Her eyes widened in surprise, but they also flared with a hint of approval. It could have been because I didn't use her dirty shot suggestions to make a pass at her. Or it might have been because I was buying a round of drinks instead of just one. Either way, I was determined to see those pretty blue eyes filled with appreciation often.
"Coming right up."
I enjoyed the confidence with which she moved as she set the shots up, adding sugar to the rim of each glass and lining them up in a neat little row. She flashed me a sassy grin as she flipped the bottle of vodka in the air, twirling it around before she poured it into a shaker with lemon juice and ice. I studied her face as she filled the shot glasses and slid them towards me, along with a pile of lemon wedges. Up close, she looked younger than I initially thought. Young enough that I had to question how the fuck she had a job as a bartender.
"That'll be thirty-six dollars." I slid a fifty towards her and waved off the change.
"Are you sure you're old enough to be working here?" I asked in a low voice.
Her spine straightened, and those blue eyes heated with irritation. I should have kept my stupid mouth shut, especially since it didn't really matter how old she was as long as she wasn't jailbait.
"Silly man, you never ask a girl her age," Miss Priss giggled as she snagged one of the shots. She glanced over at the bartender. "Although you can't really blame him for thinking you're young since you look it."
"I'm twenty," she snapped. "I've been tending bar for a year, and I'm damn good at it."
Ten years was a big age difference, but she was legal and that's what was important. I held up my hands in surrender. "I never said you weren't. I didn't even think it, especially not after watching your trick with the vodka bottle. But I'm from Chicago, and bartenders there have to be twenty-one."
She nodded, her shoulders relaxing at my explanation. The bachelorette party had downed their shots while we were talking, and her eyes darted from their empty glasses on the bar to me. "I didn't even ask you what you'd like."
"Your name."
"To drink," she clarified.
"Aww, come on. Tell him your name," Hot Mess urged her, waving her hand up and down in my direction. "Look at the guy. He's hot." I took notice of the way my blonde bombshell's eyes narrowed at the other woman's description of me. "He's nice, too. He didn't have to buy all of us a drink." Hot Mess's gaze turned calculating, and she inched closer to me. "He didn't even blink at the cost, and he's a good tipper. On second thought, don't tell him your name so I can give him mine instead."
"Addilyn," the bartender blurted out. "My name is Addilyn."
"C'mon. Leave them alone. He's so into her he barely looked at any of us when we're all looking our best." Miss Priss practically dragged her friend away from the bar.
"It's no fair," Hot Mess complained. "All the good ones are always taken."
"You practically waved the red flag at her. What did you expect would happen? If you'd been a little more patient and let her shoot him down, you might have had a chance."
"Bachelorette parties," Addilyn laughed. "Sometimes they bring out desperation in the bride's unmarried friends."
"You saying she'd have to be desperate to want me?"
"What? Umm, no," she sputtered, a light pink blush tinging her cheeks. "Of course not."
"I'm just teasing." I leaned closer, enjoying the fuck out of the way she blushed as I offered her a wolfish smile. "Not that it would matter because there's only one woman I need to want me, and that's you."
2
Addilyn
"So what you're saying is that it's okay for me to be desperate? But not her or other women?" I deadpanned, resorting to sarcasm because I wasn't sure how to react to what he'd said. I was used to guys hitting on me while I was at work, but never by someone who made me feel like I was the only woman in the place.
His hazel eyes filled with humor, making him even sexier. It shouldn't have been possible since Hot Mess's description of him was a major understatement. His dark hair was styled to look like he'd just rolled out of bed, and it had my fingers itching to reach out and muss it up further. His forest-green dress shirt was a great color on him, and it did nothing to hide his sculpted chest and arms. He was impossible to miss, even when I'd been trying to ignore my reaction to him.
"Beautiful and witty."