Page 116 of Small Town Firsts
Lennon winked at me and brought out the homemade apple vodka from behind the bar. “I might have to go up against moonshine boy with my creation.”
“Don’t say that too loud. Hayes will be talking your ear off about the process.” Justin wrinkled his nose adorably. “You don’t want that.”
Lennon glanced over to where Hayes and Beckett were talking quietly at the other end of the bar. “I don’t know, maybe I want to talk geek with him. He’s hot.”
Justin frowned. “Hey. What about me?”
She reached over and tapped his nose. “You’re adorable, too.”
His smile was soft and…well, adorable. There was no other word for it. Then again, I’d always looked at Justin as my baby brother. He was twenty-three and still thought an evening of beer and darts was the height of fun.
He worked hard, but he was definitely still in the play hard mindset.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever had that.
Lennon snapped her fingers in front of me. “Lighten up, boss. You’re getting a frown line already. Today is for celebrating.”
I rolled my eyes and took another drink. “What are we celebrating? Besides all the hard work you guys have been doing for us.”
“That’s all you, mama. I just come in and look pretty most of the time.”
“And boy, are you,” Justin said with a sigh.
She shook her head with a laugh. “Don’t make me cut you off.”
“You’ve been working your ass off, too. Just look at that bar you’ve created. You’ve been training the new staff in between all your trips. You’ve been invaluable.”
She crossed her arms under her breasts and Justin perked up.
I elbowed him. “Don’t be gross.”
“I can’t help it. She’s wow.”
Lennon gave me a half grin. “He’s harmless. But I do appreciate it. I wasn’t sure about taking this gig, but I’ve never had complete control of a bar before. I kinda like it.”
“We love what you’ve done for us, Lennon.” Ronan’s voice floated behind me.
I forced myself not to stiffen, even when he came closer to me. God, all that warmth was right there and it would be so easy to just lean back on him. Not smart to do at work. Not professional in any way, but I was so very tempted.
I turned with the glass in my hand. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” His gaze drifted to my mouth then back to my eyes. The heat was on display for everyone. Sheesh.
I took a fortifying sip from my drink. “Have you tried The B3 Mule?”
“Nope. I’m still trying to recover from her Firefly Margarita.”
“Firefly?” I turned my attention to Lennon. “He let you try it?”
“He did. I can’t wait to make some cocktails with all of them.”
“All?”
Ronan lifted me off my feet and spun me around. “Come see.”
I gripped his shoulder with one hand and held my drink up and away so I didn’t douse us. “Ronan, put me down!”
I said that a whole lot when it came to this man.
