Page 14 of Waiting for Sunshine

CHAPTER7

MAX

Normally I like workingbehind the bar when we’re slammed. I love talking with the customers and hearing all of their wild stories. But working back here with Shane proved to be more difficult than I’d imagined. Between all the broken glasses, her giving the bar terminal a seizure, and the fact that her body literally slammed into mine, my focus was shit. It was only her second night behind the bar, and she was clearly having a majorly shitty week, so I tried to cut her some slack. Hearing her talk about being cheated on, had been surprising, but hearing her say she felt it was because she wasn’t good enough, pissed me the hell off.

I won’t lie, I kind of enjoyed watching her in her little frenzy. She would brush the loose strands of blonde hair behind her ear when she would go to enter orders on the terminal, and her nose would scrunch anytime she was confused about something she needed to enter. After I figured out she had been punching the wrong code in, causing it to freeze up, she was able to use it without having to tell me every time we got a new order.

When she would rush past me hints of lavender would flood my senses and I can’t say I minded it. By the end of the night, we were all beat. When I finally locked the doors and switched off the “OPEN” light, I walked behind the bar to pour myself a whiskey. Shane leaned over the counter, burying her face in her arms.

“Oh my god, how do you do this all the time?” she groans. I look over and the view of her ass in her black jeans has me choking on my drink. I cough a few times and she shoots up and comes to pat me on the back. I wave her off when I finally have my faculties back under control and clear my throat.

“You get the hang of it after a while,” I say, pouring myself another glass. Maybe this time I won’t almost choke to death, now that her ass isn’t positioned directly in my face.

“You want anything?” I ask her, my voice hoarse from the coughing fit.

“Um, sure. I’ll just have a beer.” She starts wiping down the bar as I pop the top of her beer and go to hand it to her. When she reaches for it her fingers trail over mine and it sends a chill down my spine. Marco and Heather have already gone home for the night and the guys from the kitchen just finished up.

“So, I have to know something.” She says, pulling her drink closer to her.

“What’s that?” I wondered.

“Where did you come up with the name for the bar? It's very… unique.” She says, glancing over at me with curious eyes. I let out a sigh and lean back on the counter.

“When I was in the Navy, my buddy Red had the hardest fucking time saying some of the simplest words.” I snickered at the thought of him.

“One day we were all shooting the shit and he was telling us about these fancy new Chattahoochie boards.” I look over at her and she furrows her brow, a clear sign she has no idea where this was going. “After a further explanation of the cheeses, crackers, different meats, and sometimes fruits that came on these boards, we realized…”

“Charcuterie! He was trying to say charcuterie?” she laughs. The corners of my mouth turn up in a grin and I nod in response. Shane lets out a belly laugh, and it’s quickly becoming my new favorite sound. “That is the greatest thing I have ever heard. He sounds like a class act.” She says as she brings her beer back up to her lips.

“Yeah, he really was,” I whisper to myself. Shane’s voice drowns out my own as she says goodbye to Jackie.

“See you tomorrow, boss,” Jackie shouts as he walks out the back door.

“See ya, Jack.” I smile and wave at him.

Jackie is one of my day one staff members, along with Ruby. He started as a dishwasher when I first opened, and has worked his way up to a cook. One of my best cooks, actually. He is a damn trooper during rush hours and he never let us get in the red. I don’t think we could function the way we do without Jack on our team.

“Wow.” A soft voice says. My attention is drawn away from the door, and back over to Shane. She sits on the bar now and is staring at me curiously.

“What?” I furrow my brow. Wondering why she’s looking at me the way that she is.

“You’ve got a great smile.” She mentions quietly, smiling as she brings her beer back up to her lips. Those plump, pink lips of hers are currently driving me mad. The thought of what they would feel like wrapped around me instead of that bottle has me struggling to focus on anything else.

“Thank you,” I clear my throat. “Yours ain’t so bad either, Sunshine,” I reply and look up at her taking a few steps to close the distance between us.

“Sunshine?” she questions. I look at her mouth and she swallows hard.

“Mhm..”

She looks confused and excited at the close proximity between us. Even sitting on the counter behind the bar she falls a couple of inches shorter than me. With her head cocked to the side and her gaze narrowed on me, I can’t seem to look at anything but her. Her eyes are on my lips then trail up and meet my own.

“Why…” she starts to ask her question as I lean closer, towering over her just slightly. I place my hands on each side of her, my forearms brushing against her hips. I bring my lips close to her ear.

“Maybe someday I’ll tell you,” I say, my voice deep and direct.

I lean back just enough to watch her face. Her chest rises and falls more quickly now. Her eyes shoot from my lips and back up. She opens her mouth to say something just as my phone goes off. She turns her head as I pull my phone out of my pocket; a message from Tucker.

Tucker

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