Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Pyper was pulled away by the other waiter who worked the floor on the weekends. They told me Saturdays and Sundays were always jam-packed and the time would fly because I’d be constantly moving. I was banking on that to help keep my mind off other things.
Before I knew it, the bar was open and customers were filing in. I hadn’t seen Bishop again before that, but once we were open, he’d been behind the bar sliding drinks so fast it was a little shocking—and impressive.
I was an hour into my shift, and so far I hadn’t screwed anything up—well, not too terribly. And with only sixty minutes in, my tips were pretty substantial, and I was feeling a little less stressed and a lot more hopeful that things would be okay.
As hour after hour passed, I found my groove, and things went pretty seamlessly. I rattled off the specials like I’d worked here my whole life, was confident when people asked what drinks or appetizers I suggested. This may have been my first night, but when I’d come here those couple of times, I remembered how delicious everything had been.
I went to the bar to put in the next order, a smile on my face because I was feeling pretty incredible. But as I waited for Bishop to finish up with his current order, I told myself not to stare at him. I’d been so busy since we opened that keeping to that vow hadn’t been hard—well, except when I had to put orders in; then I found myself watching him with feminine appreciation.
I stared straight ahead, but of course my attraction to Bishop was so intense my eyes wandered to him before I could stop myself, like he was some kind of magnet, and denying the pull wasn’t even feasible.
He wore the same outfit he’d been in when he was leaning against the doorframe of his office and staring at me, aside from the fact that he’d swapped out his gray T-shirt and now sported the same white one all employees at Lyrics had on. His baseball cap was also gone, and his short dark hair looked almost black in the dim lighting of the bar. The shadows and neon bar lighting made him look tanner than he really was, and my heart kicked into overdrive when he grinned at something someone said and that sexy-as-hell dimple popped out in his cheek.
Maybe he felt my stare—it wasn’t like I wasn’t openly ogling him—because he turned his head in my direction, and our eyes locked. His smile was slow, and I swore it held a hint of something that maybe wasn’t exactly professional… something that was akin to attraction as well.
Or maybe it was just my overactive imagination wanting something to be there that wasn’t.
Bishop came up to me, his smile now blinding and making these annoying little butterflies move around in my belly.
“Hey,” he said in that deep voice of his that could make my toes curled. “How’s your first night going?”
I tried to act like I wasn’t totally affected by him and hoped I wasn’t failing. “Good, actually. I haven’t screwed anything up… yet.”
He chuckled softly. “Even if you did, shit happens, but I’ve been watching you, and you’re doing really well with the flow of the bar.”
I was surprised he’d admitted to watching me, but tried not to act like that pleased me… a lot. “Thanks,” I said softly… and then cued the awkward as we stared at each other for a few seconds, as if the bar wasn’t packed and people didn’t need to be served.
He cleared his throat, and I did the same, thankful I wasn’t the only one who seemed to be caught in this weird vortex at the moment.
“So yeah,” I muttered and glanced at my pad, scanning the latest order I’d written down. I rattled off the drinks, not meeting his gaze again, because staring into those dark-brown eyes did funny things to me.
But I could feel him continuously glancing at me, his gaze so pronounced it was like an actual touch. I refused to look at him. He was just too consuming, and I had to focus. I knew if I let myself fall into his eyes, I’d be a flustered mess the rest of the night.
I noticed four new customers taking a high top in the corner. I instantly knew they’d be obnoxious. The quartet of college-aged guys stood behind it. They were loud and annoying, probably already drunk, so I prepared myself for… whatever they threw my way. And so far, that was their greasy smiles plastered on their faces and their glossy, red-rimmed eyes raking over me. But I’d dealt with little assholes plenty of times in my life and knew I could handle those four.
I pasted on a fake smile, put my confident face on, and headed over there. “Welcome to Lyrics,” I said and looked each one of them in the eye, something my father had always taught me so people knew you were sure about yourself.