The Hardest Fall(57)

Keep it cool, man. She didn’t do anything.

I exhaled before I opened my mouth to speak again. “I’m sorry. Long day. What do you mean trying to impress someone?”

“You’re behind the bar.”

I looked down at myself and around me. “Yeah, I work here. That’s how bartending works. You stay behind the bar and serve drinks.”

“No you don’t,” she fired back.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“No, I mean, bartending?” She looked taken back. “You’re really working right now?”

“Yup. What did you think I was doing?”

Her teeth lightly grazed her bottom lip. I watched her mouth move as she said something, but I was too busy admiring her lips and missed it completely.

“What?”

She leaned forward an inch or two and yelled a little louder. “I said, I thought you were trying to impress someone! You know how attractive bad boys are to girls, and you’re a football player on top of that. Basically, double the trouble.” She widened her eyes. “And bartenders tend to be—not that I’m specifically saying you’re hot or anything, but I thought you were just back there—”

Looking over her shoulder, I met the dick face’s eyes. Both he and the other girl were watching Zoe and me. It was his own idiocy that he’d let her come to me, so why should I be the one to stay away? She was my roommate, my friend, after all. Fuck him.

I leaned on the bar, bringing us closer, and rested my arms right next to hers. Only inches separated us. If she moved, my skin would drag against hers. She stopped rambling and took in the repositioning of my arms. Then, knowingly or unknowingly, she shifted in her seat, moving her delectable little butt from right to left.

“Zoe,” I said, my voice lower since we were now closer. “You’re rambling again. It’s too cute, and it’s completely okay if you think of your friend as hot. I think you’re hot, too.”

My arm brushed hers when Lindy walked behind me and I was forced to move forward another inch. She completely ignored the fact that I’d just called her hot—or maybe she simply thought I was joking—and leaned forward as if she couldn’t help herself. The movement was barely perceptible, and I would have bet she hadn’t noticed it herself.

“I didn’t say you were hot.”

“I’m pretty sure you just did.”

“No,” she said slowly. “I just meant they tend to hire good-looking guys so that—” She let out a breath and changed the subject. “I didn’t know you worked on top of everything else you did. Your schedule is crazy. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I specifically remember telling you I wasn’t rich.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you…I just didn’t think, apparently. You know me and my tendency to stereotype football players. Most people usually think they get everything handed to them, and apparently I’m one of those people, but…I like that you’re working.” She huffed. “You’re a really…” She scrunched up her nose then shook her head. “Never mind.”

I leaned closer and my forearm grazed hers again. We stayed skin to skin. She couldn’t keep her eyes away. I would’ve loved for her to finish her sentence, but there was something else I wanted to know more.

I turned my head a fraction, bringing my lips closer to her cheek area—the cheek her boyfriend’s fingers had brushed only minutes before. “So that’s your boyfriend, huh? I don’t think he likes that you’re over here talking to me.” The bastard was still watching, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

Her head snapped up and her eyebrows drew together. “What? Where?”

I pulled back. “Your boyfriend,” I repeated, motioning to the guy with my chin. At that moment, his arm was casually draped over the booth and he was chatting with the girl sitting across him instead of staring at us. “The one you’ve been dancing with since you walked in.” I turned my eyes on Zoe. “And I thought you were shy, Zoe—seemed like it since you can’t even manage to look into my eyes for more than a few seconds—but that girl dancing up there didn’t look all that shy.”

Slowly she turned back to me. My muscles were tensing up again. Why was I getting so worked up over her dancing with her fucking boyfriend? It wasn’t like I didn’t know she had someone, and I should’ve been happy that it was just a student. I straightened away from Zoe, deciding to actually do the job I was getting paid to do and help Lindy with the customers.

After I served a few, I checked to see if Zoe had left, but she was still sitting there waiting for me, her eyes tracking my movements.

I found myself back in front of her. I was being a dick without meaning to. “Can I get you and…your friends anything?” I asked a little loudly so I wouldn’t have to lean in again.

Her frown got deeper and she scooted forward in her seat. Her lips parted, but nothing came out. Then she nodded. “Yeah, I’ll have a pint of whatever you have on tap and a Corona, please.”

I returned her nod with a curt one and served my roommate. Plunking the pint in front of her, I reached down for a bottle of Corona. Her left hand closed around the handle of the pint and she reached for the bottle with the other.