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“Inez…” I say in warning when I catch onto what she’s doing. She’s trying to distract me.
With an eyeroll, Inez drops the facade. She grabs me by the sleeve, pulling me around the corner into the tight entryway between the kitchen and the bar.
Once we’re alone, she spins to face me. “It’s okay, Nolan,” she says, her voice hushed.
“No, it’s not.” I huff. “Answering all those personal questions isn’t in your job description.”
She shrugs. “I get it, though. I opened my life up to the public by going on that reality show and now people want answers. It’s sort of what I signed up for.”
She’s got to be kidding me. “So, I’m supposed to just stand there and watch them back you into a corner and make you uncomfortable?” I fling an arm in the direction of all the drunken vultures impatiently waiting to pick her apart.
“It’s not that bad,” she tries to brush it off with a good-natured smile. “In a few days, they’ll forget all about this and move on.”
“In a few days?! I’m not gonna stand by for ‘a few days’ and watch them harass you. It ends right now.”
Inez makes a growly sound in her throat. I’m sure she doesn’t intend for it to be sexy. But it fucking is.
“You know what…?” She swerves around me and marches over to the beer taps. I struggle to keep my eyes off her ass as she fills a pint glass to the brim.
Then she stomps back to me, grabs my clipboard and sets my favorite dark lager into my palm.
“Go…” she commands me.
What the hell?!
I make a grab for the clipboard clenched in her hand. “I’m in the middle of making my inventory ord—”
She backs up, hugging the sheets of paper to her chest. “Take a break, Nolan.”
“Gimme that,” I growl back at her, reaching for the clipboard again.
Inez lifts the order forms over her head, holding the clipboard out of my reach. “Go.”
What a joke. Like I can’t just snatch the thing out of her hand if I want to.
“Don’t make me take it from you,” I warn her.
Smirking, she inches another step backward, into the shadows of the little hallway.
I don’t follow her.
Because if I get any closer, I might just press her up against the wall and remind her exactly who’s in charge around here.
Claiming victory, Inez ducks around me and tosses the clipboard onto the bartop. Before I can turn to face her, I feel her small hands on my back, pushing into my shoulder blades. A thousand volts of energy shoot from her fingertips down my spine, instantly weakening me.
Now, she’s pushing me across the room to the table where Mason and Felix are unwinding after working at the medical clinic all day.
When he sees us approaching, Felix lifts his glass in salute and grins. “Inez Machado. Back in town. I heard the rumors today and I had to come see for myself.”
“The rumors are true. Here I am, in the flesh.” She does a silly curtsy.
“Glad to have you back. Nolan wasn’t doing so hot without you around here the past few months.” Naturally, my brother takes a jab at me. Because he’s a hater like that.
Inez playfully flips her cascading hair over her shoulder and shoots me a look. “Good luck trying to get him to admit how much he missed me,” she sasses.
Felix chortles, motioning between himself and Mason. “Trust me. We’re working on pulling his head out of his ass. But it’s stuck in there pretty good.”
Inez laughs cheerfully. “I won’t hold my breath, then. Thanks for the heads-up.” Her eyes dart between my brother and brother-in-law. She grabs at my forearm and pulls me closer to the table. Fuck. I love it when she touches me. “Say, do you two mind keeping an eye on this dude? He’s only getting in my way behind the bar.”
