Page 37 of Melody

Although the struggle was apparent in her eyes, she said, “Okay.”

“Great. Now where do I find all the stuff?”

“You’re going to do itnow?”

“Yeah…get it over with.”

Scarlett picked up a rag and began cleaning the counter. “But you’ll have to clean up again, because the drunker people get—”

“Yeah, I know. But it won’t be as bad if I start now.” He wasn’t going to argue with her, but the bottom line was that there were fewer people in the bar now—and even if a guy came in and missed the urinal when he first started pissing, Kyle would only have to clean up that spot on the floor and maybe wipe off the urinal.

“So where’s the stuff?”

Scarlett enlisted the help of the server still there, and the young woman eyed Kyle up and down, obviously wondering how Scarlett had managed to get one of the musicians to do one of the shittiest jobs in the bar. But she showed Kyle the closet full of cleaning supplies, pointing out the disposable latex gloves. “I recommend using those.” Kyle nodded, no stranger to them, having worked in food service for so long. “I like to think of them as armor—and you’re going in to battle in there.”

Jesus. Was it really going to be that bad?

He focused his thoughts on Scarlett and spending time with her later. No matter what, she was worth it.

CHAPTER 14

Ever since Kyle had insisted on doing the crappiest work in the bar—without complaint and without pay—Scarlett had felt warm inside. And now, as he sat at the bar sipping on a glass of water with a wedge of lemon, she followed the directions that Al had given her about how to cash out the drawers. The last customers had left; the outer doors were locked; most of the lights were off; Kyle had touched up the bathrooms as promised; and, finally, the servers had finished their work and left, leaving Scarlett to finish her closing duties.

Because Al had already closed out Denise’s drawer, Scarlett only had to close out hers and then run some reports before locking the drawer and leaving the paperwork on his desk in the office. His instructions, written on a piece of paper, were perfect, easy to follow step by step. She’d asked if he wanted her to actually cash it out, doing whatever kind of report was needed so she could pull out the earnings and only leave the drawer’s starting bank, but Al said he’d do it in the morning.

When she looked up, waiting as a long receipt spat out of the little printer beside the register, Kyle grinned at her. He said, “Hey, about earlier…”

“What?”

“When I kind of freaked you out by playing rough…talkingrough.”

Oh…yes. Of course, she hadn’t forgotten—but she believed there had been nothing truly sinister underneath his words and expression. Still, could she be sure? “Yeah?”

“I don’t ever want you to be…afraidof me.”

She laughed. “I’m not. I just, uh, startled.”

“Okay, well I don’t want tostartleyou, either. I want you to feel relaxed and comfortable—andhappyaround me. So I wanted to ask a weird question.”

Scarlett removed the receipt as Al had instructed and then began tapping on the screen again, following his instructions. “Go ahead.” Being distracted might make this potentially uneasy conversation easier.

“What was it that, uh, triggered you? Was it what I said? How I said it? How I looked?”

She hadn’t really thought about it—and she couldn’t while she processed the instructions. “I don’t know.” After she finished tapping the screen, once more instructing it to print the closing paperwork for the entire bar for the day, she considered his question. Then she looked him in those beautiful azure eyes and nearly found herself lost in the sincerity and kindness she saw. Had she ever known a man, other than her father, who’d looked at her with such compassion?

“I guess maybe it was just because I wasn’t expecting it—or maybe it was all of the above working in combination. But I really don’t know.”

“I just don’t want to do it again.”

Although the printer was done spitting out the paper, she held her gaze on this man—someone several months ago she’d pegged as a typical guy, but who seemed to have more depth than the ocean.

It made her want to get to know him far better.

“Kyle…I promise, it’sme, not you. Please don’t feel like you have to walk on eggshells around me. I think…I think I just need time. You know? The farther I get away from my past, the better I can cope with the present.”

“Yeah. That makes total sense. In fact, I’d say you sound a lot like my shrink.”

“I do?” Grinning again, Scarlett locked the drawer with one of the keys on the ring. “Give me just a second. I need to run this stuff to Al’s office really quick.” As she did, she felt a jolt of excitement. What had Kyle planned this evening? Monday night had been full of surprises, so she figured tonight would be no different. And she was used to staying up late, thanks to the job, so she’d have plenty of energy for whatever adventure awaited.

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