Page 13 of Steve's Barmaid
We must’ve reached Billie’s door, because she stopped walking. I just stood there, not sure what to do next. We stared into each other’s eyes for a beat.
“You don’t have a lot of experience with females, do you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
“No. No, I don’t.” I stuffed my hands in my pants pockets. “I wasn’t interested in any of the orkin from my tribe. None of them were born around the same time as me.”
“So you’ve never been interested in… anyone?” she looked surprised.
“Nope. Well, unless my hand counts,” I said before I stopped to think better of it.
“Steve!” she gasped, clutching her chest.
I was mortified but realized she was laughing. I’d made Billie laugh again. I couldn’t help it, but I started laughing too. We both kept laughing until she paused to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“Well, Steve, at the very least, I can teach you a little more about females.” She said, cocking a brow.
“I—I—that sounds good,” I stammered.
She turned and opened her door. “Goodnight, Steve.”
“Goodnight, Billie.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
BILLIE
The next morning, I was up with the sun, heading to the bar. I was very surprised to find Joey there. “What brings you here?” I asked suspiciously.
“You’re going to trust the orkin from Snaerfírar to help you with the bar, but not me? No way.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Is Runa okay with you missing kitchen duty?” Runa had been fine with me leaving to work on the bar, but more people taking off would have a big impact on food prep times. Was I stealing Runa’s staff? Ugh, I didn’t want that at all.
“Agnarr and Piper are fine with it, and that’s enough for me,” she said.
“So we both have permission to work on the bar full time?” I asked, surprised.
“Yep. I talked to Piper about it last night. They think the bar will be great for the tribe, and working with the Snaerfírar will be excellent for tribal politics. You know, finally getting the tribesto talk to each other about trade, alliances, disaster relief, blah, blah, blah. Piper and Agnarr go nuts for that stuff. They see this as a huge step forward for the tribe. They have no hesitation.”
“Wow. Well, okay then. Thank you.” I pulled her into a hug. “I appreciate your willingness to help my dreams come true.”
“Bitch, as if I would do any less,” she whispered in my ear before releasing me. “When do you think the Snaerfírar will show up?”
“I don’t know,” I said, chewing my lip. “I didn’t realize that he might want to do it full-time if he only plans to stay the season.”
“Don’t you mean them? There are four of them.”
“Right, right.” I blushed. I had clearly only been considering Steve.
“Speaking ofhim—what is going on there?” Joey waved her hand between us.
“With Steve?” I asked, confused.
“Duh, with Steve. Don’t act like an idiot. He walked you home last night. Did he push you up against a wall?”
I blushed even further. How had Joey sussed out the tiny ember of a flame that was starting between Steve and me? It was so small that I wasn’t even sure it was real. I was attracted to him, and I was pretty sure he was attracted to me, but that was it. I wasn’t telling her anything.
“Nothing is going on with Steve. He needs a friend. And the dude has zero experience with women. I doubt he’s ever seen boobs. He couldn’t handle me.”
“I dunno. I know your boobs are the size of dinner plates, but his hands looked pretty big from where I was sitting.”
