“I think it’s my turn,” Hayley said, pushing away from the table.
“I’m out,” Matt said. “I’ve gotta get home to Carrie.”
Kevin made a sound like a whip being cracked.
Their soon-to-be-married friend was unperturbed. “Yeah, it’s a real drag, being engaged to a gorgeous woman with whom I share mutual interests, stimulating conversation and really hot sex.”
“I’ll give you a hand,” Nat said to Hayley, no doubt eager for an excuse to leave the three remaining men at the table.
When they returned with the next round of drinks, conversation shifted again to more neutral topics.
A short while later, Kevin left with Hayley, because they were headed in the same direction. Then Carter and Nat headed out together. Jay knew that he should make his way home, too. Weekends were the busiest time at Adventure Village, and he had the early-morning shift the next day—including two birthday parties on-site.
But he stayed where he was, sipping his Coke and wondering about the discovery that his neighbor and the hot new bartender were one and the same.
* * *
Though pouring drinks kept her hands busy, Alyssa’s gaze kept shifting between the clock and the door—and, occasionally, the table where Jason was sitting with his friends. Where he remained after his friends had gone.
Sky bumped her hip. “Should we update our earlier conversation?”
“About what?” Alyssa looked at the clock again.
“Your claim that you have yet to meet someone with whom you want to get naked. Because while you’re acting as if you’re not watching Jason Channing, he’s acting as if he’s not watching you.”
She shook her head. “Jason’s my neighbor.”
“That could be convenient,” her friend said.
“Have you heard anything from Liam?” she asked, eager to change the topic of conversation—and for Sky’s brother to make his promised appearance.
Now Sky glanced at the clock and frowned. “No, I haven’t. And I didn’t expect him to be this late.”
The only consolation for Alyssa was that Diego was late, too. Or maybe he wasn’t coming. She mentally crossed her fingers that she could get so lucky.
“I’ll see if I can reach him on his cell,” Sky said.
“Thanks.”
She looked at the clock again.
Nine twenty-eight.
Sky shook her head as she tucked her phone back into her pocket before heading to the other end of the bar to refill Gavin Virga’s drink.
Alyssa sighed.
“Is something wrong?”
She jolted at the sound of his voice so close, then laughed as she pressed a hand to the heart that was hammering inside her chest.
“I seem to have a habit of startling you,” Jason apologized.
“It’s okay,” she said. “My mind was just somewhere else.”
“I can’t imagine anywhere more interesting than here,” he deadpanned.
She laughed again. “Did you want something to drink?”
He shook his head. “I noticed that you’ve been watching the door.”
“I guess I have been,” she admitted.
“Waiting for someone?” He straddled an empty stool.
“Sort of.”
“How can you ‘sort of’ be waiting for someone?”
“Well, there’s one person I’m hoping will come through the door and another I’m hoping won’t,” she explained.
“Now I’m intrigued,” he said.
Over his shoulder, she saw a familiar figure walk into the bar and swore under her breath.
Or maybe the curse wasn’t as restrained as she thought, because Jason’s brows lifted—a silent question that she didn’t have time to answer. Because Diego had spotted her, too, and was moving purposefully toward her.
And though Jason hadn’t been her first choice, she decided that if she could have a fantasy romance with any man of her choosing, there wasn’t anyone more fantasy worthy than her handsome upstairs neighbor.
“I’ll explain later,” she promised as growing desperation pushed aside both rational thought and common sense. “For now, will you please just go with it?”
“Go with—”
She didn’t let him finish the question before she leaned across the bar and kissed him.
* * *
If this was “it,” Jason decided as Alyssa’s mouth moved over his, he could definitely go with it. For now and as long as she wanted, because her lips were soft and warm and seductively persuasive.
He’d be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought about kissing her, because she was the type of woman that any red-blooded man would be attracted to. But he also knew that it wasn’t always a good idea to act on an attraction—such as when the woman who stirred his blood was a friend, coworker or neighbor. Alyssa checked off two of those boxes, so no matter how much his hormones sat up and begged for attention whenever she was around—and there was no denying that they did—he’d mostly managed to ignore them.
There was no hope of ignoring them now.
She smelled so good...tasted even better.
And he wished there wasn’t eighteen inches of polished walnut between them, so that he could put his arms around her and haul her against his body. He settled for circling her wrists with his hands. His thumbs rubbed over her pulse points, finding evidence that her heart was racing as fast as his own.
“I think that should do it.” She whispered the words against his lips before she eased away.
Do what? he wondered, noting that her mouth was moist and swollen from their kiss, her cheeks flushed.
But before he could catch his breath to ask the question aloud, someone spoke from behind him.
“I heard this was a friendly establishment,” the male voice remarked. “Do all customers get that kind of attention?”
The color in her cheeks deepened. “Diego...um...hi.” Then she seemed to gather her thoughts to respond to his question. “And, uh, no.”
“You must be someone special, then,” the man she’d referred to as Diego remarked, his narrowed gaze focused on Jay.
“Very special,” Alyssa chimed in quickly. “Jason is...my boyfriend.”
Though Jay instinctively chafed against the word, the silent plea in her eyes begged him not to contradict her claim. Recalling her promise of an explanation later, he decided to go with it—at least for now.
“And you would be?” Jay prompted the other man.
Alyssa jumped in again. “This is Diego Garcia, a family friend from California.”
“Well, any friend of Alyssa’s is a friend of mine,” he said.
Diego shook his proffered hand, squeezing more firmly than was warranted.
“You’re a long way from home,” Jay commented.
“I’m visiting a cousin in Elko,” Diego said. “And since I was going to be so close, Renata suggested that I stop in to say hi to her daughter.”