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

She glanced into the back seat of his Jeep. "What's in the duffel?"

"Not telling."

She leaned back in her seat and huffed. "Beware how far you push me. You can withhold information, but I can withhold sex."

"A good point." They were heading south on Lamar from his place, and as soon as he crossed the river he turned right into the Zachary Scott Theater parking lot. "You've convinced me." He nodded at the duffel. "But if you peek, you'll ruin the surprise."

"I can live with that," she said, then lunged for the duffel, only to freeze with her hand on the zipper. After a moment, she plunked herself back into the seat, crossed her arms, and pretended to sulk. "It just better be good."

He laughed, something they'd been doing a lot of. They'd spent all day Monday in bed, with the exception of a quick jaunt outside when they sat outside by the pool reading and drinking cocktails. It seemed a good way to spend the first day of Spring Break, after all. Even if she was the only one still in school.

The only downside had been that the pool hadn't been cleaned for the season, and so they didn't actually swim. Which really was too bad, as the weather was unseasonably warm and the day had been as good as it gets. Or, it had seemed so until today, which started out fabulous and was fast approaching amazing.

They'd slept until nine, and then Tiffany had checked the weather. As soon as she'd seen the forecast, she'd made the calls--begging Lisa, a new server, to take her shift, and then calling Cam and telling him that she was in Eric's bed, and since this was partly his doing, he owed her. Which meant that he needed to cover Eric's shift that night.

She'd just ended the call when Eric opened his eyes and peered at her. "What did you do?"

"Wrangled us another day," she'd said. "You're welcome."

And now here they were, tooling through Austin with the top off his Jeep, and she was feeling as free and happy as she could remember feeling in a long, long time.

"This is one of the areas where I thought I might want to have my own bar someday," he said later as they were back on the road. They'd turned right onto Barton Springs Road and were passing the collection of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops that lined the road between Lamar Boulevard and Zilker Park.

"It's a good area," she said. "But a lot of competition. I don't know exactly what you're thinking of, but I see you as more of a neighborhood bar guy. A place where you know pretty much everyone who comes in."

The smile he flashed her was brilliant. "You read my mind. Because that's exactly why I talked myself out of this location. I'm thinking something in East Austin. A lot of revitalization going on over there."

"I think that's perfect."

"Just a plan right now," he said. "I need to make sure I have the chops first." He glanced sideways at her before making a turn into the park and heading toward the pool and the hillside theater area. "Can you keep a secret?"

"I managed not to tell anyone except Cam that I had a crush on you for ages. So I guess so."

"The Fix is doing so well after the contest and all the other promo that Tyree and the others are looking into opening a location off of South Congress. Kind of near where Derek and Amanda are renovating that old motel into a retro chic place to stay."

"Really? I hadn't heard."

"They asked if I wanted to manage it."

She leaped across the seat and hugged him. Fortunately, he'd already parked. "That's amazing. Eric, you'll do great! I'm so excited for you. And jealous. I still have years of school to go."

"Well, you can spend them in my bar studying."

She tilted her head, eyeing him. She knew he was just talking, but still...

"I'll take that offer, you know," she said softly, her chest tightening as she realized what she'd just said--not to mention how fast she'd said it compared to when they got together. But with Eric it felt right. Hell, it had felt right from the moment she'd first met him.

Whether or not it felt right to him, though...

He still hadn't answered, but he was looking at her with such an expression of trust and wonder that she couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe...

"Do you mean that?"

She nodded, her throat too thick to speak. "Good. Because it's a standing offer."

Her whole body relaxed. "We took way too long getting here, you know."

"Zilker?" he joked, then immediately shook his head. "No, forget I said that. You're right. Way too long." He leaned over and kissed her, a sweet kiss, but with a promise of spice later. Even so, when they pulled apart, she thought she saw a shadow in his eyes. More, she thought she knew what it was about--they still hadn't talked about Ben.