Page 52 of Promise Not To Fall

1½ parts Tommy Bahama Golden Sun® rum

1 part mango rum

1½ parts pineapple juice

½ part fresh-squeezed lime juice

½ part simple syrup

2 dashes of Angostura® bitters

Mix all together over ice, served in a double rocks glass, garnished with a lemon twist.

Most people, even me, would never believe you can fall for someone in a matter of days. They don’t believe in love at first sight. I never did. But I’m starting to. After being here four days and spending every one of them with Island Boy, I’m starting to.

I’m hesitant, though. I’m not naïve. I know Jake is here to show people a good time. And that sucks for me, because I don’t know what’s real and what’s just for show. You know, it’s exactly like if you took the movieCocktailand then combined that withDirty Dancing, that’s my life, and damn it, nobody puts baby in the corner.

Sitting in the bar in my usual spot, not the corner, I say, without thinking, “I bet you see a lot of broken hearts here, huh? People drinking their problems away.”

Jake laughs, the sound low and throaty. He’s wearing a black shirt tonight, and it’s goddamn beautiful the way it clings to his tattooed biceps. “Yeah, there’s a lot of ’em who come here looking for a one-night thing. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, Kendall. A heart is always on the line.”

Sometimes when you’re falling for someone, or in my case, trying really hard not to, one moment can seal the deal and coat your dry island-burnt lips with sugar-sweet words. That one moment sends you over the edge, and you know for sure you’ve fallen.

Flustered, I stare at the menu before me and smile. “What’s next?”

“Heartbreaker.”

“How fitting.”

He grins. Nothing more. Just a flirty fucking grin I want to kiss off his hot face.

“So how’s it made, then?” I’m curious about this bartending thing. Jake made me curious. He’s so passionate about it.

He gestures behind the bar. “Come back here and I’ll show you.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“Why would it be? My dad owns the bar. Doubt he’d care.”

More excited than I need to be, I get behind the bar, and I learn a lot that night from him and Nash. Chasers, cocktails, beer, on the rocks, straight up, all terms I’m taught. I break two bottles of whiskey and one bottle of bourbon. I swear to his dad I will pay for it, only to have him inform me Jake holds the record for the most bottles of booze dropped in one night. Seventeen.

“What the fuck were you doing?” I ask, sensing the story behind those seventeen bottles is a good one.

Leaning against the bar with crossed arms, Nash lets out a boisterous laugh. “He went through a phase when he was twenty-one where he thought he was Tom Cruise.”

I can’t help myself and join in the laughter, picturing Jake acting out the scene from the nightclub and doing a little speech on the bar. My hand covers my mouth, trying to rein myself in. “Can you do a speech on the bar?”

“No, fuck off,” he mumbles, walking away as if I’ve hurt his feelings. He returns though and dances with me on the bar instead. Completely inappropriate for a business establishment, but I’m beginning to understand anything goes at the Sand Bar.

Hours pass, and just as we’re all standing around, joking, Liam walks in with two men, the same ones he had been with on Friday night when I first met him.

“Aren’t you on vacation here, beautiful? Why are they making you work?” he asks me, deep chocolate brown eyes boring into mine.

I hesitate to answer at first, moving around the bar to take a seat. I don’t want Jake getting in trouble with me being back there.

“They were just showing me a few drinks.” I glance away from Liam and to Jake, who downs a shot behind the bar, glaring at Liam. Usually he doesn’t drink behind the bar until closer to closing. Now he’s making no attempt to hide it.

Jake’s stance seems uncomfortable, his eyes flickering from mine to Liam’s, and I really don’t notice until I realize how close Liam is to me. He’s practically touching my legs with his. But my stare’s drawn to Jake and the nameless emotion in his sky blue eyes.

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