Suck My Puck (Denver Bashers Series #3)

23. Bella

Chapter 23

Bella

“ C ongrats on the win tonight, guys,” I say to Braden’s teammates when I drop off two pitchers of beer at their usual table. “I heard you gave Minneapolis quite the spanking.”

“Thanks,” says the blonde guy who looks like a handsome surfer. “I’m Theo, by the way. Figured we should formally introduce ourselves since we come here so much. And since you’ve been hanging out with Blomdahl.”

I shake his hand, and he introduces me to his two other teammates sitting with him, Xander and Del.

Xander grins at me. “Hope you’re not sick of us coming here all the time.”

“Not at all. You’re polite and you tip well. You can come here as much as you want.”

He laughs. Del, the dark-haired broody-looking guy sitting next to him, cracks a smile.

“We really like the beer selection you’ve got. Thanks for having more than just the standard light beers that college kids drink,” Del says .

“The couple that owns this place hates the college crowd, so they purposely don’t carry light beers.”

The guys all laugh. A minute later, Braden walks in. I notice he’s frowning as he makes his way to the table. I wonder why he looks so upset. They won.

When he sees me, his hard expression eases instantly. He walks up to me and smiles. “Hey, pretty girl.”

My stomach does a backflip. I love hearing him call me that. And I love that he dropped his frown the second he looked at me.

I smile. “Hey. Great game tonight.”

He quirks an eyebrow. “You watched it? I thought you didn’t like hockey.”

I let a smile break free. “No, I overheard my coworkers talking about it.”

“Ah damn. I thought I finally got you to break another rule for me.”

“Never,” I tease.

He flashes that devilish half-smile. “We’ll see.”

“Fuck,” Del mutters all of a sudden. We all look over at him. He’s frowning at his phone.

“What’s wrong?” Braden asks.

Del huffs out a breath. “My sister’s bringing her new boyfriend tonight.”

Braden raises his brow. “Oh. Damn.”

“Come on, man,” Xander says to him. He pulls off his baseball cap, runs a hand through his wavy chestnut hair, then puts it back on. “It’s a good thing that your sister is finally introducing you to him.”

Del shakes his head, his frown deepening. “It means they’re getting serious. That’s not a good thing.”

“He can’t be that bad,” Theo says .

Del glares at him. “She told me the guy is quitting his job as a teacher to be a full-time musician on YouTube.”

I scoff. They all look at me. Crap. I shouldn’t be listening to their conversation.

“Sorry,” I quickly say.

Del shakes his head. “No, you’re right to scoff. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Does he have a decent following online at least?” Xander asks.

“Nope,” Del says before sipping his beer. He looks at me. “My little sister Dakota has a habit of dating losers.”

I nod like I understand. “Yeah, that’s tough. My best friend Lauren went through a loser phase right before she met her husband. He’s wonderful. Hopefully that’ll happen for your sister.”

Del sighs. “I hope so.”

Braden sits down at the table and I run the empties to the back, then help a few customers at the bar. I glance over at his table and see Ingrid and Maya sitting with them now. There’s also a pretty and petite mid-twenties woman with long dark hair and the same dark brown eyes as Del. That must be his sister Dakota. I remember seeing her come here a couple of times before with all of them. The hipster-looking guy with shaggy light brown hair next to her must be her boyfriend.

He’s smiling as Dakota says something. I’m too far away so I can’t hear what she’s saying, but after a second, her boyfriend chuckles and kisses her cheek. I notice Del is staring daggers at the guy.

I catch eyes with Braden and mouth, “How’s it going?”

He winces and shakes his head. I chuckle.

I stop by all the tables to refill drinks and cash out customers. I’m wiping down a couple of tables near Braden’s when a tall guy with dirty blonde hair in a hoodie and jeans walks in and joins them. I’m guessing he’s also a hockey player because he’s tall and built just like Braden and his teammates.

“Sam! You made it!” Xander says.

Sam greets everyone when he sits down, and Braden introduces us. I notice their pitchers of beer are almost empty so I finish cleaning up, drop the washcloth at the bartop, and head back over to their table.

Ingrid and Maya greet me, then introduce me to Dakota. Dakota beams at me. “It’s great to meet you. You have amazing hair, by the way. No matter how hard I try to perfect wavy hair, it never looks like yours.”

I smile, flattered. “Oh gosh, thank you. That’s so nice of you say. I lucked out, my hair is naturally wavy. You should see it on a humid day though. I look like a chia pet.”

Everyone chuckles.

“You always have pretty hair, Dakota,” Sam says.

Dakota smiles at him. “Thanks.”

I collect their empty glasses. “Would you all like a fresh pitcher of beer or any other drinks?” I ask.

The guys ask for another pitcher. Maya, Ingrid, and Dakota ask for a bottle of Prosecco to share.

“And for you?” I ask Dakota’s boyfriend.

“Do you happen to serve affogato? Or segnato?” he asks.

I stand there for a second, processing the randomness of his request. “Uh, no. Sorry. We’re a bar so we don’t serve coffee.”

He frowns. “Hmm. That’s a shame. A few bars in Denver are starting to add coffee to their menus. A lot of places in Italy and Spain and France do it too.”

“Oh. Cool.” My tone comes off more sarcastic than I mean it to. Like, what the hell does it matter what bars in Italy, Spain, and France are doing? This is Colorado.

I clear my throat. I hear Braden, Theo, and Xander stifling a laugh.

Dakota chuckles while looking between me and her boyfriend, almost like she’s nervous. “Jake isn’t big on alcohol. He’s more a coffee drinker,” she says quickly.

Part of me wants to say that so am I, but I know better than to try and order coffee at a bar.

But instead, I put on my best customer service smile and look at Jake. “We’re an alcohol-only bar unfortunately. But if you want a great affogato, the gelato place in Villa Park has the best affogato in the city.”

Jake frowns. “Coffee at an ice cream place? Can it be that good?”

“Gelato, not ice cream. And trust me, it’s amazing. Italians know what they’re doing when it comes to coffee and gelato,” I say.

He nods like he’s thinking carefully about it.

“I can’t say that I know who does the best segnato in Denver,” I say to Jake. “Not a lot of coffee places even have that on the menu. But there’s an ice cream place called Sweet Cheeks and one of their new flavors is caramel segnato. It’s life changing.”

Maya beams. “You like Sweet Cheeks? My sister-in-law owns that place.”

“Really?”

She nods excitedly.

“Best ice cream in Denver, no contest,” I say. “I go there every other week, at least.”

“I’ll tell Becca you said that. She’ll be over the moon,” Maya says.

I tell them I’ll be back with their drinks and head back over to the bar. I’m in the middle of pouring beer into pitchers when Braden walks over to me.

I smile at him. “You don’t have to come get the drinks. That’s the beauty of having a server. I’ll bring you your stuff.”

“I can’t take one more second of hearing Dakota’s boyfriend talk about chord progression.”

I chuckle. “Sounds riveting.”

I look over and see that Theo and Xander are politely nodding along to whatever Jake is saying. Del is glaring at him, but then Sam nudges his shoulder. Del dials back the menacing look on his face.

“How’s Del holding up?” I ask.

“He hates him.”

“That must be tough, having to see your sibling with someone you think is a loser.”

“Yeah, but at least he’s biting his tongue. He hasn’t said anything too bad to him.” Braden turns around to look over at the table, then turns back to me. He leans closer to me over the bartop. “I think Sam is into Dakota.”

I peer around him to look at the table. I notice Sam keeps glancing over at her. When he looks at Jake, the look in his eyes hardens.

I raise an eyebrow and turn back to Braden. “I think you might be right.” I let out a chuckle and shake my head. “There’s a lot of drama brewing in your friend group.”

Braden chuckles and tugs at the baseball cap he’s wearing backwards. “So you know a lot about coffee.”

“I work at a coffee shop too, remember?”

He shakes his head. “No, you talk about it like you really know your shit. It’s impressive. And hot.” He quirks an eyebrow.

I smile as I pop open the bottle of Prosecco and grab three glass flutes. “I didn’t know coffee talk was a kink of yours.”

“I’m serious. The way you just pulled out that coffee knowledge blew me away.”

I look at him, soaking in the warmth of his soft blue stare. He really means it.

“I’m a coffee idiot,” he says. “I drink drip coffee with a splash of cream. When I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll get a nitro cold brew.”

I smile. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Those are yummy.”

He tilts his head at me. “After you left the table, I had to look up what affogato and seganto were,” he says.

I chuckle and he flashes a wide grin. I take in the brightness in his gaze. My heart flutters. I love it when he does that, when his smile is so happy that it reaches his eyes.

“Why do you know so much about coffee, pretty girl? Is it just an out-of-control caffeine addiction?”

I chuckle before my smile fades thinking about it.

“I was planning to open my own coffee shop, so I spent a lot of years researching coffee and what running a small business is like,” I say.

That bright look in Braden’s eyes remains. “That’s really cool.”

I’m quiet as I finish up the drinks. “Yeah. But it’s not gonna happen.”

He frowns. “Why not?”

I sigh and brush my hair out of my face. “Because I spent all my savings on a buying a house with my ex. So if anyone’s an idiot, it’s me.”

His expression falls. He opens his mouth to say something, but Ingrid runs up next to him.

“Hey, Bella, can I ask you a random favor? ”

“Sure, what is it?”

“So my mom gets together with her girl friends at the beginning of every month and they usually go wine tasting, but half of them are on a health kick and want to cut back on alcohol. She’s been pestering me for suggestions on what they should do instead and when you started talking about coffee, it gave me an idea,” she says. “Would you be willing to host a coffee tasting for them? They’d pay you of course.”

I feel myself perk up with excitement at the idea.

“Next week is the beginning of November, so I know it’s last minute,” Ingrid says. “But my mom’s friends would be happy to make it worth your while. Seriously, name your price and they’ll pay you whatever you want.”

“Oh, wow.” I chuckle, in disbelief. “Sure. That sounds really fun.”

Ingrid beams and claps her hands together. “Great! Can we exchange numbers so we can talk more about it?”

“Yeah, absolutely.”

We both pull out our phones and I give her my number. She texts me.

“My mom is going to be so excited about this,” Ingrid says. “Thanks, Bella.”

She asks if she can take the Prosecco and glasses back to the table with her. I say of course and that I’ll bring the pitcher of beer to the table soon.

After she walks off, Braden smiles at me. “Look at you, coffee queen.”

I chuckle. He rests his elbows on the bartop and leans closer to me.

“Can I come over tonight?” His voice is low and rough and makes me hot instantly.

“Isn’t it a couple of days before your next game?” I ask, smiling .

He grins. “Yeah. But we’re playing New York and they’re really damn good, so I need all the good luck I can get.”

My head falls back as I laugh. When I straighten up and look at him, heat flashes in his soft blue eyes.

“I really wanna see you tonight, pretty girl.”

The roughness of his voice combined with the way he’s looking at me, makes my heart slingshot around in my chest.

I smile. “Okay.”