Page 24 of Mimosa

“Make an exception.”

Cosmo was there before he could take the shot. “Did you see him?”

“Yeah.”

Cosmo teased, “He’s into you. Big time. I saw him and he watched you like you were the only guy in the pub.”

A bottle flew by them as Abs tossed one to Haze and the crowd cheered.

“Get out of here and go see the guy. We have this.”

“Okay,” he said, then laughed. “Twist my arm!”

He took the beer and shot, setting them on a tray before heading out from behind the bar and through the crowd to the patio.

The patio was an outside spot that was surrounded on three sides by the building and one side by a chain linked fence. Oncehe got back there, walking through smoke and vapor, he saw Sonny watching him from a table near the fencing. He got over to the guy and set down his tray. “Do you smoke?”

“Nah, but it’s a little crowded in there for my preference.” Sonny pushed out one of the other chairs at the table with his foot. “Sit for a minute.”

“I just started working. I’m not due for a break yet.”

“I don’t think your boss will mind.”

It’s true. Murphy only jumped their asses if they were fucking off a lot, and they rarely did, so he’d only jumped on one of them exactly one time. After taking the seat, he was across from the beautiful man who was wearing a muscle shirt, and he hadn’t shaved, so his whiskers darkened and outlined his face perfectly.

“Where is your partner?”

“In there. He is watching the exits, but I guarantee no one else will show. They don’t even want to pretend to want to stake out the place.”

“Homophobes?”

“Yeah. Homophobes and assholes.”

After taking the shot and a drink of the beer, Sonny set the bottle back onto the tray and pushed the whole thing aside so he could reach over and grab Mims’s hand. “Might as well start our act.”

His hand was hot and it held Mims’s tightly, like he wasn’t allowed to get away. Mims liked that. A lot. “You know…what if it turns out that…I mean, if you, or if I…?”

“It’s pretend for now. If that changes, we’ll figure it out.”

That disappointed him considerably. “Shame.”

“Yeah. Sure is a shame.”

Mims smiled and Sonny smiled right back at him, and the way his lashes fluttered as he lowered his eyes, Mims’s heart skipped a few beats. “God, you’re sexy,” Mims blurted, and then snatchedhis hand away from Sonny’s so he could cover his face with both of his own.

Mims soon felt Sonny grabbing each of his wrists to pull his hands from his face. With a deep, stern voice, Sonny said, “Don’t do that. Don’t ever cover that face.”

With his clenched and eyes narrowed at him, Mims melted, and knew for sure that he’d never cover his face again in the man’s presence. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you think I’m sexy.”

Before he did something to upset Sonny, like running to hide his embarrassment, he rose slowly and said, “I need to get back to work. Are you gonna be here a while?”

“I am.”

“I’ll be back. To, uh…take your next order.”

“Sure thing.”

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