Body Shot (Last Shot)(70)

Beck emerged from the kitchen carrying a big tray of glasses. He spotted her immediately and his smile made her toes curl in her flip-flops. He set the tray down and headed toward them.

“Hey, gorgeous.” He leaned way over the bar, pushing up on his hands, and smooched her lips. “You’re here.” Then he turned to Carrie with a smile. “Hi, Carrie. Good to see you again.”

“You too.” Her lips curved into a smile, her eyes alert. “I’ve been hearing so much about you.”

“Oh yeah?” His gaze flicked to Hayden. “How charming and irresistible I am?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“Gah, don’t tell him that!” Hayden gave Carrie’s arm a light slap. “His ego is as big as Jupiter.”

Beck laughed, white teeth flashing in his dark beard. “I also have a very big…”

Hayden’s eyes popped open.

“…wit,” Beck finished. “I’m a fun guy, right, Hayden?”

“Right,” she wheezed, while Carrie collapsed into giggles next to her.

“Jesus, I thought he was going to brag about the size of his dick again,” Marco said, passing behind Beck. Beck flashed him a one-fingered salute, and Marco laughed softly as he began moving glasses from the tray Beck had just set down. “Come on, asshole, stop flirting with the pretty girls and get back to work. We’re ready to get started.”

Beck saluted him properly this time, and Marco called for everyone’s attention. “Okay, welcome, all! Some of you were here at our last tasting, so you’ve already heard some of the history of tequila, but for those who are new to this, I’ll just briefly fill you in on that.”

Carrie and Hayden had heard this before, but Hayden still paid attention as if she were in a classroom, idly jotting down some of the terms he used.

“No Will and Brian tonight,” Carrie said in a low voice. “Hey, I never told you Will called me.”

“What? When?”

“The other day.”

“Did he ask you out?”

“Yes.” Carrie grimaced. “Like I’d go out with him, knowing he asked you first.”

Hayden bit her lip. “Sorry.”

“Hey, you don’t need to apologize. And I can totally understand why you didn’t want to see him again.” She glanced meaningfully at Beck. “He is hot as fuck.”

“I know.” Hayden sighed.

They started sampling tequilas, and every time Hayden took a sip she felt Beck’s gaze on her, hot and wicked and knowing. They were both remembering other times…back in his office when he’d let her sample the Don Alvaro, at his place where he’d licked it off her naked body…Hayden squeezed her thighs together at the pulse of lust there and sighed again. She tried to focus on tasting the liquor, closing her eyes to savor it and identify the different notes.

“That’s so fucking sexy.”

Her eyes flew open. Beck had leaned across the bar to whisper in her ear.

“Watching you do that…you look so intense…like you’re about to have an orgasm.”

She grinned. “The tequila’s not that good.”

“It is when I’m licking it off you.”

“Don’t remind me.” She swallowed a moan. “I’m trying not to think about that.”

“Maybe we’ll have to try that again.”

Hayden caught Carrie watching them with an interested expression on her face. Then Marco approached her. “So, belleza? What do you think of the blanco?”

Carrie ran her tongue over her bottom lip and Marco’s eyes darkened. “Peppery. With hints of citrus.”

Marco cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah.”

“I totally made that up,” Carrie added.

Beck and Hayden exchanged smiles and he pushed away from the bar to start pouring the next sample.

“The history of tequila is part myth and part fact,” Marco announced to all. “Last time we heard about the facts. Now I’ll tell you a story about Tzinzimiti, the goddess of darkness. The native Mexican tribes hated and feared her because she devoured all of the sunshine and light from the villages. In order to keep her at bay, the Mexican people made human sacrifices to her.”

“Eeep,” Carrie muttered.

“Quetzalcoatl was an Aztec feathered serpent who tried to destroy Tzinzimiti. Along his journey, he encountered Mayahuel, Tzinzimiti’s granddaughter, and they fell in love.”

“As serpents and granddaughters of evil goddesses do,” Carrie added.

Marco’s lips twitched and Hayden smothered a smile.

“They returned to earth to hide as trees so they couldn’t be found. However, Tzinzimiti ended up in a battle with them and she killed Mayahuel. Mayahuel died in the arms of her true love. Quetzalcoatl buried her and a beautiful agave grew on top of her burial site. The pointy leaves are to protect her from falling objects, and the pointy thorns symbolize Mayahuel’s four hundred breasts.”