Risking it All (Crossing the Line, #1)(7)

Hopefully, all of her time-biding would come to an end tomorrow. She’d overheard Hogan on the phone yesterday as he sat at one of the tables in her section. He was going out of town for a week to check on operations at another nightclub he owned at the Jersey shore.

If he let her remain behind to care for his cousin, she would finally have her chance to access the office downstairs he always kept locked.

Against her will, her gaze landed on the man at the bar again. Something about him was familiar, but she couldn’t place the reason for such a feeling.

Before he’d been appraising as he watched her; now he simply looked angry. Talk about confusing.

“Sweetheart, I’m dying of thirst over here.”

Sera turned with a pasted-on smile and cleared away the three men’s empty pint glasses. “Same round again?”

Grunts served as her answer. With a nod, Sera slipped through the rows of tables to retrieve their order from the bar.

At early evening on a Friday, Rush had started to fill up, and she knew from even limited experience the regulars were demanding. Rush lacked any similarity to the nightclubs she’d been to, which was admittedly very few. No frilly, overpriced drinks or coolly sophisticated customers. Here, they were

rough

and

suspicious

of

newcomers, herself included. After a few shifts, they seemed to accept her only because she was with Hogan.

Sera propped her elbows on the wooden bar hatch until the bartender scanned her through bloodshot eyes.

“Two bottles of Bud, one Carlsberg.”

“You got it, honey.” As he shuffled toward the other end of the bar to drag her beers out of the ice, Sera felt the staring man move closer. It annoyed her, the way her skin prickled as he sauntered toward her, taking his sweet time. She didn’t want to talk to him and silently urged the weary bartender to hurry up with her order. No such luck, though. She’d be willing to bet he’d never hurried to do a single thing in his life.

“You know, if I were working for tips, I might smile more.”

The words were spoken so close to her neck, the small hairs at her nape shifted, sending a wicked shiver down her back. An unusual stirring took place in her belly before exploding through her veins, hot and liquid-like. Her lips parted on a small gasp. At his audacity?

At her reaction to this stranger? She didn’t know.

Pull it together. Play your part.

Allowing her lips to curve up at the ends, she turned to give him a playful retort, but the words died on her lips.

She’d just looked up into the most strikingly handsome male face she’d ever seen. His gray eyes were noticeably tired, but intensely focused on her, mouth tilted in a smirk. From a distance, he’d been attractive, even with the painful-looking black eye. Up close…he affected her. A lot. Something she definitely couldn’t afford while needing to keep her game face intact.

Sera took a step away from him. “I have a hard time smiling when I’m being stared at.”

“Then you must not smile much, because you’re a f*cking stunner.”

Whoa. Huh? The long pull of sexual attraction in her stomach came as a shock. That line had actually worked on her? She’d never had a thing for Brooklyn accents before, but the way he pronounced stunner like stunna did funny things to her insides. Or maybe the sincerity in his voice had done it. He’d said it like he meant it. Coupled with the steady manner in which he watched her now, the effect was potent. It figured that the first man she’d felt a physical pull toward would show up while she was undercover.

Can’t do anything about it here. Put him off.

She wanted to kiss the bartender when he set her beers down on the bar.

“Excuse me. I’m trying to work here. I have customers who need drinks.”

“Yeah?” He took a slug of whiskey, throat muscles working. “Now I need one, too.”

“You’re not in my section.”

Too late, Sera realized she’d said the wrong thing. Setting his empty glass on the bar, he swaggered past her toward the back of the club where tables were arranged. He dropped into the first available chair, close enough to the table of men that she couldn’t deny it was her section, before looking back at her expectantly. She turned to ask the bartender for a refill on the rude man’s whiskey, but he’d already set it down on the hatch. Apparently he could move quickly when he wanted to.

Teeth gritted with the effort to appear casual, Sera placed all four drinks on her tray, ignoring her smile coach’s snort when she served the three men first.

“Took long enough,” one of them commented. “Someone should talk to Hogan. Get him to light a fire under your perky ass.”

Behind her, a chair scraped back with such force, she jumped several inches in the air. All three men at the table froze, eyes going wide when her admirer leaned over their table, supported by his clenched fists. “Apologize to her now.”

One of them stood, hand out in a conciliatory gesture. “Shit, I didn’t know she was with you. I-I didn’t…she—”

A fist hit the table, knocking over one of the fresh beers. “I asked for an apology. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s asking for something twice.”

A chorus of sorrys immediately went up, but all she could do was nod her acceptance. Who was this guy? The three men looked utterly horrified at having offended him, like their very lives were at stake. Slowly, he straightened and went back to his table, settling back in his chair. Everyone in the club had gone deathly still, but he didn’t seem to notice or give a damn. Not knowing what else to do, Sera placed the full glass of whiskey in front of him. When she tried to walk away, his hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist.