Page 8 of Second Time Around
“Where’s the fun in that?” He reached up to loosen his tie and yank it out of his collar. Her internal temperature rose at least ten degrees when he unfastened the first two buttons of his shirt to expose the strong column of his neck. When he rolled his head in a stretchingmotion, she noticed the dusting of dark blond scruff over the cleft in his chin.
“I thought if I avoided the law profession, I wouldn’t have to wear a tie,” he said with a wry grimace.
“You should have gone to Silicon Valley. Those guys wear jeans and T-shirts. Designer, of course.” It had taken her a while to learn the subtle differences, but now she could spot a high-fashion T-shirt from twenty paces. “What can I get you to drink?”
“Your specialty.”
“I don’t limit myself to one specialty. Is your favorite hard stuff still whiskey?”
“You remember that?”
She remembered more than she wanted to admit about Will Chase. “I’ll make you my own personal version of a Vieux Carré.”
“That’s a new one to me.”
She pulled down the bottles of Benedictine, rye, cognac, sweet vermouth, two kinds of bitters, and her secret ingredient, limoncello. Taking extra care to get the proportions exactly right, she poured and stirred before garnishing it with a lemon twist and setting the glass in front of him on a cloud-shaped linen cocktail napkin. “It’s potent,” she warned as he reached for the glass.
A tingle danced over her skin when he wrapped his long fingers around the old-fashioned glass. During their heated late-night discussions, she’d been hypnotized by his gestures, so smooth and assured, wishing he would apply that physical eloquence to her body. Now all the youthful softness had been honed away from his hands and face, and his presence had been sharpened to a pitch of sheer power by time and success.
As he raised the glass, she sucked in a breath and watched those sculpted lips touch the fine crystal in a near kiss. Desire sparked as she relived the way his mouth had felt on hers that night. Their first kiss had seared through her, making her body vibrate with arousal. Whenhe’d brought his hand up to cup her breast through the thin gauze shirt she’d worn, she’d nearly come just from feeling his palm against her tight nipple.
“It’s complex, like a great wine.” His voice twined with her memory to stoke the heat flaring in her belly. He took another sip, his eyes crinkling at the corners so she could tell he was smiling as he drank. “Will I be able to get this at any other bar?”
“Not quite the same,” she said, her voice gravelly with longing. “I give it my own special twist.”
“That will keep me coming back.”
“You’ve caught on to my evil plan.” But he was the one giving her wicked longings.
He reached into his breast pocket and slid a Stratus pay ingot onto the bar. She waved it away, although she wanted to feel the warmth of his body that the metal would hold. “I told you the first drink’s on me.”
He nudged the ingot toward her. “I didn’t come to take advantage of an old friendship. I came to renew it.”
Excitement fluttered through her. But he was talking friendship, nothing more.
Two patrons farther down the bar looked up to catch her attention, and she inwardly cursed their timing. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” she said.
She didn’t want to leave the sensual cocoon Will’s presence wrapped her in, but she summoned up her sexy bartender persona and sashayed down the bar to make a martini and a Manhattan for two of her regulars. Her hips moved with an extra sway because Will was watching her. She could almost feel the heat of his gaze on the curves of her behind.
Just as she started back in Will’s direction, Derek, the club’s manager, beckoned her through the door that led to the various storerooms. As always, he was dressed entirely in a pale gray that matched his eyes, which made his nearly black hair stand out like a hovering shadow.
“You and Mr.Chase seem to be getting along well,” Derek said.
“He’s an old friend from college,” she said. “He’s also the CEO of Ceres.”
“That I’m already aware of,” Derek said, with a slight smile. “Now that I understand the connection, I’m going to assign you to be his personal bartender tonight. I’ll tell Bastian and Cleo.”
Of course Derek had already figured out that Will was the CEO of Ceres. Derek made it his business to know that kind of thing. He also made it his business to keep CEOs of international corporations happy, so he would pull a bartender off all other customers to take care of the important patron. Despite the fact that Derek supplemented that bartender’s pay to compensate for lost tips, Kyra usually avoided those assignments. She was always trying to maximize her nightly take because every dollar earned meant another dollar of debt paid off.
However, she would give up the extra pay without a qualm in order to be able to focus on Will. She gave Derek a nod and a wide smile.
“Good news!” she said, as she returned to Will. “I’m all yours for the evening ... as long as you keep drinking.”
“As I recall, the last time I saw you at college, I had been drinking for far too long,” he said with a grimace.
She hoped he didn’t remember too much more about that night at Brunell. “Want to move to a booth?” she asked. Her blood was singing at the thrill of having him seek her out.
“Sounds good, but I can’t stay long. I have a late conference call.”
