Page 78 of The Reading

When she had first walked into my bar, looking for a job, I had almostturned her away. I didn’t fuck my employees, and that had been my first thought upon seeing Alessa for the first time. I’d been immediately attracted to her, and I’d known that hiring her would be a bad idea. Nevertheless, I had hired her, and she was one of my best and brightest employees. With me for five years, the woman would be hard to replace.

Still, in all the five years that I’d known her, I never once suspected that she was crazy. However, listening to her talk about palm readers, holiday magic, and her plan on going about finding her soulmate, it was obvious that she was a lot crazy.

“Look, I’m not going to let you ruin this for me,” she said, and I wasn’t sure what was happening between us here, but there was no way that I was going to be able to handle seeing her kiss random men all night.

Growing up, my childhood had been a decent one. My parents were great people, and they’d been fiscally responsible enough to prepare me for college. I’d gone to get a degree in business management, which worked out now that I owned Drops of Heaven, but that had ended up being a fluke.

After graduating from college, I had found myself a bit…unsure. So, I had decided to travel a bit before giving my life up to a corporate commitment. One day, I’d found myself in Patch and in Drops of Heaven. I had ended up having a couple of beers, bullshitting with the owner, then two beers had ended up leading to a summer job. That had ended up with me staying in Patch and learning everything that I could about the bar business.

After a few months, I’d gone back home and had gone to working for a warehouse company as their new general manager. Two years later, I’d gotten a message from a lawyer, informing me of Mac O’Leary’s passing and my inheritance of Drops of Heaven. It’d been a sad, shocking, and exhilarating time, but that’s how I had ended up owning the bar. In a bid to honor his memory to the fullest, I busted my ass every day in here, and I made sure never to let drama ruin what I had going on.

However, that was before Alessa Rule came into my life. For four years, I never asked her about her personal life and never saw her with a guy. Oh, I would hear things, including how she had gotten engaged last year, but as long as I didn’t have to see it, I was good. Alessa wasn’t one to bring her boyfriends into the bar, or at least, not during my shifts, so I’d been able to manage this attraction for her reasonably well. Nevertheless, I found this plan of hers testing my limits of self-control.

“I’m not trying to ruin anything,” I lied. “But these guys are not going to know why you’re kissing them, Alessa. What happens when they come back on your next shift, and they’re expecting more?”

That brought her up short. “Uhm…”

“Exactly,” I said, pouncing on my best point. “You’re a beautiful woman, so it stands to reason that some of our patrons might already have crushes on you. Do you really want to encourage them because of a palm reader’s prediction?”

Alessa’s grey eyes narrowed, and I knew that it was because she thought that I was judging her palm reader again. “It’s been over a year since I caught my fiancé screwing my stepsister,” she said, and it was hard not to wince. I’d known about that, and my heart had hurt enough for her to let her take a week off and regroup in Las Vegas. “Since then, everyone I know has found love, and while I’m happy for them-I really am-I haven’t even gotten laid.” Her words went straight to my dick, and I had to will my dick to stay soft. “So, if all I get out of tonight is a good one-night stand, then I’ll take it,” she huffed. “But don’t shit on my hopes of finding my soulmate, because that’s a crappy thing to do, Carter.”

I threw my hands up in surrender. “Fine,” I bit out. “It’s not my business anyway.”

“You’re right, it’s not,” she fired back.

“Unlessit causes problems with our regular patrons,” I clarified. “If I lose customers because you’re off kissing them, sending them mixed signals, then causing drama…well, yeah, at that point, it is my business.” Her face turned red, but I wasn’t sure if it was from anger or embarrassment. “Understand?”

“I understand,” she bit out, and inventory suddenly became more daunting than usual.

Chapter 2

Carter~

It was already seven, and everyone was getting ready for the crush that we were sure to start getting around eight. I always scheduled as many employees as I could because we always ended up packed on New Year’s Eve. Luckily, I paid them so well for this holiday that they were more than happy to work it. It also gave me a chance to monitor everything without having to jump behind the bar myself to help.

After inventory, Alessa went back to helping Nicole behind the bar, and I’d gone back to my office to give Alessa some space from my jealousy. Besides, I could feel the film of hypocrisy starting to creep in. I wasn’t a saint, and never claimed to be. Though I had feelings for Alessa, I’d made the decision to keep things professional between us, so with little choice, I’d dated other women over the years.

Okay.

Datedmight not be the best term.

Still, a man had needs, and I had taken care of those needs as discreetly as possible. While I had a rule against sleeping with my employees, I also had a rule against sleeping with customers. My argument about Alessa kissing our patrons hadn’t been solely said out of jealousy. If my employees started sleeping with my customers, it’d be chaos.

What bothered me the most about Alessa’s plan was that she really believed that her options were limited to our patrons. Now, while there was nothing wrong with having a beer after work or whatever, coming in enough to be considered a regular hinted to a lot. There were a million other things to do besides get buzzed every other day, and that worried me for Alessa.

Granted, my perception was clouded by my jealous, but I wasn’t necessarily wrong. Plus, I was man enough to admit that I was bothered by how she hadn’t even considered that it could be me that was her soulmate. Did I believe in her psychic palm reader? Uh, no. Not at all. Nevertheless,shebelieved in her psychic palm reader, but she hadn’t even considered me an option.

I looked up as I heard a knock on my door. “Come in.”

Leila, my head bartender for the night, peeked her head into my office. “I think we might have to call the guys in earlier. It’s already getting busy out there.”

“Already?” She nodded, and I glanced at my watch. It wasn’t even seven-thirty yet. “Yeah, okay. Call in Thomas and Jack. Let Willis and Keenan come in at their regular time.”

“Got it, Boss,” she said, saluting me like a goofball.

“Also, call Alessa in here for me, please,” I instructed, refusing to allow the tension between us to fester. We had a great working relationship, something that I prided myself on with all my employees, so I wasn’t comfortable with how I had hurt her feelings.

“Sure thing.”

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