I fisted my hands under the table, trying to keep it cool when she cast a timid glance at me before she lifted her head and cleared her throat. The way that pink tongue darted out to wet her lips nearly drove me crazy. “Welcome to Absolution. What can I get started for you tonight?”

“You have any suggestions?” Jud, the asshole.

“What do you like?” She angled her head. “You look like a beer guy to me.”

Jud laughed. “I think you’re on to me.”

“I think I might be.” Eden was all smiles. A tempting, tantalizing tease.

I itched.

She glanced my way like she was looking to see if she was doing it right.

Only we got locked there, girl staring and me staring right back.

That strange energy she emitted zapping me like a shock.

Finally, she jerked, clearing the roughness from her throat again, and turned back to Jud. She started to list off the beers we had on tap like she’d just spent the last five days cramming for a test.

Apparently, she and my son really would get along.

Jud picked his brew, and then she was turning that attention on me, her nerves firing all over the place, but she still had that sweet softness in her eyes. That thing that clearly neither of us understood. “And what can I get for you, Sir?”

Had to grit the words around the need. “Sage knows what I like.”

“But I don’t.” Her voice was doing that wispy, seductive thing, and…fuck, I wanted to fuck her.

It was true.

I wanted to strip her down and lay her out.

I forced a smirk. “Well, then, Miss Murphy, there’s a bottle of Macallan back there with my name on it. Like it neat.”

Warm, like those eyes. Like that mouth. Almost as good as I knew she would taste.

“Okay.” It was a breath. Like she was committing it to memory. This girl doing her best to sink right in.

“Would either of you like to see a food menu?” she asked, glancing between me and my brother.

“Right here, gorgeous.” Jud’s deep voice bolted through the connection. “This boy’s starvin’.”

She sent him a tender smile.

Stomach fisting, I drummed my fingertips on the table.

“Well, we can’t have that now, can we? I’ll be right back with your drinks and a menu so we can get you fed.”

“That’d be perfect, gorgeous,” Jud told her.

She smiled in relief, like she knew she was in the win before she glanced at Leann.

“That was good, sweetie. I think you’re ready to tackle the place.”

Eden gave a little nod of appreciation before she started to duck out, though she slowed when her gaze washed over me as she went.

Shy, sweet, curious.

Fuck me.

Something had shifted between us over the last week. This understanding. Like the girl got me. Saw me in a way she shouldn’t. Got the sense that maybe I was seeing her, too. That quiet ferocity that kept getting jammed with the sorrow that would swim through her eyes.

Or maybe it’d just been there all along and it was getting harder to ignore.

It was something I knew better than to entertain. Wanting to dig inside and discover who she was all while imprinting myself on that body.

Apparently knowing better didn’t matter a bit because I couldn’t stop from tracking her as she followed Leann back through the mess of tables and over to the spot at the bar where the servers handed their drink orders to the bartenders, Leann talking with her hands the whole way, giving her instructions.

My attention was glued on that body, on those golden waves that rolled down her back and caressed her slender shoulders, on her waist and the delicious curve of her ass.

A rough chuckle punched me from the side. I jerked back to face my brother. Jud sat there with a smug look riding his face, dark eyebrow arched.

“Wanna tell me what that was about?”

Gave him the most indifferent shrug I could find, asked it like it was obvious. “Training the new girl?”

Jud chuckled low. “Who you think you’re foolin’, brother? Know you better than you know yourself, and I haven’t seen you shit yourself over pussy since you were about fifteen.” His forehead pinched. “She doesn’t exactly give off the vibe that she fits in around here.”