Page 70 of The Love Wager

Brooks

The sound of a packed bar beyond the office door carries through the wood, permeating my office with a blanket of sound. Loud patrons try to outdo one another over the sound of the karaoke machine that Indie insisted we have for the grand re-opening.

With the money pouring in since she helped me get into the green and her business taking off like a rocket, she talked me into renovating the bar and re-opening it with abangerof a party—her words, not mine.

Nick’s head pops in as the door opens, and the volume turns tenfold. “You coming, man?”

“Yeah. I was just…”

Nick’s knocked aside as Indie forces her way past him. “Just hiding away in his lair while I do all the work?” she accuses, rounding my desk and plopping in my lap.

Her arms come around my neck, and I momentarily forget what we were discussing as her lips find mine in a bruising kiss.

“This was your event, remember?”

“Oh, I know! I’ve spent the last two months painstakingly planning it. But you should remember that we discussed this. You have to attend the grand re-opening ofyourbar.”

“I mean, technically, it’s Nick’s bar now.” I point at my brother, trying to blend into the wall near the door.

Nick’s hands come up in defense. “Leave me out of this. You know what? I’m gonna go.” Slithering out the door and shutting it behind him, he leaves me alone with Indie and the muted sounds of the drunken chaos in the bar.

“I know what we discussed, but it’s so loud out there, red. How about you and I sneak upstairs…” Her finger over my lips cuts off my words.

“No. I’m not negotiating, and you’re not hiding in here. You have ten minutes to ready yourself for the madness out there because, trust me, it’s wild. Then, you’re going to make your appearance. Without your bat,” she adds, eyeing me sternly.

My bat sits in the corner longingly, and I smirk as I eye it. “I haven’t had to bring my bat out since a certain redhead blew through town, actually.”

She leans in, her lips moving against mine in a way that promises more to come if I behave tonight. “That’s because said redhead kept you busy afterward.”

“Touché.”

She walks toward the door and turns back to glare at me. “Ten minutes, Brooksie.”

I growl at Taylor’s nickname that she adopts when I’m annoying her. She knows it gets under my skin.

She blows me a kiss as she slips out of the office, and I get ready to go to war with the sea of people in the bar.

To hear this place so lively again after being away in California with Indie is something I love, but something I’m also not used to.

Running my hands over the desk, I decide I don’t want to keep her waiting any longer and risk no rewards later on in the night when the doors are locked, so I stand and flick off the office lights, moving out through the throngs of drunken people who all have their sights firmly locked on my girl.

Oh, hell no!

Indie slides across the bar, microphone in hand, and then flings her hair through the air to the music, singing at the top of her lungs.

“Get off my bar!” I shout, and her microphone picks up my booming voice, which carries through the room.

She snaps to attention, her shit-eating grin lighting up her beautiful face. “Oh, look, guys, a party pooper has emerged from his natural habitat.”

The room breaks into laughter.

“Get down!” I repeat, crossing my arms as I look up at her.

“Or what? What will you do if I don’t get off your bar?”

The music cuts, and she takes a minute to cover her eyes from the barrage of heavy lighting to look over at the DJ manning the karaoke machine. “Hey! I’m not finished!”

The DJ looks between Indie and me, seeming to contemplate who’s paying him tonight as he grapples with how to move forward.

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