“And what a great penis it is.”
They both chuckled.
“Let's get to work.” She headed to the back room. “It's time to fix the world, one cupcake at a time.”
She turned, but just before she stepped behind the curtain, Austin said, “Liv, just answer me one thing.”
She quietly groaned, hoping that Austin wasn't going to resurrect the man topic.
“Is there anything a cupcake can't fix?”
Liv wasn't a religious person, not even a spiritual person, but without a doubt, she believed in the ability of the cupcake to always turn a frown upside down.
A smile spread wide across her face. “Not a chance.”
…
Later that evening, Liv dimmed the overhead lights of McLean's Bar and Grill. It was her second to last shift as a bartender, and her feelings were bittersweet. Bartending had been the means to which she'd been able to save up and follow her dream. But she could live out the rest of her life with happiness without ever seeing a chicken wing or drunken idiot again.
She watched from her perch behind the bar, taking in the dark wood furniture and forest green walls. Worn tables and chairs lined the restaurant floor and neon beer signs hung on the wall. Two waitresses scurried up and down the aisles delivering food and drinks to the familiar crowd that called McLean's their home away from home. She knew exactly how they felt. For the last ten years, McLean's had been her second home, too. She bent down to adjust the volume of the satellite radio—her favorite classic rock wasn't loud enough for her liking.
“What's up, lady?” Austin knocked on the bar behind her.
Liv jumped. “Jesus, Ozzie. When did you get here?”
“Same time I did.” Patti popped up from the other side of the bar. “Hi, Liv.”
Liv was glad for the arrival of her friends. The night had been slow, her usual customers not so entertaining.
With his ass barely situated on the stool, Austin pointed to the counter behind Liv. She smiled and brought him the Tupperware container that housed that morning's experiment. In the spirit of the fast-approaching St. Patrick's Day celebrations, Liv baked a double chocolate cupcake with white butter cream icing that looked just like a pint of Guinness. She had even etched out tiny harps and clovers on top of the icing.
“Don't mind if I do.” Austin wiggled his fingers above the cupcakes, making sure to only touch the one he wanted. Although, knowing his eating habits, he'd have no problem going along with the “you touch it, you bought it” method.
She held out the container to Patti, who declined with a slight shake of her head, her mousy brown ponytail shaking.
“Don't let my dad see those,” Patti warned. “He told me the other day his customers are getting fat and it's not because of the beer.”
Liv laughed and shrugged off her comment. “He's probably the one with the expanding waistline. He's my best customer.”
The McLeans had taken Liv in as a surrogate daughter when she'd met Patti in her first year of University. They gave her a job and a place to call home since her own family lived two hours away.
The wave of a hand at the opposite end of the bar caught Liv's attention. The group of unfamiliar men that had showed up at the beginning of her shift was in need of a refill. “I'll be right back.”
Liv approached the group. “Drinks, boys?”
“Can we have a pitcher of Heineken this time?” The vocal one of the group looked up from the papers he was reviewing. He had a warm smile and shiny brown hair, but he wore his dress shirt and tie like armor.
The blonde of the group was partial to sweater vests. The other dark-haired man looked like he had just stepped out of AP magazine—he had that rocker grunge look perfected. All three of them were attractive. Not usually her type—but still attractive. But just like every other male who walked through the doors of this bar, they were ordinary.
“You got it.”
While concentrating on pouring the draft, the hair on Liv's arms and neck stood at attention when the cold March air filtered in from the open door. A new customer walked up the steps toward her. As he walked by, her stomach tightened and her breath became heavy.
The man was eye candy at its finest. Intense green eyes? Check. Black power suit? Check. Broad shoulders, strong jaw, hair styled to look messy? Check, check, and check. Without a doubt, he was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen.
“Jake!” Vocal Guy yelled from his seat at the bar.
And his name was Jake.
It was the sound of the beer pouring onto the floor that brought Liv back to earth. She cursed and quickly pushed back the tap.
She needed to get her head in the game. He was just a man.
One hot, sexy, hunk of a man.
She approached the group and placed the pitcher on the bar, avoiding eye contact, and spun around to grab four glasses from the shelf. She stupidly glanced into the mirror that spread across the back of the bar and locked eyes with the stranger.
The intense heat from Jake's stare burned its way down her back, only to settle in the pit of her stomach, a brush fire of desire smoldering in her belly. Heat licked through her body at the thought of his strong hands caressing up and down her arm, across the swell of her breasts, down to the moist juncture between—
The bang of the washroom door made her jump and brought her out of her trance.
What the hell?
She shook her head to stop the lustful images, but failed. Liv struggled with the glasses but one got away from her, shattering into a thousand pieces on the floor. Her cheeks burned as the heat that had taken over her body turned from desire to embarrassment.
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, the sound of the glass crunching under her. With a quick breath, she bent to clean up the mess—and retreated from nervousness.
“Is the glass okay? It took a pretty good beating.” Jake's smooth, mellow drone surrounded her, covering her skin with gooseflesh.
“I'm fine.” She stood and threw the bigger pieces into the garbage, realizing that he'd asked about the glass and not her. “We have others. I'll…get you another one.”
Damn!
She couldn't even form a coherent thought and her words came out in a stutter.
“No need. I'll take a bottle of Budweiser.” His cheeks were rosy from being out in the cold. He had a crooked nose and a tiny scar near his hairline on the right side. And his eyelashes—they were the longest eyelashes she'd ever seen on a man.
“Not a problem. I'll—”
“It's okay, really.” He raised his hand to frame his mouth, as if wanting to tell her a secret. He licked his bottom lip before he spoke. “I don't really like draft.”
Why did he have to draw attention to his lips? Liv imagined them kissing every inch of her body.
She needed to get a grip. Where was the cool, confident Liv? She'd been so wrapped up with her bakery that she'd neglected any type of participation in certain bedroom activities. This was just a typical reaction to a sexual dry spell.
She grabbed a Bud from the fridge, then placed a coaster on the bar, followed by the bottle, twisting it until the label faced her. Despite being flustered by this man, her serving ritual hadn't disappeared. She glanced up. Jake was giving her a curious stare.
“We're going to take this down to the pool table.” Dress shirt guy interrupted before Jake had the chance to comment. He stared between them. “Are you still able to serve us?”
“Of course.” It might be better that way. Then maybe she wouldn't be so distracted with Jake sitting right in front of her.
The men grabbed their coats and drinks and walked around the bar to the lower level. Jake was the last to walk away, but before he did, his eyes settled on her. His stare left a trail of heat that started from her toes and made its way to her cheeks. When their eyes met, she struggled for air, and quickly turned away.
“Why are you so flushed?” Austin was just finishing off the last few crumbs of a cupcake. The Tupperware container now sat on the bar instead of the counter behind her.
“I'm not flushed.” The bang of the bathroom door made Liv jump, and Patti's slim figure made its way back to the bar.
“Yes you are…and jumpy,” Austin said.
Patti took her seat, her eyes darting from Liv to Austin, then back to Liv. “Why is she so flushed?”
Austin's laugh was drowned out by a group of customers who'd walked in the back door. They forgot to use inside voices as they scoped out a table on the restaurant floor.
“I'm not flushed,” Liv yelled over the crowd.
“All right.” Patti lifted her hands in surrender and leaned back on her stool. “Don't get your panties in a twist.” She might have thought her conveniently timed sip of beer hid her smirk but it was visible in her brown eyes.
“I think Liv's panties are being affected by that delicious man over there.” Austin shoved the last of his cupcake into his mouth.
“He may be delicious, but he has no effect on my panties.” Liv cursed under her breath. Her response was a little too quick, a little too animated. And as for her panties, she'd gladly hand them over if it meant further interaction with Jake. But Austin didn't need to know that.
“So you know exactly who I'm referring to.” Austin was too pleased with himself and too smart for his own good.
She couldn't be that obvious…could she?
The small printer behind them screeched out an order. She poured two drafts and placed them on the service counter, then returned to her friends, where she poured two well drinks.
“Who are we talking about?” Patti played with a napkin, folding it into a triangle.
“Bud Man.” Austin gestured to the object of Liv's inappropriate—however, exciting—distraction.
Patti lifted her eyebrow. “Bud Man?”
“The sexy beast drinking the bottle of Budweiser.” Austin pointed to the pool table. Liv tensed. She refused to look over, but she only hoped Jake wasn't watching her friends gawk and point. She'd embarrassed herself enough.
“Holy Marc Jacobs, look at him take a swig.” Austin fidgeted in his seat. “I need to readjust my pants!”
Liv joined her friends in their game of staring and locked eyes with the sexy stranger. Immediately, his eyes penetrated right through her nervous facade.
She backed away, in the hopes of diffusing her desire, and dropped off her drinks to Meg, one of the waitresses. When Liv turned to Patti and Austin, they were huddled together, whispering between sips of beer. “Can we please stop ogling the customers?”
But she understood quite well their fascination. There was some strange pull that made her want to park herself in front of the man. She would be content to sit there all night admiring his broad shoulders, his straight, white teeth, that smile, and his eyes—eyes that stared right through her. In the short time he had been in the bar, Jake had stolen her concentration and lit a fire deep within. He had her primed and ready to surrender. But Liv would not surrender. Ever.
“Liv, you need to take that man home with you.” Jake obviously had Austin's stamp of approval.
“Seriously? You both have active love lives. Do you really have to live vicariously through mine?”
“Hell yes!” Austin was always in for sex talk.
Patti, on the other hand, was more reserved. Or as Austin liked to call her—a prude. Liv knew she could count on Patti to deflect the conversation. “Brett and I are over the whole honeymoon period. I could use a little excitement.”
Traitor
.
“Bakery? Dream come true?” Liv reminded her friends of her priorities.
“We're not saying you have to marry him. Just have some fun.” Patti suggesting Liv “have some fun” could only be a direct result of Patti's relationship with Brett Daniels. He used to be their sexy next-door neighbor, but now he was Brett, her tatted-up, live-in artist, and the man who loved her best friend.
“He looks like he'd be a lot of fun.” Patti sighed and leaned on the bar, placing her fist under her chin. Liv was positive a shimmer of drool sat at the crease of Patti's mouth.
“Not to mention,” Austin said. “That man looks like he knows his way around a woman's body.”
Liv followed Austin's gaze to Jake. Luckily he was too preoccupied with taking a shot to notice their stare fest. “I like sex just as much as the next girl, but really, it's just sex.” Liv turned to rip the tiny slip of paper from the printer and read the drink order.
“
Just
sex?” Austin threw his hands in the air. “You must be doing it wrong.”
“I think I know how to do it.”
“Honey, don't you get that spark?” Austin placed his hand on his chest. “That feeling? When you know just by a look or a simple touch that you just have to have that person? That when you do, it will be a mind blowing, religious experience?”
Never. Not until today. As soon as Bud Man walked through the door.
She scoffed and grabbed a few bottles of beer from the fridge and pulled another chit from the printer.
“Religious experience? Please.”
“If you question me, you haven't had it.”
Austin was right. She'd never had a religious sexual experience.
“Liv?” A customer called her name from the corner of the bar.
She held up a finger, letting him know she'd only be a minute.
“You're getting busy. We'll get out of your hair.” Austin slipped on his coat. “Let's go, Pats. I'll give you a ride.” He kissed his fingers and pressed them to Liv's cheek. “See ya, honey.”
“Don't work too hard.” Patti danced her way to the door, her small hand waving behind her. “Make sure to stop and enjoy the scenery.”
Liv smiled. She was pretty sure that by “scenery,” Patti meant Jake.
With Austin and Patti now gone, she concentrated on her customers. She looked around at the familiar faces, but ultimately, the faces around here were strangers. She had no connections beyond her close circle of friends and family. Suddenly, she felt alone.
Instead of curling up against Jake's yummy body tonight, she would be curled up with her business plan. Or a book. The trials and tribulations of a romance heroine were an enjoyable distraction, but never failed to remind her of what real life could never give her—a happy ending.