Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
As I make my way to the bar, I realize that I'm smiling. There’s something about this place that does that to me. There are about a dozen people sprinkled throughout the bar, mostly enjoying after-work drinks.
I walk right over to the bar and sit down at the very end. It’s my seat. I look down the bar, but find the area behind it is empty. I wonder where the bartender is. There’s one special guy who could make today complete… if he’s working, that is.
Then a back door swings open, revealing him. Charlie, the owner of this bar.
He’s tall and broad-shouldered, with light brown hair cropped close to his scalp. He’s wearing a blue plaid shirt and jeans, but that doesn’t stop me from staring at his rippling muscles as he moves a stack of heavy-looking boxes behind the bar. Along with a jawline made for women to swoon over and twin brows that raise and lower with every emotion, he’s got a nose that’s just too perfect. It fits so well with his physique.
I bite my lip and blush. I know Charlie isn’t for me, really I do. I literally just found out that my time is running out to form a real connection with someone. It’s just… well, Charlie is hot.
The kind of hot that might keep a girl up at night, wondering just what’s under those jeans. Wondering if he’s as stacked as you hope he is…
If the other girls hanging around and looking at him wistfully are anything to go by, Charlie’s packing some serious heat. Then again, none of those girls have managed to nail him down.
And none of them were walking around, thinking of baby names in their spare time. Yep, I need to keep my hands to myself. My eyes, however…
A pleasant sigh leaves me as Charlie turns and sets the boxes down, giving me a good shot of his ass. It's perfect, nice and round. I swear, I never even noticed things like that before I met Charlie.
I chew my lip as I lean forward just a hair wondering if he does a lot of squats at the gym, or if his bubble butt is natural. Okay, maybe this is a little too much. Sitting back on the stool, I shake off my over active hormones and remind myself that he’s just a guy that is a part of this safe space I’ve made for myself to unwind.
He turns around just as I’m nodding to myself and catches me still looking at his rear. “Hey, stranger.”
Shit. I blush deep red, because I forgot the most stunning thing about Charlie: his eyes. They’re a kind of moss green color, something straight out of National Geographic.
“Hey,” I manage, the single word somehow coming out as two syllables, and I break off eye contact. I realize that my crush on Charlie is all it will ever be, a crush. I need to stop being such a weirdo.
I make eye contact again.
“Where have you been? It’s been a whole week since I’ve seen your face around here,” he teases.
“Oh. Just work,” I say with a shrug. “You know, the usual.”
“Yeah?” he says, grabbing a small worn hand towel and wiping off his hands. “That’s it, huh?”
“That’s it.”
His voice drops as he leans against the bar. “Nothing interesting to report?”
Somehow, he manages to make that sound filthy. God help me. There’s a charm about his raised brow and the way he looks expectantly at me. The fluttering in my chest needs to quit it.
“Nope.” I push my hair back off my shoulders, feeling a little hotter than I should.
“Too bad. I was looking forward to you telling me some tales.” He looks down the bar and nods to someone he knows. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Umm… something chilled with vodka but tastes fruity.”
“You got it.” With a pat on the bar from him, I smile broadly. That’s one of the reasons I love being here.
He moves down the bar to fulfill my order, and I nearly groan to see him go.
Yeah, it’s safe to say that I’m holding a bit of a torch for him. I know he’s not what I want — he’s hot, but completely allergic to commitment. It’s why I’ve never approached him like that. He knows I’m on the prowl, as he says, for a husband and someone to settle away from the city with. As he’s told me before, he has no intention of settling down. Still, there’s no law against looking, is there?
My chin fits right into place in the palm of my hand and I sigh to myself while I stare after him.
Charlie
Well, my day just got a whole lot better. Grace is one of my regulars, and a favorite customer. It helps that she’s hot as hell. I smirk as I fill the shaker with a shot of vodka and then a bit more and set the bottle back on ice behind the bar. Her smile’s a little weak but a drink or two and her sweet feminine laugh will come out easy enough.