Priceless (Forbidden Men 8)

Closing my eyes, I groaned before I straightened to send the teen a scowl. “What’re you doing here?”

“There’s a home basketball game tonight. Thought I’d hang there after popping by here to say hey to you.”

Grabbing a nearby towel, I wiped my hands clean. “I thought Aspen grounded you.”

“I know, right? Wasn’t that cute of her to try?” Plopping onto a stool across the bar from me, Colton tapped his fingers along the countertop while he studied the row of alcohol behind me as if he were trying to make up his mind on what to order.

I shook my head. “You sure you want to cross her on this? She was pretty pissed at you. I mean, you snuck a girl into your room. To have sex. While we were all in the freaking house. Not even I have done that.”

“I didn’t exactly sneak her in. We came in through the front door, very unsneaky-like. Totally wasn’t my fault everyone was already asleep when we landed, otherwise I would’ve introduced her.”

After tossing the towel aside, I got busy filling bowls with beer nuts. “Oh, so you would’ve asked permission to fuck her in your bed if Aspen and Noel had been up?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” With a grin, he reached over and snagged a handful. “Can I get a Crown and coke?”

“Fuck no.” I smacked away his hand when he reached for more nuts. “Why don’t you go back home and suck up to Aspen? Maybe she’ll forgive you for breaking your grounding.”

“Aspen loves me. She’ll forgive me anyway. How about a Tom Collins?”

“How about you get lost? I’m not giving you alcohol, idiot. You’re underage. You want me to lose my job?”

Colton let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Fine. Be a loser.” Tapping his hand once again along the bar top, he glanced around to watch the waitresses set up the tables before turning back to me. “So where’s this new bartender chick you said was Halle Berry hot? You’re going to try to hit that, right?”

I shot him a killer glare, silently commanding him to shut his pie hole, right about the time someone cleared her throat behind him. “She’s standing right behind you, jackass.”

I froze as Colton and I shared a glance. Shit; the little prick had just shoved me face-first in a pot of boiling water. As he swung around, I glanced past him to find Julianna glaring, her arms crossed over her chest and one toe tapping against the floor.

Yep, she was pissed.

She was probably going to be impossible to work with now, thinking I wanted to score with her. And if Colton wasn’t careful, I might also be down a brother before the night was over.

But did the idiot immediately start gushing out an apology? No, not Colton. He didn’t even blush, merely blurted, “Holy shit,” before he swung back to me and extended a fist to pound it out as he grinned. “Nice.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Put that away, dumbass.” Upsetting my new coworker was the very opposite of nice.

Colton wasn’t apologetic, though. He whirled back to Julianna and held out his hand to shake with her. “I’m not really a dumbass. The name’s actually Colton. It is so nice to meet you.”

Julianna merely lifted one eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m not impressed.”

Undeterred, Colton shrugged and kept smiling. “All part of the plan, baby doll. I hate setting the bar too high on first impressions, you see. That way, when I actually do something decent, you’ll be dazzled instead of only mildly bored.” Tipping his head to the side, he studied her a moment before murmuring, “I can’t believe he called you a Halle. You are so not a Halle. You don’t have her cheekb

ones and your nose is too wide.”

Croaking out a sound of disbelief, Julianna looked hurt and pissed all at the same time as her mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

Colton snapped his fingers and pointed. “You’re a Rihanna. She’s like ten times naughtier than Halle could ever be, anyway, which totally just...rocks my world. The dirtier the chick, the hotter she gets. Am I right?”

When he glanced my way, honestly expecting me to back him up, I growled, “Colton,” in the hopes he’d shut it already.

But the idiot just shook his head, confused. “What? So I’m a Rihanna kind of guy. Sue me.”

As I pressed my hand to my face, shaking my head, Julianna opened her mouth, most likely to lambast him with some kind of cutting remark. Quickly, I popped between them. “I am so sorry; this clown just wandered in. I have no idea who he is.”

“I’m his brother,” Colton announced proudly.

I shot him a killer glare. “He’s leaving.”

“I just got here.” He transferred his grin to Julianna as she joined me behind the bar. “Hey, could you hook me up with some sex on the beach?”