The guy examined my face carefully.
“Please ignore her.” I walked down to the other end of the bar where no patrons were sitting. Ava followed and took a seat on an empty bar stool.
Getting back to work, I wiped down the counter, attempting to ignore her, but she just kept staring at me with a goofy smile.
Sighing, I stopped. “What?”
“You’re really not going to tell me anything?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“So something did happen with Davis. Spill it!”
“Davis and I went to dinner last night.”
“I knew something happened. You have that look on your face like you’re in love or lust.”
I hoped it was the latter that gave me butterflies in my stomach every time I thought of Caine West, because I was certain the former was not a good idea. Ava took my starry-eyed, glazed-over face to mean the latter.
“Sex looks good on you.”
Luckily a couple walked in and wanted to be seated, providing a temporary reprieve from Ava’s grilling. Even though she had a big mouth, I knew she’d never tell any of my secrets—that wasn’t what kept me from telling her the truth. As silly as it sounded, I just wanted to keep what had happened between Caine and me to myself. I wasn’t ready to overanalyze what was going on. I chose to remain in my own private, ignorant bliss for as long as I could.
That wouldn’t be very long, though.
Around nine o’clock, I was shaking up a Cosmo in a silver shaker, not paying attention, when Ava’s voice surprised me. She spoke in that sing-songy way that most girls grow out of around the time they ditch their training bras.
“Hiiii,” she lilted. “I wonder what brings you here tonight?”
I looked up to find Davis at the end of the bar, shrugging out of his jacket. Guilt smacked me in the face. Damn it. Why hadn’t I responded to his texts this afternoon? He waved, and I motioned that I’d be a few minutes. There was nothing keeping me from walking down there, so I had to create some reasons. I filled a customer’s beer and chatted with him for as long as I could, then offered to close out a tab for a guy who wasn’t nearly ready to leave. That was the extent of my customers, so I was almost out of stalls when I saw Ava coming toward the bar. Hopefully she had a drink order.
“Go take a break. I’ll cover for you.” She winked. “And I don’t have any reason to come into the stock room at all, if you happen to want some privacy.”
Guilt fueled my panic. As I glanced down the bar, Davis smiled, none the wiser that my armpits were damp, and I felt slightly nauseous.
“Actually, can you help me with something in the kitchen?”
Ava’s brows furrowed. “Sure.”
“I’ll meet you back there in a minute. Let me just get Davis a drink.”
“Okay. But you’re acting strange.”
“Just go.”
“Fine.”
I took a deep breath and walked down to the end of the bar. Forcing a smile, I said, “Hey. This is a surprise. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“A good surprise, I hope.”#p#分页标题#e#
Ummm. “Of course. I just need to take care of something in the back. What can I get you to drink? You want the usual?”
“That sounds good. Thanks.”
Somehow I managed to mix Davis’s Tanqueray and tonic without spilling it and serve it with a smile. “Be back in a bit.”
Ava was waiting in the kitchen. “What’s going on? You looked like you were on cloud nine ten minutes ago, and now you’re miserable since Davis showed up? I take it you weren’t expecting him.”
I paced back and forth. “No, I wasn’t.”
“What’s bothering you? Did you not have a great time last night?”
“No, I did.”
“Okay…”
I rubbed my forehead. “Davis and I went to dinner. We had a nice time, but I was confused, so I called it an early night and went home.”
“That’s it? I could have sworn I was looking at post-coital haze before.”
“You were.”
“What am I missing?”
I stopped my pacing and looked at my friend. “I slept with Caine after dinner last night.”
“What? Caine…as in Professor West?”
I nodded.
“I’m confused. I thought you had dinner with Davis?”
“I did. And then I went home. Earlier in the day Caine and I had an argument at school…sort of. When I got home from my date with Davis, Caine was waiting for me. He wanted to talk. We had another argument and—”
Ava grinned. “Pissed-off sex is the best. Fuck me like you hate me.”