Page 119 of For the Promise

Phew. “I never thought I’d be glad people know about the secret exit before.”

She snorts. “As I recall, you knew about the secret exit before you started working here.”

“Yeah, well, now I own the place and wish people would leave my storage room alone.”

Kai sidles up to me, and I sigh. Here we go again.

“I’ll help you clean up the storage room.” He wags his eyebrows in case I didn’t understand the blatant sexual innuendo.

I walk away without responding. Responding makes Kai think he has a chance. He doesn’t.

“Burn!” Miles shouts.

“That’s two rejections for tonight,” Zane adds.

“I’m not certain the first one was a rejection.”

“You think that because you want to win the bet.”

A bet? The Raider Brothers are betting on how many times I’ll reject Kai tonight? Typical. Those brothers have been a thorn in my side since Miles turned twenty-one. He thought he could sneak in his younger brothers. As if I didn’t know the ages of everyone on the island.

The door opens and I sigh. We’re nearing capacity tonight. And here I thought it was going to be a quiet Saturday. NothingI can do about it now. Except warn my bouncer, Trent, about the capacity issue.

As I make my way across the bar, I nearly run into Blossom and Jaxon. They’re holding hands and she’s smiling from ear to ear. I guess they patched things up.

“I didn’t expect to see you back here.”

She rolls her eyes. “The Raider brothers were blowing up my phone.”

Jaxon scowls. “I’ll speak to them. They shouldn’t take advantage of your inability to ignore your phone.”

These two are adorable together. They were obviously meant for each other.

“I’m glad you worked things out.”

Jaxon wraps an arm around Blossom and pulls her near. “I messed up but she forgave me.”

“Lucky man.”

“Yeah.” He gazes at Blossom. “I am.”

“Jaxon! Jaxon! Jaxon!” his brothers chant.

“You better get over there. The band will be pissed and not come back if the chanting gets louder than the music.”

I’m lying. The band doesn’t give a shit. But I love a family reunion.

I push my way through the crowd until I reach the bar. I maneuver behind it to the ‘fancy’ refrigerator. It’s where I keep the stuff the regulars rarely order. I bend over and rummage through it until I find the bottle I’m searching for.

When I stand and whirl around, Kai is standing on the opposite side of the bar staring at me with heat in his blue eyes. I nearly shiver at the promise in those eyes.

I wait. I expect him to make some childish comment or over the top sexual innuendo. He doesn’t. He smiles and waves before returning to the Raider table.

I don’t have time to contemplate what that was all about. I grab nine champagne glasses before making my way through the crowd to Blossom and Jaxon.

“Congratulations,” I say as I set the bottle on the table. “On the house.”

Blossom jumps up from her chair to give me a hug. “Thank you. You’re a sweetheart.”

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