Nash glanced around the bar. Did everyone in the place think he had a thing for his bartender?
By midnight, with the hockey game long over, his customers buoyed by a win and Blackwell’s shutout, Nash called a cab for the last of them and told Tiny to call it a night. Cam was stacking chairs in the back, and Honey was restocking the coolers behind the bar.
He could leave. Head home, crack open a beer, and sit under the stars in his hot tub. But he didn’t want to. Not yet. A strange kind of exhilaration pulsed through him. He’d had a long day working on his house and a full shift here, but he wasn’t anywhere near tired.
He and Honey were going to have that conversation because there were some things he needed cleared up, and he was looking forward to getting some answers.
He grabbed the till and headed toward his office. “Cam, lock up on your way out. You know the code. And Honey? In my office. Now.”
She gave him a look that wasn’t exactly friendly. “If you think you can talk to me like I’m a naughty five-year-old, you’ve been drinking the wrong kind of Kool-Aid, my friend.”
“I’m not your friend, remember?” He kept moving. “Get your butt in my office, or I’ll come upstairs later. You decide.”
She took her sweet-ass time. Nash had finished counting the till and receipts and was just about to lock his office and head up to her apartment when she sauntered in and flopped onto the overstuffed plaid chair directly in front of him. She leaned back, crossed her legs over the side of the chair and began to bounce her foot.
“What’s up, Booker?”
She was doing it again. Trying to control a situation she had no right controlling. It was about time he took Honey Harrison down a peg.
Or two.
“I pulled your job application.” He reached for the paperwork he’d dug out earlier. “There’s a lot you didn’t fill out.”
The foot bouncing stopped.
Nash pushed the form across the desk along with a pen. “I didn’t call your references when you applied for this job.” His eyes narrowed. “Which was good for you, because two of them aren’t in service, if they ever were, and the Rockin’ Rooster never heard of you.”
She shrugged, a slow, languid gesture meant to show indifference. But he knew better. She couldn’t hide the heat that crept across her cheeks or the pulse that beat wildly at her neck.
“You want to explain?”
She ignored his question with one of her own. “Are you firing me?” she asked slowly.
“Are you going to answer the question?”
“I needed the job, so I made shit up.” She paused. “Are you going to fire me?”
What the hell was this girl hiding? And why did she get under his skin so damn much? She’d been a lone wolf since she’d arrived in Crystal Lake. He recognized the type. She wasn’t sticking around. So why did he care?
A smart man would tell her to pack her bags and leave.
“I should fire you. I don’t like working with people I don’t trust.” He leaned back in his chair and pinned his dark eyes on her. “I heard you asked Hudsy for money.”
She sat up straight in the chair, eyes flashing, the pulse at her neck ramping up like crazy. “The community support center needed money, and the Blackwells have a lot of it.” She thrust her chin forward. “It’s really none of your business.”
He’d touched on a sore spot. Nash didn’t know what to think. On one hand, he admired anyone who volunteered their time to help others. From what he’d been told, Honey was making a big difference to more than few teens at the youth center. But she was hiding something. She’d lied and misrepresented herself. And now she was tangled up with the Blackwells? Something wasn’t right. But the only way to figure out what that something was, was to keep her close.
“You work for me. You are my business.”
“You think because we had sex, you have a right to ask me about what I do on my days off?” Her eyes flashed.
“I don’t care what you do on your days off, Honey. I care about my friends and this town. If you want to keep your job, tread lightly.” The threat was subtle, but he got his point across. He got to his feet and grabbed his jacket, walking around his desk until he was inches from her. She stood in response, her scent filling his nose, her body heat licking his skin.
He realized, fully, in that moment, Honey was no good for him. If he went down this road, things wouldn’t end well. “You’re right about one thing. We’re not friends, and I don’t see us moving in that direction. As for the sex thing, you don’t need to worry about that either. The other night was a one-off. It didn’t mean anything, and it won’t happen again.”
She made a sound of disgust. “I wouldn’t let you touch me if you were the last man on the planet.” She glared at him, the air between them practically sizzling with energy. Nash felt it. His gaze slowly dropped to her T-shirt, and within seconds, the outline of her nipples showed.
“I think you would,” he replied, a dangerous tone in his voice. “But with three or four billion of us, I guess we’ll never find out.”