“I drove.”
“C’mon, I saw the way you were dressed when you first walked in here.”
“Maybe I had a job interview that day.”
Alex snorted, “Yeah, okay. And I’m tending bar to put myself through med school.”
“Speaking of tending bar, how long have you been here?” Jessa skillfully steered the conversation away from herself.
“Six years this November.”
Jessa closed the freezer door and stepped away. She had changed subject. But she hadn’t realized how eager she was to hear Alex and Connor’s history. “Is that when you met Connor?”
Alex chuckled, “I’ve known Connor since grade school. We both grew up not far from here.”
“Did you go to college together?”
“I never went to college. I joined the Army right after high school and spent six years in Great Britain. After that I moved back home and needed a job. Connor was just getting ready to open the bar. It seemed logical.”
He was keeping something back. Jessa couldn’t put her finger on it, but he wasn’t telling her everything.
“I’ve never had any desire to find another job. There are just too many,” Alex tossed a towel onto the bar and shot Jessa a heart stopping grin, “benefits.”
“Benefits meaning plenty of women hanging all over you, not health insurance, right?”
“Of course.”
“So what was the deal with Selena? Did she really walk out because Connor didn’t want to shack up with her?”
Alex whistled, “Wow, did he tell you that?”
“Sure, why wouldn’t he? I wanted to know what happened. Just in case you guys were a couple of psychos.”
“Selena was a real piece of work.”
Jessa rolled her eyes. Men were all the same. “Meaning she had legs ten miles long, a tiny waist and huge breasts, right?”
“Close, but she had the attitude to go along with her looks. I think Connor originally hired her because he knew guys would sit around and pay to drink beer just so they could watch her bend over.”
Jessa pulled bottled beer from a case and put it in the cooler, “Nice, Alex. It’s so good to see you’ve got your priorities in order.”
“Hey, I told him to hire her so I could fuck her.”
“Is that all you think about?”
Turned in the opposite direction, Jessa didn’t see Alex sneak up behind her. He grabbed her waist and pulled her close. Though more compact than Connor’s massive frame, Alex’s tightly muscled body was just as sexy albeit in a different way.
Before Jessa could squirm away, he pressed a feather light kiss on her collarbone. “You know,” he murmured against her neck. “I hired you for the same reason.”
Jessa rolled her eyes and pushed him away. “Don’t be ridiculous. I may be female, but I’m no sex kitten.”
The look he gave her was long, lingering and hot, “Could’ve fooled me.”
Jessa’s cheeks flamed and she buried her head in the cooler to hide her embarrassment. She didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know Alex was thinking about the night before when she’d watched him fornicate like an animal.
And what about the show she put on afterward? Jessa wasn’t naïve enough to think Alex missed much of it.
“What’s her name anyway?”
“Isabel.”
“Have you known her long?”
“A few months.”
“How long are your,” Jessa searched for an appropriate word, “relationships?”
“A few months, give or take a month or two.”
“Nice.”
“Hey love, Connor and I are both like that. It’s just easier.”
So a few months and she wouldn’t have to worry about Connor being interested anymore. What a relief.
But it didn’t make Jessa feel any better. She didn’t want to think that she wanted Connor’s interest. But from the first day they’d met, she’d been irresistibly drawn to him. Even when she tried to immerse herself in her old life, she was plagued with thoughts of him.
“Didn’t you enjoy last night with Connor?” Alex prodded.
“Why, because it looked like I did?”
“No, because you could say no and he’d back off.”
“Probably doesn’t matter anymore anyway, Alex. He was angry enough this morning that I’m certain there won’t be a repeat.”
Alex laughed, his blue eyes shimmering with mirth. “You don’t know much about men, do you Jessa?”
“Sorry, I haven’t made a study of both sexes like you have.”
Alex chucked a wad of receipts at Jessa. “Take these back to Connor’s office for me, would you please? And while you’re there, why don’t you have a little chat with him. The two of you need to clear the air.”