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“Hm,” he responds, grabbing an empty glass from the mirrored shelf behind himself. “What to drink, Chloe Turner?”
He pulls his phone out and is doing something on it as I answer.
“Rum and Coke with lime in a tall glass, thanks.” I reach into the slit pocket along the side seam of my dress, which has enough room to keep my phone, some cash, and my keys at my mid-torso, which is another reason why I bought it. I pull out my wad of twenties, fives, and tens and pass him a ten.
“On the house. For the trouble,” Derek lifts a hand.
“There was no trouble,” I advise with a smile. “Your security guard got it wrong, so maybe you should be inviting the guy in the red shirt back in and giving him the complimentary drink.”
Derek looks surprised for a beat and then leans forward. “You want him back in here?”
His jaw muscles flex and it’s sexy while also being unnerving. He looks almost… angry?
Caught off guard, I reply, “No, not that. I don’t know him and had no plans to get to know him. But maybe he also didn’t deserve to be turfed out of the club. Maybe your security guy mixed him up with somebody else.”
“Shep doesn’t make mistakes like that,” Derek denies.
“Well…” I say, and then I don’t know what to add to that, so I let it hang. “I guess I’ll accept the free drink then.”
“His friends at the first table to the left of the door are still sitting there, so they watched him get escorted out of my establishment and didn’t go with him. Aren’t rushing to finish their drinks, even. That probably says something about the guy.” His eyes bounce that way as he takes down a bottle of rum from the top shelf. “Don’t you think?”
I shrug. “I… guess?”
Pretty observant of him, actually.
“If you were kicked out of a club because you broke their rules and your friends were with you, what would they do? Come with you or let you find some other fun on a Friday night?”
“My friends? If I broke a rule, they’d still come with me.”
“Even if you were in the wrong?”
“Even then. But if they thought I was unfairly kicked out of an establishment, not only would they not hang back to spend money lining the pockets of that establishment’s owner, they’d probably plot to set the place on fire in my defense.”
His brows shoot up.
Oh shit. That’s probably not a good thing to say.
I giggle, shaking my head. “I mean… not that they’d set your place on fire here or anything. We’d just plot about it.”
“Best not kick you out so I don’t have to find out,” he says, eyes lighting with humor as he pours rum from the top shelf and then uses the soda gun to fill my drink with Coke. He drops in a lime wedge, then slips a straw and stir stick in before he extends his hand, holding out the drink.
“Thank you,” I say and take it from his hand. Our fingers brush and something exciting ignites in my belly. Low in my belly. Derek Steele’s eyes are on my mouth again.
I slip the ten back into the little pocket and pull the zip up. “Thank you, Mr. Steele.”
A smile slowly spreads across his face and our eyes stay connected for longer than they probably should.
A woman slips behind the bar. “Excuse me, Mr. Steele. I’ll handle everything.”
“Well, I’d better re-join my friends,” I say, looking over my shoulder.
My friends are all at a table watching us. Coraline looks concerned. Alannah looks positively delighted. Maddie and Jeffy are whispering to one another while watching.
“You forgot the card,” Derek says.
“The card?” I ask, eyes bouncing back.
I quickly look at the bar top where his business card sits. I must have set it down when I sat on the stool.
