Page 87 of On The Rocks

He nodded. “I’ll talk to Kira about it.” He finished the can and tossed it in the recycler. “I’ll do a walk around and see if I need to put a little fear of God into some.”

I laughed. “Don’t start a fight just to start one. I’ve heard about you at Lucky’s.”

He grinned down at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I would never.”

I rolled my eyes as he slipped back into the crowd of people. Impromptu break over, I joined the fray and made a dent in the backlog of orders.

The register and card machine were doing a whole lot of work tonight too, and Kira would be happy with the results.

“I’m loving the tips, but holy shit, is this place rocking tonight.” Annette dropped a tray of empties on the end of the bar.

“It is. Not sure why, not that we mind the busy.”

“No, but this is beyond.” She offloaded her glasses. “Six Hot Honeys, Clover times two, and one of those Irish Mules.”

I nodded and set up my glasses to fill. “How’s the patio? Does CJ need a break?”

“Yeah, probably. I haven’t been able to check in on her.”

“Okay, I’ll do a walk-around.”

“Thanks.” She blew a curl out of her face and filled her tray. “I’ll be back.”

Kira pushed through the crush of people to the bar. “What the heck is going on tonight?”

“The question of the hour.” I nodded to Kevon and motioned that I was going out to the patio. He flashed me a thumbs up. “Want to walk the patio with me?”

“Yeah.”

Kira’s longer legs made me pick up the pace as we threaded our way through the thick crush of people. When we got to the stairs, I dragged in a deep breath of the cool night air. The patio wasn’t nearly as busy, but all the chairs were full and there was a good mix of couples and some on the make.

Kira sighed when a couple of guys started shoving at the edge of the patio. “It wouldn’t be an Irish night without a punch being thrown.”

Justin and Griffin moved quickly, and my girl parts did a quick pulse when Griffin caught one of the drunk guy’s fists in a tight grip.

“We’re all here for a good time,” he said easily. “Why do you want to add some blood to your whiskey, guys?”

Justin rolled his shoulders, obviously ready to back him up. “Don’t make us toss you.”

“Then tell this asshole to stop looking at my wife.” The guy with the swinging fist pulled away from Griffin.

The blond woman tried to hide a smile as she sidled up to the guy. “It’s fine, Jason. No harm.”

“No harm in the attention,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth with a similar breathy voice.

Kira snickered. “If she pushes her boobs out any farther, she’ll pop a button.”

“She came onto me,” the other guy said and backed up, hands up in a gesture ofmy bad.

Jason turned to the girl. “Did you?”

“Of course not.” She wrapped her hands around his upper arm. “Let’s just go.”

Griffin gave Jason an easy smile. “How about you guys get a drink on me?” He pushed a bill into Jason’s fisted hand. “No harm no foul.”

Mollified, Jason nodded and led the blond away.

“Thanks, man,” the other guy said. “She hit me up for a drink at the bar.” He gave him an unrepentant shrug. “She’s smoking hot.”

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