11. Nate
It was a busy night. People were itching to be out socializing after staying inside during the snowstorm. I had another bartender on shift to help out, but we were still falling behind on customer orders. It probably didn’t help that most of my attention stayed on Madison.
As I had predicted, nearly every man who came into the bar noticed her and about half of them didn’t take long to shoot their shot. She turned down every drink offer with a polite smile and when a couple of the guys didn’t take a hint, she dropped the polite act and I found an excuse to interrupt their conversation.
“Would you rather sit in the office?” I asked after chasing away yet another unworthy contender for her affections.
“No. I like watching you work.” She eyed the line of empty glasses that needed to be taken back to the dishwasher. “Are you sure I can’t help? Please? I’d really prefer to be doing something useful.”
“Chasing away male suitors isn’t useful?” I teased, ignoring the hands that were waving me down from people trying to place drink orders. “Aren’t you looking for a man to test your flirting skills on?”
“Nah. I already found him.” She winked and my damn dick nearly stood at attention. Against my better judgment, I waved a hand for her to get up.
“I’ll put you to work, but only if you promise to stay behind this bar.” I tapped a hand on the solid wood.
She jumped to her feet and shoved her way through the crowd until she could slip through the opening and join me on the other side. “Why do I have to stay back here? You don’t trust me to mingle with the customers?”
“I don’t trust them to mingle with you.” I shot a quick glare at one of the guys I went to high school with who was leaning over the bar to get a better look at Madison’s ass. “Can you start grabbing some of these empties? Bottles go in that trashcan and the glasses need to go in back to run through the dishwasher.”
“Yes, sir!” She executed an adorable salute that would’ve gotten her kicked out of the army but made my dick jump excitedly. I would love to have her saluting me like that before dropping to her knees and taking me deep into her throat.
I must not have done a very good job of hiding that reaction because Madison’s eyes widened and a flush crept over her perfect cheekbones. I swallowed hard and turned away before I did something that I would regret. It was becoming almost impossible to resist slamming my mouth against her inviting lips.
I made a few drinks before I dared to look at Madison again. She had cleared away all the empty beer bottles and glasses and was now filling glasses of water for a group of women who had been drinking since the bar opened. One of them said something to her that made her look in my direction. When I winked at her, the women all laughed and Madison ducked her head. Not before I saw her smile, though.
It wasn’t long before Madison started fulfilling drink orders. I quickly showed her how to ring up the orders on the register and then she was bartending like an expert. She only had to ask me twice where to find something for a more complicated mixed drink. Our customers loved her, especially the male ones. I couldn’t believe the amount of cash that was getting shoved into our tip jar.
Every time we passed each other as we worked, one of us would say or do something flirty. I snapped a dishtowel at her and she slapped my ass. When she reached for a liquor bottle on the top shelf, I stepped behind her and pressed our bodies flush together as I grabbed it for her. She responded by pushing her ass into my groin until I groaned. It was the most erotic work experience of my life.
“She’s good,” Rhys said, nodding at where Madison was filling a line of shots with tequila. After just a few minutes of working behind the bar, she had shed her sweater and was wearing just a black tank top with thin straps and a deep cut that perfectly highlighted her cleavage. That top was probably responsible for 90% of our tips. “I’ve been working here two years and I’ve never gotten a single $20 tip. She’s pulled in about thirty of them in three hours.”
The men she was currently serving had asked her to take a shot, too, and as they were all slamming theirs, she quickly dumped hers into a towel and then wiped a hand over her mouth and slammed the shot glass on the bar. Not a single guy realized that she hadn’t knocked a shot back with them. I chuckled at how smoothly she had played them.
“She’s not good,” I told Rhys. “She’s amazing.”
He gave me a knowing look. “How long have you been fucking her?”
“I haven’t. It’s not like that.” Even I knew that I wasn’t being convincing.
“If you’re not planning to make a move, maybe I will.” He started to take a step in Madison’s direction and I grabbed his arm.
“No. Not her.” I didn’t bother trying to hide that he’d pissed me off. Rhys and I were normally buddies, but we wouldn’t be if he made a move on Madison.
Rhys just laughed and headed to the back to grab more beer.
It took longer than usual to close down the bar. Even after several last calls, a group of men still lingered at the bar, futilely attempting to hold Madison’s attention.
“Guys, unless you are planning to wipe down tables, it’s time to go.” She crossed her arms and fixed them with a firm glare. What she didn’t realize was that when she crossed her arms like that, it only lifted her breasts and gave the men even more reason to stay.
“Why don’t you come with me?” The guy in front flashed his perfect white teeth in a smile that made my blood boil. “We can get to know each other and maybe I’ll get to find out if those tits are real.”
“Out!” I growled, pointing to the door. “Or I will pick you up and throw you out.”
“Actually.” Madison grabbed my hand and slapped it right on her left breast. “Nate can answer that for you.” She pushed her hand down on mine until I had a firm grip, her hard nipple grazing my palm. Her eyes locked onto mine as she smiled before pulling her lower lip between her teeth. There was no way I was controlling my dick now. “Well, Sullivan? What’s the verdict? Real or not?”
“I think I’ll need to see them before I can answer that question.” Then I shifted my hand until I was stroking her nipple with my thumb. “Maybe even put my mouth on them.”
“Fuck this.” Our unwelcome interloper shoved away from the bar and stomped toward the door. As soon as the door shut behind him, Madison stepped back.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, but you looked like you were going to kill that guy.”
My hand still hung awkwardly in the air between us. I rolled it into a fist and let it drop to my side. “If that was supposed to calm me down, I think your plan has backfired.”
She giggled and reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. I caught her hand and brought it back down, pushing it to my stomach as I waited for her reaction. When she just stared at me expectantly, I lowered our hands until hers rested on my straining bulge.
“That, angel, is real,” I said. Her breath hitched. “And it’s all for you. Just say the word.”
Those green eyes were wider and brighter than they had ever been. Damn if I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night just staring into them, counting the gold flecks.
“Sullivan! Get your ass back here. The dishwasher is leaking all over the floor!”
“Damn it.” Rhys was quickly moving his way up my shit list. “Just a second! I need to lock up.”
“I can do it.” Madison held up the hand that had just been on my body. “I’ll work on the tables while you help Rhys.”
I grabbed the keys and placed them carefully into her palm. “Thank you.” Then, before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Let’s wrap this up quickly. I want to get you home.”
She skittered back a couple of steps and ducked her head before rounding the bar. I could tell that I’d just fucked up. I’d crossed a line that she hadn’t wanted me to cross.
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself. It was surprising that it had taken me this long to piss off Madison. As my history proved, I was terrible with women.
The dishwasher ended up being a quick fix of tightening the water hookup. It took longer to clean up the mess on the floor and in that time, Madison and Rhys had gotten the bar cleaned up. The floor had been mopped and the chairs were balanced on the tables. Rhys and Madison were leaning against the bar and she was laughing at something he’d said.
“Rhys, thanks for the good work tonight.” I slapped the huge stack of tips into his hand. Madison had refused to take her cut and I never took any tips since I was just helping out a friend by running the bar for a month. “Feel free to take off.”
“Cool.” He flinched a little at how much cash I handed him. It was twice the usual size for a winter night of bartending. “Mad, you need a ride?”
“I’ve got her,” I answered before Madison could reply. “See you tomorrow.”
“See ya.” Rhys backed away from us slowly. “Will I see you, Mad?”
“Yeah. I’ll be here.” She glanced at me. “Until this guy gets sick of having me around.”
Rhys chuckled. “Guess I’ll be seeing you for a while then.”
I followed him to the door to unlock it and let him out. Then I locked it after him and turned back to Madison. “We’re all done here if you want to grab your coat. I’m just going to lock up the money in the office.”
When I stepped back into the bar area, Madison was wearing her coat and holding something in her left hand. “I need to show you this,” she said before I could ask what it was. “I found this on that table in the corner.”
“What is it?” I didn’t like the way her hand was shaking when she thrust the napkin at me. It was a cocktail napkin that we served with each drink to catch the condensation. Alongside the Nest logo, this one had something written in black ink.
Stay away from the bartender or I’ll have to do something about it.
“Where?” I only managed one word through my clenched jaw.
“That table.” She pointed to a small table tucked between the jukebox and the wall. “It was the only thing on the table.”
We didn’t wait on people at the Nest. If you wanted a drink, you came to the bar to order it. A couple of times an hour, someone would go around and clean up any empties that weren’t returned to the bar, but we otherwise didn’t interact with people who were seated at the tables. I couldn’t remember anyone sitting at the table, let alone someone watching Madison closely enough to know we’d been flirting with each other.
“Did you see who was sitting there?” I knew the Nest had a few security cameras, but I doubted any of them would pick up that table. It was too tucked away.
“No. I wasn’t paying attention. I should’ve been more aware.” Madison’s voice was shaky.
“Come here.” I put an arm around her shoulders and sighed as she buried her face in my chest. “It’s alright, Madison. I’ve got you.”
‘That threat is directed at you, Nate.” Her arms went around my waist and wrapped tightly around my back. “You just met me two days ago. You never asked for any of this.”
I put a hand on the back of her head, holding her gently against me. “None of this is your fault. I’m not scared of some stupid scribble on a napkin.” Then I dipped my head to put my lips next to her ear. “It would take a hell of a lot more than that to scare me away from you, angel.”
I wasn’t surprised when she pushed back and avoided eye contact with me. Things had been awkward between us since the ill-advised groping incident. I needed to apologize but I didn’t want to make things worse. It was easier to just follow Madison’s lead and stay quiet on the walk home. She kept her head down while I kept mine on a constant swivel, just in case that asshole tried to follow through on his threat.
When Madison stepped into her cabin, I followed right behind her. “Oh. Are you… coming in?” She frowned as she looked at me. “Do you need something?”
“I’m not letting you stay here alone tonight, Madison. Not when that guy has been on your porch.” I did a quick scan to make sure nothing looked amiss inside the cabin. “You’ve got a guest room, right?”
“That way.” She pointed past the kitchen. Then she turned the other way. “My room is over there.”
The opposite side of the cabin. “That’s not going to work, angel.”
“What? Why not?”
“The front door is between those two rooms. If someone comes through that door and I am asleep over there, I might not get to you in time.” I made a quick assessment as I hung up my coat and kicked off my boots. “I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“No. No way.” She did that stubborn, crossed-arms move that drove me wild.
“I’m not leaving you here alone tonight.”
Madison let out a hard breath that fluttered the fringe over her eyes. “Just sleep in the guest room. Please. I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I know you’re out here on that worn sofa.”
“Is that an invite to your bed?” I teased.
“No. Absolutely not.” She looked so horrified by the thought that I would’ve been offended if I hadn’t seen the desire burning in her eyes when she’d held my cock in her hand.
“Relax. I was kidding.” I started stripping off my clothes. “The sofa will be fine. I slept on much worse in the army.”
When Madison didn’t say anything or even move an inch, I worried that I had crossed yet another line. Then I looked up after shucking off my pants and realized that Madison hadn’t moved because she was frozen. Her eyes were transfixed on me.
“See something you like?” I goaded.
She shook her head but her eyes were wild with desire when she finally tore them away from my naked chest. “Good night,” she croaked.
“Good night.” I smiled as her eyes drifted back down my body. “I would wish you sweet dreams, but we both know your dreams tonight are going to be naughty.”
A small whimper escaped her lips before she whirled around and disappeared into her bedroom. My laugh was loud enough to be heard even through the thick wood door.