Page 6 of The Keeper

“You don’t owe me anything. I’m good.” My throat tightened, and I looked away, feigning a sudden interest in the thatched roof over the bar.

I blamed the sudden heat behind my eyelids and tightness in my throat on my recent string of shitty first dates and not the man in front of me.

He reached out and hooked his fingers beneath my chin, gently guiding my face back to his. Whatever he saw caused the muscle in his jaw to twitch. “You’re clearly not good.”

“It’s allergies,” I lied, pulling away as the bartender approached.

“We’re closing down in five minutes. Another margarita?” she asked.

“No, thank you. I’ll have a—” I blinked back the tears in my eyes and quickly scanned the menu before ordering the one drink guaranteed to have alcohol in it. “A Fat Tire, please. Thank you.”

I expected her to try to talk me into a mixed drink, but she just shrugged and turned to Ghost. “And for you?”

“The same, thanks. Can you charge them both to room 702?”

“That won’t be necessary,” I said, slipping into my customer service voice.

Ghost gave an exasperated sigh. “I’d like to buy you a drink, Piper.”

“Well, you’re almost an hour and three margaritas too late.”

“Four,” the bartender corrected, sliding the bottles in front of us with a smirk.

“Excuse me, an hour andfourmargaritas too late,” I said, taking a defiant swig. “But I’m sure you’ve got a great reason, so let’s hear it.”

“For what it’s worth, I am sorry I was late,” he admitted quietly, spinning his beer bottle in a slow circle against the countertop. “I was headed down with the guys when my nephew called.”

It was the last thing I expected him to say, and I hastily swallowed my mouthful of beer before asking, “Your nephew?”

“Yeah. He’s thirteen, and tonight’s his end-of-year dance at school. There’s this girl in his grade who he’s had a crush on for months, so I’ve been working with him for the past several weeks on how to talk to her.”

Something like embarrassment spread across his face before he lowered his head. “I must be out of practice because he went up and asked her to dance just like we talked about, and she laughed in his face.”

The bartender, who’d spent the last several minutes pretending to wipe down the bar while clearly eavesdropping, gave me a pointed look before inclining her head toward him. The universal code forGo on. Say something, you idiot.

“Oh. Is he okay?”

She rolled her eyes and went back to cleaning with an annoyed huff.

“Other than never coming to me for advice again? I guess,” he said before taking a long sip of his drink.

“Well, he could always try following her around for an entire day until she notices him,” I deadpanned.

He let his head fall back with an exaggerated groan. “Clearly, I should be the one asking for advice instead of giving it because I thought I was flirting.”

“Hey. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“For the next five minutes, at least.”

I reached for his hand and pulled him closer. “Hate to break it to you, but it’s been seven and a half minutes since we sat down.”

“And seven and a half minutes ago, I would have taken it as a good sign that you were still here.”

“You mean before you discovered you were a stalker?” I asked with a teasing grin.

Ghost’s eyes flickered with amusement, and the corners of his mouth quirked up into a genuine smile. “Stalker? I prefer ‘discreet admirer,’ thank you very much.” He squeezed my hand lightly, the warmth from his grip spearing through my chest much like the shot of Fireball had.

Unlike the Fireball, I wanted more.

---