“I hear you. That’s about where I’m at.”
Xavier eyed her, concern coloring his green depths. “A woman as beautiful as you are shouldn’t be drinking alone. Do you want to talk about it?”
She sighed and slumped down. “It’s one of those old-as-time stories. I trusted someone and they let me down. The usual. What about you?”
“I’d say just the same, so I didn’t want to be in my usual haunts. Felt like I needed fresh air in a place I wouldn’t be recognized.”
Sandra glanced back at him. Those rakish good looks stood out even among this crowd, and in a town where image was everything, she seriously doubted that Xavier would ever just blend in.
“See,” she replied. “Then it’s just another tale that you hear every night in every bar.”
“I’ll drink to that,” he said, gesturing to the other bartender on duty, an old hand at all of it named Morris. Xavier smiled, the gesture highlighting the perfect dimples in his cheeks, and set a hundred-dollar bill on the table. “Two kamikazes please.”
Morris nodded and came back with the shots. “Thanks, man.”
“My pleasure,” Xavier replied, his voice a low, sultry rumble. For a moment, Sandra thought she’d heard the hint of an accent. “Now,” he said, turning to her. “Here’s to the same shit, different day.”
She nodded and swallowed the shot in one draught. The liquid burned down her throat and the taste tingled on her tongue. Perfect, vodka. Sandra could handle almost anything, but vodka went straight to her brain and seemed to deactivate it.
“Whoa!”
“You’re not used to a kamikaze?” he said, his tone wry.
“I don’t usually drink much. Funny, I…uh…work in a place like this,” she said, not wanting to admit she came to her actual work on her day off. “I’m just a bit of ‘wine or a beer once in a while’ kinda girl. Whatever’s cheap and on tap will do.”
“Swill,” he said. “You know that, don’t you?”
“Well, Xavier, I’m not fancy. I’m just a plain, down-to-earth girl. I don’t work for a congressman or run a big, fancy lobbying firm.”
He grinned and drummed his fingers on the bar top. “I didn’t say I was one of those either. I’m not interested in most of the wheeling and dealing around here, but I do come and see who I need to deal with in order to keep my business running.”
“Ooh, something fancy like real estate? Maybe you deal with crab fishing. What secrets do you have hiding down there, Mr. Clifton?”
“Nothing too exciting. Food distribution. That’s just what I do, but I think we all have our secrets, Sandra. Tell me something about yourself no one even knows.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not talking about something kinky. I just mean something that you can’t tell anyone else. I’ll go first,” he said, gesturing to Morris for another round of shots. “I never had any interest in going into the family business, but I also never wanted to see it fall into my brother’s hands completely. If I could do anything, I think I’d train horses. I always loved riding as a kid, and still do it when I can. But as Javier, my brother, would say, that doesn’t pay the bills.”
She quirked her head at him, intrigued by his candor. That wasn’t the kind of secret she expected someone dressed like a million bucks to tell her. Maybe he really had been having a terrible day too. He held his shoulders up high with an easy grace, but there was a slight bow to his head.
“Well,” she said, accepting the next kamikaze and this time enjoying the burn as it worked its way down her throat. Warmth flared in her gut and her head spun with the potency of the alcohol pouring through her veins. Zane who? “Is it my turn?”
“That would be tit for tat,” he said, his voice a silky purr.
God, he could get any woman to drop her panties for him with a voice like that. You add in all those knowing looks, and god help me!
“They have this test,” she said, spinning the shot glass around in her hands, “when you’re in high school, and you’re supposed to meet with the guidance counselor to figure out what you want to be.”
“I’m following.”
“It’s a thought experiment,” Sandra continued. “If you had a million dollars and never had to worry about bills again or whatever, what would you be?”
He laughed. “I don’t think a million would come close to taking care of you for your whole life.”
“Yeah, that was a few years ago. Even if it wasn’t, you know, it could be ‘what would you do if you had a billion’ sort of thing.”
He grinned. “Now that’s more up my alley.”