Page 62 of Inarticulate

Savannah sighed. That meant two more wait staff that wouldn’t be available for the wedding. “Let me know if you need more help,” she called. “I’ll look after the bar.”

“It’s no problem. I can work both.” Trent threw his cloth over the counter. “I’ll keep walking back and forth.”

Thank goodness for small blessings. She didn’t think she should be in charge of serving alcohol at a time like this. As it was, she was practically alone in a fully stocked bar, heaven at her feet, and still she couldn’t let go of the nauseating pound in her chest to be able to enjoy it.

“You were saying that all of this was a personal vendetta.” Kelly glanced at her from the corner of her eye.

“Not all of it.” Savannah sighed. “I don’t think it started that way. But me being here isn’t helping the situation.”

“You just said everything went well with the CEO.”

“It did.” She was confident of that much.

Kelly frowned at her, the lines of confusion marring her forehead getting deeper and deeper.

“What’s with the look?” Savannah downed the last of her wine and pushed from her stool. The best part of being a temporary bartender was going to be her refusal to meet the standard height for a perfectly poured glass. Guidelines be damned.

“I’m surprised, that’s all. You say the meeting went well, yet when you walked back into the lobby this afternoon you looked devastated. Did I miss something?”

“That was different.” She grabbed an already opened bottle of wine from the mini fridge beneath the counter and filled their glasses. “It was a personal matter.”

“Right…” Kelly didn’t say another word as Savannah returned the bottle and stalked around the bar to take her seat. “Does it have anything to do with the guy staring at you from outside?”

She followed Kelly’s focus, her heart in her throat as she laid her gaze on the formidable figure standing near the public entrance to the bar. He stood in the shadows, his harsh features darkened from the glow of the dim bar lighting.

She didn’t say a word. She was too busy trying to suppress the urge to flee or to scream or maybe shoot him a hearty middle-finger salute.

“He looks familiar.”

Savannah scoffed. “He’s your future boss.”

The receptionist glanced back and forth, from Keenan to Savannah, over and over as if witnessing a tennis match. “The lingerie…”

Shit.Kelly worked that out way too easily.

“You’ve been seeing him, right?”

There was no point denying the truth, or the staff she’d put at risk because of her stupidity. But the words wouldn’t form. They were caught in her throat, cutting off her air.

“What happened?”

Savannah reached for her glass, pretending to be unperturbed, just like Keenan had pretended to be interested in her. “I didn’t realize who he was.”

“Until when?”

Not until after the sex and seduction, the laughter and the fun. “This morning.”

“Ohh.”

“Yeah.” Savannah nodded, determined to keep her focus on the still liquid of the wine. “Ohh, is right. I feel ridiculously stupid.”

“If it helps any, it looks like he’s here to apologize.”

Doubtful.Oh, so doubtful. “I don’t care. It didn’t mean anything anyway. Just a little fun that was meant to be harmless during the nights alone.”

Kelly tipped her glass, taking an extra-long gulp before sliding from her stool. “Well, I’ll leave you two to figure it out.”

“What?” Savannah straightened. “No. You’re not going anywhere.”

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