Chapter 18 Under Our Lights #3
Poppy's fingers tightened around the clipboard. I slid my hand to the back of her neck and rubbed my thumb beneath her ponytail. She leaned into me without taking her eyes off Dad.
"Told you my system was sexy," she murmured.
"I said useful," Dad said.
"Same thing when I do it, Big Papa."
Luna grinned against my shoulder. Dad looked at the three of us, decided there was no winning available, and went back to the tally sheet.
James folded his arms. "Rosewater can support one more in August. Brewster Bay controls the operation."
Dad looked at Bella, then Tina. Both women nodded.
"One clinic," he said. "Capped. Same safety rules."
Luna turned into me so quickly I barely got my hands to her waist. She caught my face and kissed me in front of all four parents, her body strong and sweat-warm against mine. Her tongue touched mine before she pulled back wearing a grin I remembered from ski races and midnight dares.
"We get another one," she said.
"We earned another one."
"Damn right we did."
She kissed me again, shorter this time, then looked at Dad. "Thanks, Big Brew."
"Make it run right," he said.
"We will."
Poppy pressed herself against my other side and kissed the corner of my mouth. "My list saved summer. I expect royalties."
"You get breakfast and access to my son," Dad said.
"Big Papa, those are already in my compensation package."
Even Tina laughed.
Bella waited until the group loosened, then reached beneath the bar and brought out the cash drawer. A brass key lay on top. She set both in front of Vina, followed by a folded closing checklist.
Vina stopped cutting limes.
"Valentine," Bella said. "I need you to close the bar tonight. Count the drawer twice. Record it. Lock the stock. Rinse and stack the glassware. Bleach the sink. Music goes off last."
Vina looked at the drawer, then at Bella. "You're giving me the keys?"
"I'm giving you the close."
"You sure?"
"I wouldn't hand them over if I wasn't."
For once, Vina had no joke waiting.
She wiped both hands on the bar towel before she touched anything. Then she took the key, folded the checklist once more along its existing crease, and placed it in the back pocket of her shorts.
"I'll have it right," she said.
"I know."
Bella touched her wrist and went back toward the grill.
Vina stood with the drawer under one hand while the bar moved around her. My faded cap was still backward on her head. The wildest woman at the party held the key like it mattered.
She caught me watching.
"Don't," she said.
"Don't what?"
"Look at me like you know I'm having a feeling."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Liar. Bring me limes."
I brought her limes.
The service side of the outdoor bar was narrow enough that my hip brushed Vina's when I set the bowl beside her. She had moved the cash drawer below the counter. The key rode on a loop around her wrist. Bella's checklist stayed folded in her pocket.
Vina rinsed a shaker and stared at the water instead of me.
"Are you going to make me ask?" I said.
"Absolutely. I enjoy watching you work."
"What happened when Mom handed you the key?"
She shut off the faucet and looked out at the party. Poppy checked a wristband near the dock path. Lucy's whistle cut through the music. Dad flipped burgers while James held a tray. Nothing around us paused.
"People always want me while the music is loud," Vina said. "That's easy. I can make loud fun."
I leaned against the counter beside her.
She touched the key at her wrist. "Your mom gave me tomorrow morning."
"She gave you the close."
"Same thing. Anybody can pour shots and make a room horny. This is the part nobody claps for. Money right. Bottles locked. Sink clean. Nothing ugly waiting for Bella when she wakes up."
"You can do all of that."
"I know I can." Her eyes came to mine. "That's not why it got me."
The key clicked softly against the steel sink when she flexed her wrist.
"You walked me into breakfast when the music was gone," she said. "No makeup worth discussing. Hair doing whatever the hell it wanted. I looked like somebody who'd spent the night getting ruined, and you brought me straight into your family kitchen."
"You belonged there."
"I know that now." She glanced toward Bella, then back at the key. "This feels like that. Your mom didn't hand me the fun part. She handed me what everybody has to trust will still be right tomorrow. You Brewsters keep giving me mornings."
"Do you want them?"
Vina looked at me as if the answer had been waiting behind her teeth all summer.
"Yeah," she said. "I really fucking do."
I took the wet bar towel out of her hand and set it by the sink. "Come here, Lips."
"Bossy."
She came anyway.
My hands found her waist. Hers spread over my stomach beneath my shirt, fingertips warm against skin that had been hot all night. The cap sat crooked on her head. I straightened the brim and let my thumb trail down the side of her face.
"She sees you," I said.
"Do you?"
"Every day."
"Even when I'm a pain in your ass?"
I pulled her hips against mine. "Especially then. I like your mouth too much to ask you to make it smaller."
Her lips curved, but the joke didn't fully form.
"You meant it at breakfast," she said. "About my heart."
"I meant it the first time. It's safe with me."
She put her palm flat over the center of my chest. The sharp little smile she used when a room got too close never appeared. Her fingers spread instead, feeling the beat beneath them while I kept both hands on her waist.
"That's a dangerous promise," she said.
"Only if I break it."
"You won't."
It wasn't a question. The certainty in her voice hit harder than doubt would have.
Vina looked down for one second. When she came back up, her chin wasn't quite steady.
"I love you."
"I love you too, Lips."
She grabbed my shirt and pulled me into her.
Vina never kissed halfway. Her mouth opened under mine, tongue sliding deep as her hands climbed my ribs beneath the shirt.
Cherry gloss, lime, sweat. She sucked my lower lip and caught it lightly with her teeth before kissing me again.
I filled one palm with her ass through the black shorts and slid the other up her bare back beneath the halter.
Her body pressed hard to mine. She rolled her hips once, felt my hard cock against her, and made a low sound that disappeared into my mouth.
The bar rail dug into my back when she drove me against it.
I didn't care. I kissed her until her fingers tangled in my hair and the cap nearly fell off her head.
She caught the cap with one hand and used the other to drag my mouth down her throat.
I kissed the pulse beating there, tasted salt on her skin, and felt her nails rake slowly beneath my shirt.
Vina shivered, then pulled me back to her lips before I could leave a mark she'd have to explain.
Her tongue met mine harder. One of her thighs pressed between mine, keeping every inch of her close without pretending we weren't surrounded by people.
The key knocked lightly against my shoulder with every movement. I closed my hand around her wrist, kissed the inside of it beside the loop, and watched her eyes flare when she understood. I wanted the mouth that could own a room. I wanted the woman trusted to lock it after everyone left.
The crowd remained three steps away. A guest called for two beers. The music kept pushing against us. Vina kissed me like none of it owned this moment.
When she broke away, both of us were breathing hard. Her lips were wet and red. She touched them with two fingers as if she hadn't expected the words to leave anything visible behind.
I kissed those fingers, then the corner of her mouth. Vina rested her forehead against mine for one quiet breath. Her body stayed fitted to me, the key between our wrists and my mother's checklist in her pocket.
I tightened my hand at her waist. "Heart's safe."
Her eyes shone. The fire came back before the tears could fall.
"Good," she said. "Because I'm keeping yours busy."
"That sounds expensive."
"You have no idea."
She kissed me once more, hard and fast, then put both palms on my chest and pushed me out of her service lane.
"Go be useful somewhere else. I have your mother's money."
"Terrifying sentence."
"Wait until I have her keys."
"You already do."
Vina looked at the loop around her wrist and laughed. The sound came out a little wrecked, completely real.
Then she turned to the waiting guest. "Two beers. You tip badly, I tell everyone."
She opened the bottles, marked something on the checklist, and caught my eye before I left.
Still Vina.
Now she knew I loved her too.
The final hour belonged to Poppy and Vina whether they stood near each other or not.
Poppy kept the edges of the party tight.
She remembered who needed a ride, who had a cabin, and which boat captains had switched to water after their first drink.
Vina controlled the center. She moved the music with the room, cut off anyone who'd had enough, and made the last round feel like a celebration instead of an ending.
When they crossed near the bar, Poppy caught the change in Vina's face. She touched Vina's arm.
"Good?"
Vina glanced at me. "Disgustingly."
Poppy's smile softened. She bumped her shoulder against Vina's, then went back to her list without asking for details.
Kit came through with a tray of water and pressed one cold bottle into my hand. "Drink."
"Bristol already ordered me to."
"Then why is it still necessary?"
I drank.
Kit watched until I finished half, set the tray down, and slid her hand behind my neck. She kissed me with her body fitted along mine, calm and hungry at the same time. When my hand found the back of her shorts and pulled her closer, she smiled against my mouth.
"You've been everywhere tonight," she said.
"People keep needing things."
"Come back to me between emergencies, baby."
"Always."
She kissed me once more and returned to Bella without checking whether anyone had seen. Of course they had.
Luna crossed up from the dock, grabbed the water bottle from my hand, and finished it.