Page 16 of Here In Your Arms

“You don’t have to answer right away, and we can do something super public, like a walk in the park or something,” I tell her calmly.

She glances down the bar at baldie, who is still sitting there with his drink, staring at her. There’s a weird possessiveness there that I know Wes has also taken notice of. Looking at him seems to steel her nerves.

“Yeah, let’s do it. Why not?” she says.

“I’m not sure it’s the most enthusiastic ‘yes’ I’ve ever gotten,” Wes quips. “I’ll take it, though.”

Rory laughs. “I would love to go out with you guys.”

“Excellent!” Wes says.

I shake my head at him. “Can I give you our numbers? Then you can contact us when you’re comfortable.”

Rory seems genuinely shocked by this offer. I wonder if she puts her own comfort first ever. She seems floored that we would put the ball in her court rather than force what we want. A slow smile spreads across her face.

“Yeah, that sounds great,” she says, and rips a piece of paper off from a nearby notepad.

I hand the paper back once our numbers are written down, but as she moves to pull her hand back, Wes nabs it and kisses the back of her hand. Her face fully flushes and she looks down, smiling and flustered, but pleased. Out of curiosity, I look over at baldie and he looks murderous. Interesting.

“I’ll text you guys tomorrow. Is that okay?” she asks.

“Perfect. It’s whatever you’re comfortable with,” I assure her.

We drop some cash on the counter, tell her to keep the change, and say our goodbyes. Standing outside the pub, Wes and I look at each other.

“Gonna say it?” he teases.

I sigh, a long-suffering sound. “You were right.”

He grins and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

“We need to keep an eye on baldie, though,” I tell him, with a small frown.

“Yeah, he was there last time I was too. I don’t like him.”

“Agreed. See you at home?”

“You know it,” Wes says, and we go our separate ways to our cars.

I can’t wait to see Rory again. I hope she texts soon. Maybe I’m a creeper and I’m overly obsessed, but I know I’m not going to be able to get her out of my head. My hand and Wes have their work cut out for them tonight.

Chapter 7

Rory

On the one hand, being a favorite bartender kept the money flowing in. On the other hand, it also means I get some pretty heavy hours. It’s an early shift today and I’m at the bar around 2 p.m. to start my shift. It’s slow at first, which lets me ease into things. Thankfully, it’s not a bad brain day, but I pace myself so I don’t use up all my energy at the start of my shift.

We have a few people lingering between lunch and dinner, and our Thursday happy hour starts in an hour, so I take time to check our stock. Noting what’s low and what’s out, I then document the information and pull out some garnish to start prepping for the rest of the night.

The first hour of Happy Hour is smooth. A few people trickling in and a work group settled nearby at a larger table. The orders are coming in steadily and it’s nice to keep my hands busy. Tim comes in and I realize that I’m almost two hours into my shift and didn’t notice.

“What’s up, loser?” he asks, a smile on his face.

“Holding the fort down for your lazy ass,” I quip back.

We both chuckle and I update him on what’s been going on so far. Nothing out of the ordinary, thankfully.

“Your regular not here yet?” he asks.

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