"I know, right?" I smile at my co-worker. She is loud, wild, and a lot of fun. "It's a bachelor party, so hopefully they'll tip well. Most of the guys are very well-dressed."
"Except for that one in the flannel shirt with the beard. He looks like he just rolled off a mountain."
My heart beats faster. I try to steady my breath and not reveal the way my body is all tingly.
"What?" Scarlett asks. "You look all... flustered." She puts her hands on her hips. "I never see you flustered. You're always... so... so–"
I cut her off, "Do not say it." I point my finger at her, but there is a smile widening across her face.
She was about to say perfect.
Which every waitress at this bar seems to think I am. Only because they don't know me at all. Like, whatsoever. They think that, just because I'm a twenty-two-year-old virgin, we can’t be anything alike.
But I am like them.
I have desires... and needs... and wants.
I'm just holding out for Mr. Right.
Okay, so that does make us different. But not in a way that makes me perfect; just in a way that makes me patient.
Because that is what I am, more than anything else. Patiently waiting for Mr. Right.
"Okay, but God, Lucy. I've never seen you get so red in the face over a customer. He’s your type then?"
I shrug. "I mean, if I had to choose? Like, from someone in this casino? I mean if I was pressed against..."
"Against the wall?" Scarlett asks bursts out laughing. "If you were pressed against a wall, just what would you do, darling Lucy?"
"I am so happy to be done with this conversation," I say, laughing and walking to the door, ignoring her question completely. "And I am also so ready for this shift to be over."
"You're telling me," Scarlett groans as we push back into the bar. "I'm going dancing tonight. Hoping to get lucky."
"Really?" I ask, knowing my voice is high-pitched and my eyes have shot up in a judgmental way.
"What?" She rolls her eyes. "I like to have fun. And I love to dance. So, do you, considering your new job."
"Can we not talk about that?" I printed off the bill for the table of bachelors and slip it into a folder.
"Well, I know you're waiting until your wedding night to have S. E. X.," she says, "but, there's no rule that says you can't have a little bit of fun before then. The world is your oyster, Lucy."
"Maybe," I say, flashing her a smile, knowing she may be right about needing to have some fun... But she's wrong about the world being my oyster.
Life, at the moment, is not exactly all unicorns and rainbows. Life is hard. And complicated. Sometimes I wonder if I'm messing everything up. Maybe I should have gone to trade school when I turned eighteen. At this point, I could have been a dental hygienist or something with actual health insurance or a retirement plan. Some security.
But deep down, I never wanted a job like that. What I want is to be outside, not in a cubicle and certainly not in a casino. I want to be somewhere where I can watch the sunrise or the sunset.
I want to be somewhere that feels like home.
Dropping the bill on the guys' table, I refuse to look into the mountain man's eyes. Honestly, after the day I've had, I don't trust myself or my resolve. And I certainly have no reason to trust him.
He was so suggestive earlier. Demanding I not wear this outfit, that I not work here. The way he spoke was gruff and bossy and... I liked it.
But I didn't let him know what he was doing to me. I just smirked and rolled my eyes, rested a hand on my hip, and tried to act tough.
Instead of, you know, showing him how I was really feeling when his words rushed over my skin.
Hot and bothered and... horny.
"I got this," one of the guys says. Everyone at the table thanks him, calling him Luke, referring to him as the soon-to-be-married man.
"Is that why you're here?" I ask him. "You're about to get hitched?
"Sure am," he says with a low drawl that does literally nothing for me. "This is my bachelor party and my crew. Levi's my brother," he says, nodding to the mountain man. "The rest of these guys are just dumbasses I went to college with."
"Lucky you," I say, taking the folder with the credit card in it.
"Gonna get married in a week," he tells me. Then his eyes lower suggestively and he adds, "But until then... Lucy," he says, reading my name tag, "I can do what I like, with whomever I like."
"Don't," Levi says. His voice is firm and hard. Impenetrable.
Luke raises his hands, laughing. "Understood, bro. You claiming her as yours?"