“I was called in.”
The same awkward silence that fell between us before he left my apartment earlier rears its ugly head, but I don’t let my eyes drop from his. It doesn’t take long for his attention to flick between me and the other boy before he finally removes his hands from the bar and stuffs them into the pockets of his jacket.
“I’ll have a bottle of Penfolds Grange and five glasses.” He turns around and saunters back to his table without a glance over his shoulder.
I think about asking the kid to do it, but as I turn to him and open my mouth, he quickly engages himself with a customer. What. An. Ass. I peer further along the bar, but all of the staff appear too busy with their own customers and tasks so, with a huff, I crouch low and pull a bottle of Penfolds Grange from the expensive wines fridge to the left of where I’m standing. Turning around, I snatch up a metal bucket, scoop some ice into it, open the bottle of wine and drop it into the bucket. On the hooks that circle the lip of the bucket, I slide on the wine glasses and grab a towel. I feel stupid serving Jesse at his own place of work and I feel stupid being the only employee in here who has seen him naked.
I hang the towel over my arm and rest the bucket against it. With my head held high, I exit the bar area and make my way through the field of guests. It’s not often I leave the bar area. Normally, if you want a drink you get it yourself—unless you’re in the hotel restaurant. There, we have waiters and waitresses. But, I guess when you pretty much own the place, you can make your staff do whatever you want.
Jesse’s eyes are on me as I approach the table. I can feel them on my skin, and from the corner of my eye I see his face angled in my direction.
“Good evening, gentlemen.” I lower the bucket and towel to the table.
I glance around at his company. It must be hard for a man like Jesse to do business. He’s so much younger than everyone else and I imagine they don’t take him too seriously.
One by one I slip the wine glasses from their hooks and circle the table, placing the glasses in front of them. This kind of formality is the reason why I became a bartender instead of a waitress. Luckily, my bartending course covered appropriate wine serving etiquette.
Once all the glasses are in their place and I’m back to where I started, I finally take a peek at Jesse. He’s watching me with bright eyes, his face the perfect picture of amusement. Ever so quickly, I shoot him a small scowl.
“How long have you been working here?” One of the gentlemen asks me, forcing the polite smile back on my face.
Contemplating his question, I pull the wine bottle out and flash the label around the table. Look, this particular bottle cost more than some people make in a week. There’s another thing I hate about wine drinkers. They’re show offs.
“Years,” I reply with a polite smile.
I make my rounds, filling the glasses a quarter of the way up, and ignoring the urge to chug it back myself.
“And how do you like being under Mr. O’Ryan?”
I bite my lip to fight a grin. Great choice of words. Jesse clears his throat and it snags my attention. His handsome face is angled down and his brown eyes flare with warning. I let myself smile, despite his look. He should know me better than that.
“His effort is…” Oh, the words I can use. “adequate.”
I’ll let him off the hook this time. Jesse’s jaw tightens as the table erupts with laughter. When it comes time to pour the wine into his glass, I fill it slightly higher than the quarter mark knowing very well he’s going to need it. After I’ve poured the wine, I place it back in its ice bucket and I farewell them all before heading back to the bar.
Over here, behind the wood, I can breathe easier. It was a little unprofessional of me to make such a comment about my boss, but I couldn’t help it. The opportunity presented itself and I took it.
Sue me.
Chapter Seven
Jesse
A few days later
I tap my index finger along the cool edge of my fork. Tonight is the first of two dinners with Alix. The last time I saw her, she was implying that I’m an ‘adequate’ lover to a group of gentlemen I was trying to push into investing in a new hotel located in Dubai. Of course, they didn’t know the reasoning behind her remark, nor did they hear the implication, but I did, and it pissed me right off.
When she called a few days later to arrange a time for dinner, I was very short with her. She has to know that I won’t take her insolence, especially when it comes to business. After I stewed on it, I came to realize it was entirely my fault. I made her bring the wine over so I take full responsibility for what she said in front of any investors. Luckily for me, they liked her. They even asked if I’d ship her to Dubai to run the bar in the Tempt Hotel there. They liked the way she spoke and the way she looked in our uniform. Strangely, their comments didn’t sit well with me and my response to them was quite abrupt and rude. Thankfully, they were too influenced by the wine to notice my absolute offense.