Page 19 of Challenged by the Single Dad

“For the night?”

He cleared his throat again. “Right. Yes. Thank you. For the night. Then you deduct the cash from the float to get the total of cash sales and check to see if it balances out on the spreadsheet.”

“I love how far technology has come,” she said. “I remember when we had to physically add up all the receipts with a calculator.”

“Mm-hmm.”

She leaned in closer.

He pulled in a deep breath, filling his lungs with her scent.

Then he shot backward, shoving the seat out and into her.

It wasn’t on purpose. He didn’t mean to hurt her.

He just needed some space.

She made a squawk of alarm. He spun around to see she was pinned beneath the shelf and chair, her eyes wide and wild, staring at him in surprise.

“Sorry,” he murmured, pulling the chair away. “I just realized you should sit here and do it.” He held the seat out for her and stepped into the hallway so she could sit down.

She continued to give him a strange look, but took a seat and pulled it inward. Then she proceeded to cash out without any trouble.

Only now, he could look right down her fucking top and into her deep, creamy cleavage.

Son of a bitch.

“There,” Chloe said with an affirming nod. “It’s all balanced. I don’t know what other nights are like, but this seems like a good one to me.”

“For a Thursday in the fall, it was more than good.”

She spun around, beaming at him.

His cock twitched and his balls tingled.

Dom cleared his throat. Damn, he was doing a lot of throat clearing and snorting around this woman. She probably thought he was some caveman with allergies and zero manners. Maybe that was better? A deterrent?

“Anyway, that’s it. I can show you how to set the alarm, then we’re out of here.” He stepped back into the hallway so she could stand up, then he stowed everything in the safe.

“Should you be giving me the code for that?” she asked softly.

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I guess so, hmm?”

“I mean … you don’t have to. If you want to come when its closing time and do it tomorrow, I don’t mind. I understand your hesitation.” Her half-smile of uncertainty was cute.

He pointed to the camera up in the corner. “We’ve got eyes everywhere now. I’ll have Jagger or Bennett message you with the alarm and safe codes.”

“O-okay.” She swallowed and gave him space when he stood up and flicked off the light. They stepped back to the front of house and she grabbed her coat, purse, and phone. Then she stashed her apron under the bar. “I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, Dom. That was never my intention. This is your bar and you’re running it in a way that works for you. It’s clearly a profitable place. So I apologize if I’ve overstepped. I just want to work on the beach. That’s my dream. I don’t want to insult anybody.” Her brittle smile held so much more than regret, but it was the look in her eyes that damn near gutted him. Pain. Grief. Hopelessness.

All the things he felt in his own heart.

They walked to the front door and he set the alarm, then held the door open for her. “We’ll see how you do tomorrow with Renée.”

Disappointment filled her gaze, and he instantly felt like an ass. But she rallied, plastered on a smile, and nodded. “Renée is great. All the staff is. I think we’ll be okay.”

“I hope so.”

She waited for him to lock up from the outside. Then she said an awkward “goodnight,” which he returned with a grunted one of his own, before making her way to a boring black sedan parked at the far corner of the parking lot.

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