Bar Bites: A Man of the Month Cookbook (Man of the Month 13)

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter One

"And that's my day," Tiffany Russell chirped, sliding easily under the bar so that she could put her tips into the jar that the servers, bartenders, and bar backs shared. That section of the bar swung open, but she'd gotten used to simply scooting under. Which was good, since customers tended to walk by and leave empty glasses on the supposed-to-stay empty section of the polished oak bar.

&n

bsp; "I'm off as soon as Eric gets here, too," Cam said, easing down from where he'd just returned a bottle of top-shelf gin to its place.

She and Cameron Reed had worked together for years at The Fix on Sixth, which, as far as Tiffany was concerned was the best place to hang out and have a drink in the entire city of Austin. Maybe even all of Texas. They'd never dated, but they'd hit it off immediately and had become fast friends.

"I just put in an order for some Mushroom Spinach Risotto Balls and some Farmhouse Sliders for me and Mina. Wanna join?" He pointed to a table by the currently empty stage, where his girlfriend of almost a year, Mina, sat making notes on a script.

"Are you kidding? That would be great. I want to hear all about the new movie."

Tiffany and Mina had gone to high school together in Austin, and while Tiffany was still in school working toward her masters in psychology, Mina was working for a local indie film company that was doing exceptionally well.

"Plus, you're starving, right?"

Tiffany laughed. "Busted. You know me too well."

"I'm guessing your fridge is down to chunks of unidentifiable cheeses, a package of rice cakes--which are gross, by the way--and a flat Diet Coke."

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. I also have two limes and a carton of half-and-half."

"Went wild at the grocery store, I see."

"That's me. Always doing the crazy."

The front door opened, and Eric Shay stepped in off of Sixth Street. Immediately, Tiffany's eyes went to him. Just like Pavlov's dog, she thought, which was one of the downsides of being a pysch major. Too hard to hide from her own subconscious.

In this case, her id was definitely controlling the show. Her mouth was dry, her pulse had kicked up, and she was going to have to work very hard not to sound like a babbling idiot around him. All because she'd been living for almost a year now with the world's biggest crush on the dark-haired man with the action-hero body. A man who, apparently, was determined to spin her hormones into a tizzy, because in addition to the jeans that clung to his muscled thighs, he also wore a tank top that clung to his chest and revealed every inch of his tight-but- not-too-bulky arms.

It was, frankly, seriously distracting.

Even in mid-March he was tan, and he looked like a god. Or at least like a fitness model. Which was probably a more reasonable comparison, considering his tank top advertised the Capital 10K, a local Austin marathon that Tiffany knew he'd participated in for each of the last six years. And, she assumed, he'd be running in his seventh in just a few weeks.

So would she, actually.

She'd started running with Mina and two other women who used to work at The Fix. Megan, who'd married Parker Manning after a whirlwind relationship and was about to launch a skin care line. And Taylor, who used to stage manage the Man of the Month calendar contest, but was now happily engaged to one of the winners and working with Spencer and Brooke on Mansion Makeover, their real estate reality show.

"You're starting to drool," Cam whispered to her, and she actually rubbed her mouth before realizing he was teasing her. She grabbed a bar rag and smacked him, only to realize that Eric had come even closer and had seen the whole weird interplay.

She waved lamely, feeling not sexy and interesting, but like a twelve-year-old wrestling with her BFF. Way to make a good impression.

Eric waved back, then told Cam he'd be out to relieve him as soon as he changed into the bar's black logo T-shirt.

"No problem," Cam said, then turned back to Tiffany. If he was trying to hold in laughter, he wasn't doing a good job of it.

At least no one was sitting along the bar at the moment. Four o'clock on a Sunday was the bar's slowest time, and most people who came in sat at a table and ordered food. And none of the folks at any of the tables seemed to be paying any attention to her and Cam. Except Mina, who quickly turned back to her script, her expression amused, when Tiffany caught her eye.

"You need to just go for it," Cam said.

"Hello? I'd planned to last year, remember?"