Chapter One
“Yo, Bobby! There’s some fine ass looking woman outside trying to get in,” I heard some guy yelling from inside. The double glass doors may have been locked but they were hardly soundproof.
I smirked. Not because some douche thought I was hot, but because I was anticipating the disappointed look on Bobby’s face when he came out from the back and realized the fine ass woman was just me.
I saw his head pop out from the beer cooler, his eyes squinting. It was gorgeous out, but the sun was probably blinding him considering he lived the life of a mole...or a bat. Whatever. Either way, owning a bar meant Bobby rarely saw daylight.
“Here, let her in.” He tossed the keys to the other guy. So far this mysterious stranger had stayed just far enough in the shadows for me to make out zip about him, aside from the fact that he was tall. Really tall. And broad.
“You know her?” The guy shook his head. “I need to get out more.”
Meanwhile, I was out and it was getting fucking hot out here.
Finally the door opened.
“About time,” I mumbled as I burst in past him and went straight for the back of the bar where Bobby was busy fumbling around with one of the beer taps.
“I thought you were coming by earlier. What happened?” He wiped off the tap and threw the rag onto the counter behind him.
“For starters, you took the wrong keys when you left last night and I had to spend two hours hunting down my set of spares just so I could start my truck to get here.” I tossed a bundle of keys at him. “Must be nice having roommates who leave the door open for you.”
He grinned. “Probably helps that I keep my car keys with the bar set as well.” Just then the other guy came up beside me and slid the lanyard holding all the bar keys across the bar top back to Bobby.
“Yeah. Probably.” Bobby made me crazy sometimes. I was about to tell him so for the millionth time when I noticed the other dude just leaning up against the counter beside me, watching Bobby and me interact.
“Please don’t tell me you’re dating this guy.” He pointed at Bobby when he said it, an expression of disbelief to go with it.
“Ew.” I made a face. “I wasn’t going to.”
Bobbly laughed. “I keep forgetting you two haven’t met. Derek, this is my sister. Joss, meet Derek.”
The previous look of disbelief was still there as he shifted his gaze back and forth between myself and my brother, only now it was accompanied with a touch of surprise. “You two are related?”
“Believe me, I’ve had my doubts about it, too.” I shook my head. I’d yet to see any resemblance between Bobby and me either and there were days I wondered if my mother’s jokes about the milkman had been all that funny. “So, Derek, is it? Don’t you think it’s a bit early in the day to be getting shitfaced?”
“I thought we talked about not judging my customers,” Bobby said dryly.
“And I’m not here for some unofficial happy hour.” Derek nodded over at the adjoining room where half of the floor had been pulled up. “I’m his contractor.”
“Oh. You’re that Derek.”
“That Derek? What does that mean?” His brows were knitted in confusion.
“Just means she thought you were an asshole before she met you and now she’s feeling stupid about it,” Bobby piped up from behind the counter where he was now putting away a tray of clean glasses.
“I didn’t think you were an asshole. I just...didn’t understand what was taking so long.” Up until recently my brother’s bar, The Flying Monk, had been fairly small, but with business doing well, he’d been ready to expand the place. So, he’d acquired the adjoining store and then hired Derek, apparently, to do the build for him. Which was all fine and good, but in my defense, Bobby had hired me to do a job as well, and I couldn’t do shit until Derek was done. Also, it was worth mentioning that I’d pictured Derek to be about twenty years older and a hundred pounds heavier...you know, like every other contractor I’d ever dealt with. But apparently my brother had access to the special ‘contractors-who-could-easily-pass-as-Ryan-Gosling’s-body-double’ pool when he did his hiring.
“You didn’t under – “ Derek straightened up from where he’d been comfortably leaning against the counter and started walking toward his mini construction zone. “Come here. I’ll show you what’s been taking so fucking long.” He kept mumbling as he went. “Understand what’s taking so long. You’ll understand in a minute...”
Next thing I knew I was standing in a pile of rubble, but I still didn’t get what I was looking at.