The Hookup (EBOOK)

The cousin of
the bride was at the bar again. Yesterday she had been reeled in by Xavier’s magic
tricks, and no doubt, his charm, but, Luke noted, she blatantly avoided the
younger Stone today.

“What can I get you?” he asked. The good mood she’d been in
earlier had disappeared and she now seemed downcast and was trying to hide it.
But eyes didn’t lie, and her soft brown ones gave it away.

“A bloody Mary, please.”

“A bloody Mary, coming right up, but,” his bartender persona
switched into gear and he placed his forearms on the bar top, bringing his head
down to her level. “Are you sure you wouldn’t want something more adventurous?”

He had an easy way with girls, and he always attracted their
attention, even back at The Oasis, where people knew who he was. He was used to
the attention, and used to extricating himself from over-eager customers, but
it still never stopped the women from making their intentions known to him.

Kay’s seemingly melancholy mood, in such stark contrast to
how she had been before, piqued his curiosity. This woman looked as if she
could do with some company, and a part of him felt sorry for her. She should
have been dancing the night away instead of being at the bar alone.

“I don’t know,” she replied, picking up the cocktail list
he’d put together for this event. “What do you recommend?”

“What do you usually like?” Some liked their cocktails to be
like milkshakes, others liked them strong and reeking of alcohol.

“How about a Slow Comfortable Screw Against The Wall?”

He wasn’t prepared for that one. She held his gaze as the
double entendre slipped through his ears and ignited the fire that would give
him a boner, if she carried on talking like that.

“I can get you one of those,” he replied slowly, noting the
sudden change in her temperament. Whatever it was that had dampened her mood,
seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

Her full lips parted into a smile. “I look forward to it,”
she purred, sending a shooting star of excitement through his body.

She was forward this one, nothing like Savannah. But he was
used to it. It wasn’t the first time he’d had a customer proposition him with
one of those. In his line of work, he got chatted up all the time. “Be careful
what you wish for,” he replied, returning the smirk. “I’ll whip you up one of
those and add my unique twist to it.”

“Whip away,” she replied, leaning forward, the tops of her
breasts were pushed up to the hilt and on display in her low-cut fuchsia
colored dress. Her dress, and her breasts, were hard to ignore.

She was obviously looking to make an impression.

He got busy, making up her cocktail, and threw her a
sidelong glance. She looked as if she had the weight of the world on her
shoulders, and he wondered if Xavier had had anything to do with this.

“Here you go,” he said, sliding the glass her way.

She took a sip, “Hmmm.” She licked her lips suggestively. “It’s
delicious. Not too sweet, and not overly alcoholic. Nice. Dangerously nice. Have one with me,” she said, her French manicured
nails circling slowly around the rim of the glass.

He shuddered involuntarily, trying to rein in his response. “I
shouldn’t.” He didn’t like to drink on duty, even though he could, because he
wasn’t supposed to be on duty. He had simply chosen to be behind the bar
because it meant he didn’t get hassled. From behind the safety of the bar
enclosure, he could operate in stealth-mode, at a great vantage point, and
could easily see and hear most things. It was amazing how much information and
secrets people willingly gave up, and how loose their tongues became after a
few drinks.

“Please,” she begged, squeezing her shoulders and pushing
her breasts together. His heart missed a beat, and the visual created a
stirring below.

Hell. Why not? It was past midnight, and it had been a long
day. Everything had gone well, and, importantly, Tobias had been pleased with
the service.

“A drink, then,” he said, pouring himself a scotch.

“No Slow Comfortable Screw Against The Wall for you?” she
asked, her eyes falling to his arms, and trailing along his tattoos.

“I prefer a scotch. Cheers,” he declared, lifting his glass
to hers.

“To Savannah, and Tobias, the happy, happy, happy couple,”
she declared.

“Amen.”

“To all the happy couples everywhere,” she added.

He paused, then followed suit. “To all the happy couples
everywhere.” If she believed that shit then who was he to argue?

“Are you one half of a happy couple?” she asked. And there
it was. The question. The one he got
asked almost every night he was at the bar.

“No.” At some point during any of his conversations, this
question always reared its head. Women always seemed curious about his status.

“You must be freaking kidding me,” she shrieked in surprise.
“I don’t believe you.”

He forced a smile, almost gave a half-shrug of his
shoulders, and noticed her gaze drift over to his biceps and stay there a few
seconds.

“How come?” she asked, clearing her throat, forcing her gaze
to his eyes. “How come a good looking guy like you isn’t with anybody?”

“I could say the same about you.” Not because he was
interested, but because, what sort of answer could he give to a question like
that? He gave her the once over as he lifted the glass to his lips again. Her
honey blonde hair framed her face and hung in waves around her shoulders, and
yet her eyebrows were a darker shade. He’d bet she wasn’t blonde down there. Not a natural blonde.

She was obviously not a shrinking wall flower and it was no
wonder that she’d caught Xavier’s eye yesterday. If anyone would have been
perfect for Xavier, it would have been this woman. He wondered what had gone
wrong that Xavier and Kay weren’t even hanging out in the same part of the
beach together.

Except now the guy was going after Izzy.

“I don’t have a good track record with guys. It never lasts.
Or, it never leads to anything.” This was the problem with being the guy who
served drinks. It made for being a psychotherapist. The keeper of everyone’s
drunken secrets and mistakes.

“I don’t believe you,” he told her. Now he was the one
flirting, not because he wanted anything to happen, but because he was curious.
Some people attracted love, or lust, and some seemed to repel it. He didn’t for
one minute believe that Kay found it hard to get a guy.

“Why not? It’s true. I’m not saying it to get your sympathy.”

“I never implied that you were trying to elicit my sympathy,”
he said, a flash of real sympathy in his voice. She was pretty, and she had a
good figure. An image of the Marilyn Monroe poster in his bedroom during his
teen years flashed into his head. Kay might not have been wearing a white
halterneck dress, nor had her skirt flying up behind her, but there was
something Monroe-esque about her, especially when her breasts looked as if they
might tumble out of her dress any moment now.

“Well, it’s true.”

A group of people suddenly filled the bar area and he didn’t
want to keep them waiting, even though a couple of the other bartenders were
serving.

He looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry, but we’re
getting busy again.”  It didn’t seem
right to walk away now when she seemed to be confiding in him, but he was
running a bar, and serving the customers was his main priority. He threw a final
glance at her cleavage, then looked away. It wasn’t often a woman caught his
attention like that. Something about the sultry night air on this damn island
was getting to him. “I’d better tend to these people.”

She nodded, and took another sip of her cocktail.

It was all hands on deck. People were making the most of the
wedding reception, and Tobias’s generosity. Out here in the sultry heat, under
the stars and nestled in the Fijian archipelago, Tobias and Savannah’s wedding guests
forgot about their jobs and their busy, stressful lives. They were clearly
still in the partying mood, and it didn’t matter what time it was. This party
was going to go on until the early hours of the morning.

Being a sober guy working behind the bar allowed him to see
people at their most raw and vulnerable form. Alcohol did that. It stripped
away people’s layers and exposed their true selves.

As Savannah’s cousin had done.

When he’d finished serving a couple of people, he couldn’t help
but notice her still sitting at the other end of the bar by herself, looking a
little lonely even in a sea of people.