Body Shot (Last Shot)(50)
“Hi.” She peered at him, her belly fluttering even more wildly now, a different kind of flutter.
“Come on over and meet the guys.”
He took her hand and led her to a stool at the far end of the bar. About half the stools were occupied and most of the tables, a pleasant buzz of conversation humming along with the music that played.
“I kind of met them at the tasting.”
“True, that. But you can get to know them better.”
If his friends were as charming and irresistible as he was, she was in big trouble. She slid up onto the high seat and hung the strap of her purse over the back.
Marco moved toward her. “Hi there.” He set his hands on the bar. “You must be Hayden.”
“Hayden?” She swung around to look at Beck. “No, I’m Courtney.” She turned back to Marco and watched his mouth drop open and his eyes widen.
“Oh shit,” he stammered, eyes flicking to Beck and then back to her. “I’m sorry.”
Beck fell against the bar laughing and Hayden smiled. She looked at Marco. “No, I’m sorry. I’m kidding. I am Hayden.”
Luckily Marco had a sense of humor. His smile went wry. “Good one.”
“Jesus Christ, you should’ve seen your face,” Beck chortled. He leaned over and kissed Hayden’s cheek. “Damn, babe, I’m so proud of you right now.”
Hayden laughed. “It was just a little joke.”
“It was epic. What would you like to drink?”
“I don’t know. A margarita?”
“How about I make you something different to try.”
“Um, like what?”
“I’ll make you a paloma.”
“Okay.” She eyed him doubtfully, not sure what that was going to be.
He left her and reappeared on the other side of the bar. He pulled a grapefruit out of the small fridge and held it up. “Grapefruit.” With sure movements he sliced up the grapefruit and rubbed the rim of a short glass with it. “Salt.” He deftly twisted the rim of the glass into some coarse salt. Then he squeezed the grapefruit into the glass, added a shot of lime juice and some sugar, and stirred it with a long spoon. “Now the tequila.” He added a shot, dropped in ice cubes, and used the soda gun to top off the drink with club soda. “Here you go.” He pushed a paper napkin in front of her and set the glass on it.
“Yum.” Intrigued by the grapefruit juice, she picked up the glass and sipped. She nodded approvingly. “That’s really good!”
“Awesome.”
“I’ll have one of those.” A woman two stools down the bar spoke up. “That looks great.”
“Sure thing, Helena. How about you, Joe?”
Hayden looked toward the woman and the man on the other side of her, whom Beck apparently knew.
“I thought we were leaving,” Joe said to Helena.
“We can stay for one more,” Helena snapped.
Hayden blinked.
“You always want to stay for one more,” Joe clipped back.
“Maybe because I’d rather stay here than go home with you.”
Hayden shot Beck an alarmed glance. He met her eyes and shrugged. “So two palomas?” he asked the couple.
“Okay, why not.” Joe sighed.
Marco leaned across the bar to say in a low voice, “They fight all the time. No idea why they’re still together, but it seems to work for them.”
“Oh. They’re, uh, regulars here?”
“Yeah.”
Helena turned on her stool and smiled at Hayden. She was probably about Hayden’s age, with short, dark hair and stylish dark-framed glasses. “Hi. You’re new here.”
“Um, sort of, yeah. I’m Hayden.”
Helena reached over and they shook hands. “I’m Helena. This is my husband, Joe.”
“I was here the first time for the tequila tasting,” Hayden said. “That was fun.”
“You going to do that again, guys?” Helena looked over at Beck and Marco.
“Yeah, we’re thinking of doing it once a month.”
“I told you we should have come to that,” Helena said to Joe.
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t even know about it until after.”
“I did too! You never listen to me!”
Hayden sucked briefly on her bottom lip.
“Don’t worry, they’ve never come to blows,” Marco whispered.
“Okay.”
Beck served them their drinks, winked at Hayden, and said, “Be right back,” and headed down to the other end of the bar, apparently to check on other customers.
“So,” Marco said, back in a normal tone of voice. She turned her gaze from watching Beck to Marco and blinked at his intent scrutiny. “Beck invited you tonight, huh.”