Page 46 of Seductive Nights

Jace grinned. He turned to see Carley sit back and cross her arms watching her sister play.

"I've been told I'm a flirt and then two beautiful women walked in while I happened to be at the bar, and what can I say? I jumped at the chance."

Margo grinned, and he leaned down. "Is that derogatory?"

She turned her head and looked up at him. They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, and then she burst out laughing. "No, it's not derogatory. I'm sorry I told you that."

He nodded. "All right, just checking. I'll put your orders in."

He kept himself busy running orders and delivering drinks. When Margo's order came up, he hurried to pick them up and deliver them. Setting their salads in front of them, he put the dressings on the side. "Anything else I can get for you?"

He stared into Margo's eyes for a moment and the sexy look she gave him sizzled right through him. Carley chuckled and Jace thought, it boded well for this evening.

"No, thank you."

"Well, you two ladies are easy." He quipped.

Margo gave him a side eye, a half-smile on her face. "One thing I am not Jace, is easy."

He nodded. "Noted. I'll be back to check on you shortly."

He practically whistled and skipped back to the kitchen. He was beginning to see playful Margo, and he liked her a lot. He checked for his orders. Nothing was up yet, so he did a run-through of his tables for drinks. He did the same outside. As he made his way back to the restaurant, he noted that the workers were back to finish up the tiki bar. Hopefully, it wouldn't disrupt the lunch crowd too much, but he wasn't going to tell them to go away. It was hard to get Quinn's crews back. They were busy as hell this time of year.

Carley strode past him to use the restroom, and he glanced to see Margo chatting with the woman at the table next to her. He grinned. He’d let her chat. He strode into the kitchen to check on things. All seemed in order. As he stepped back out to the restaurant, he noticed Carley moving toward her table and Sierra moving quickly toward her. Alarm bells went off at the look on Sierra’s face, but before he could move, Sierra rammed into Carley and spilled an entire drink on her.

Carley looked down at her clothing, then up to stare at Sierra. He intervened quickly, as did Theresa, his server.

He nodded to Theresa, who put an arm around Carley. “Let me help you with this. I have towels in the office.” She moved Carley to the back room and the office. He glared at Sierra. “That was uncalled for.”

“It was an accident.”

“It wasn’t. I saw the whole thing. I’d like you to leave now.”

“I was just coming to see if you’d like to have dinner tonight.”

“No.” He swallowed. “Leave now.”

She tossed her red hair over her shoulder and glared at him. She inhaled deeply, then strode to the front door without looking back. If she had, she’d have seen him glaring at her and Margo doing the same thing.

Carley came back to the table in a few minutes and sat down.

He strode by to check on them. Just as he arrived, a loud bang, like the sound of lumber being dropped outside, reverberated through the bar, and then Carley sat up staring at the bar. Jace slowly turned and saw Mason in a panic attack.

Jace hustled over to Mason. "Are you okay, bud? Do you need to sit down?"

He pulled a chair to the bar and helped Mason into the chair. It was as if he couldn't really see. Mason shook, and Jace kept his body in front of Mason to shield him from the people in the restaurant. The kitchen door opened, and Jose came out with some plates of food. Jace nodded at him, and Jose delivered his food quickly, then rushed back.

Jace whispered, "Get me some water for Mason."

"Will do." Jose hurried behind the bar and pulled a bottle of water from the cooler. Jace knelt next to Mason with his arm around his shoulders, adding pressure. Boy, he wished Grace's support dog, Chiefy, was here right now. She was excellent at this. And that's when he wondered if he should get a service dog for the restaurant. It was unusual with food prep. She probably couldn't ever be in the kitchen, but he'd check and see if a service animal could be in the bar or behind the bar. After a few moments, Mason's shaking subsided. Jace rubbed his back and handed him the bottle of water. "Take a couple of sips, Mason."

He did as he was asked, then shook his head. "I'm so fucking embarrassed."

"Don't be embarrassed. This is nothing to be embarrassed about."

"But everyone knows."

"It doesn't matter what everyone knows. And for the record, what everyone knows is that I hire only veterans here, so they know that you've served. And if they saw this panic attack, they know that you have PTSD. There is no shame in that, Mason. None at all. I have it. Sid has it. Quinn has it. Marco has it. Theresa has it. We all have it."

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