CHAPTER FOUR

A s soon as four thirty hit, they were slammed with customers and the restaurant stayed that way all through the dinner hour and beyond. Not your typical Thursday in the fall, that was for sure.

It was good for business, but they were not staffed for the influx.

And for whatever reason, the Sewing Circle was more demanding than ever tonight.

“Well, you’re a new face,” came Jolene Dandy’s voice as Dom rang up another customer who’d just come in for drinks. “Where are you from, dear?”

“Hi, I’m Chloe,” Chloe said, multitasking and chatting with Jolene while also mixing a Tom Collins. “And you are?”

“Oh, you really are new. I’m Jolene Dandy.” Jolene extended her wrinkled hand across the bar as her gaze drifted down Chloe’s athletic figure. “You’re a pretty thing.”

“Uh … thank you.” Chloe shook Jolene’s hand, then immediately washed her hands so she could continue mixing the drink. Even though Dom was still on the fence about this woman, he had to give her props. She washed her hands like she was a surgeon preparing for a craniotomy. Unlike Cammy, who never washed her hands.

“So,” Jolene went on, “where are you from? Are you married? Do you have any children?”

“I, uh …” Chloe put the Tom Collins up on the bar and grabbed the next ticket. “I’m from North Dakota. Was married. No, uh … no children.” Her voice broke at that last bit.

“ Was ?” Jolene pried.

Chloe flashed the Island Mouth a brittle smile. “We are divorced.”

“And what brought you to San Camanez?”

“A job.” From the looks of things, Chloe was mixing an old-fashioned. Probably for Sunflower Patrick who was part of the Sewing Circle. That woman loved her old-fashioneds. But she was also very particular about them. So it would be interesting to see what she thought of Chloe’s.

“All the way from North Dakota for a bartending job?” Jolene exclaimed. “There has to be more to it than that.”

Chloe shrugged. “Nope. Just needed a fresh start, and I’ve always wanted to live on the beach. I’ve bartended before and the job posting came up. So here I am.”

“And where are you staying, dear?” Jolene was eating up this information with both hands. The whole island would know about Chloe by morning.

“Uh … at the hostel.”

“Oh my. You know Ginny the server here was killed there in August, right?”

“I have heard murmurs of that, yes. But I also heard her killer was put away. So I shouldn’t have anything to worry about, right?” She put up the old-fashioned and grabbed the next ticket. It was a bottle of cider.

She worked fast, efficient, and with great spatial awareness. She was the best bartender he’d seen in a long time.

“Hey, Dom?” Chloe said, sliding the cider up onto the bar just as Quinton sauntered over to grab it.

He grunted at her in response.

“Can I ask why the ciders and coolers aren’t all grouped together in the fridge? Why are they spread out?”

“They’re by distributor.”

She squinted at him. “But wouldn’t it make more sense to have the beer all grouped together and the hard ciders, coolers, and non -beers all grouped together? Less hunting.”

“Only if you don’t know where everything is.”

She stared at him for a moment, processing what he said. Then her mouth formed a thin line, and she nodded. Jolene watched the entire exchange with unveiled interest.

Dammit. The whole island would know about that too.

“Can we get you anything, Jolene?” Dom asked with only a smidge of impatience to his tone.

“I’ll have some lattice fries—extra crispy—and a blueberry tea, please.”

“I’ve got it,” Chloe said, reaching the POS before he did and punching in Jolene’s order. “I’ll make the blueberry tea.”

Dom grunted, but didn’t argue. The tickets were rolling in, as were the take-out orders which the bartenders usually took care of, so there was no time to stew over her suggestion of reorganizing the bottles, or how at home she acted behind his bar.

Chloe made Jolene’s blueberry tea while Jolene stood there, her coppery-brown eyes full of intrigue. “There you go,” she said, sliding the steaming glass mug onto the bar for Jolene. “Can you manage, or would you like me to bring it over to your table?”

“Oh. Could you, dear? The ladies would love to meet you.”

Chloe shot Dom a pleading look, but he smirked and shrugged.

He couldn’t really afford to lose her behind the bar for even a minute, but if she intended to call the island home, she needed to meet the locals and barflies sooner rather than later.

As he figured, she was over there fielding questions from the Sewing Circle—who were all actually crocheting today—for a solid ten minutes. He could have, and should have, yelled at her to help him, but she really hadn’t given him any reason to be as pissed off as he was. Not today anyway.

He knew his anger was mostly misdirected.

His brothers outvoted him and were taking control of the area of the business that was Dom’s to run as he saw fit. When they started the brewery and pub, it was decided democratically who would run which area. All decisions were to be made democratically. And sure, they had taken a vote, and Dom was simply outvoted, but his ass was still plenty chapped about it.

It didn’t help that Chloe was probably a better bartender than he was. And it would take no time at all for everyone on the island to know it.

She snagged his gaze as she finally broke free of the Sewing Circle and headed back to the bar. She rolled her pretty eyes. He hadn’t noticed until now—maybe it was the recessed lighting overhead—but she had a very unique eye color. It was a green, but also blue, depending on the angle and lighting.

“Is there something in my teeth?” she asked, washing her hands in the sink before starting the next order.

“No. Why?”

“You were staring at me funny.”

He cleared his throat. “I dunno. Maybe. Go check if you’re worried.”

She gave him a funny look, picked up a spoon, and quickly checked her teeth with the back of it. “All clear.”

“Did the Sewing Circle grill you?” He popped the cap off a bottle of Clint’s new Winter Berry Ale and set it on the bar.

She spun around to show him her back for a minute. “Isn’t it obvious? Don’t I have grill marks?”

It was impossible not to check out her ass. But he smothered his appreciation for the tight twin cheeks with a snort. “Yeah. You’re a little charred.”

“They seem sweet. And also very concerned that I’m staying at the hostel. They kept saying that a woman my age shouldn’t be staying at a place like that. What does that mean? How old do they think I am?”

He snorted again. “The better question is, how old do those women think they are? Because none of them act their age. They all still party and drink like teenagers.”

Her chuckle was sweet and a little husky. “I can see it. They were all busy making bonnets, booties, and clothes for Ellie’s baby. Ellie may or may not be a lesbian, and may or may not have a lover on the mainland. Or she may or may not have found a donor. Either way, they think that if she is a single mother, she needs all the help she can get, and they intend to give it to her.” Her eyes went wide. “Poor Ellie, whoever she is.”

His third snort in under two minutes. “She works at the spa. And yeah, poor Ellie,” he murmured.

They worked the rest of the night like a team. Though, they didn’t really speak to each other, unless it was work related. His irritation with her was too much weight to bear on his shoulders. So he let most of it go so he could work without strain.

By nine thirty the place had mostly cleared out. But he needed to show Chloe how to shut the place down. So after the kitchen closed and the servers cashed out, he’d take her through the steps of turning down the bar and locking up.

“Thanks for all your hard work tonight, Chloe,” Penny said, slouching into her jacket and plunking a bunch of cash on the bar. “That’s for you.” She tossed Chloe a wink. “Dom, I’ll have a rum and coke, please.”

“Coming up.”

Chloe gaped at Penny. “I don’t … are you sure?”

Penny nodded. “Yeah. Of course. We always tip out the bartenders—who don’t own the place.” She thanked Dom for her drink and pulled up a stool at the end of the bar. “And you worked your cute little ass off. Are you sure this is your first day?”

“At this bar, yes. But behind a bar? No.” Chloe shoved the cash into her back pocket. “Thank you.”

Quinton, Jillian, and Renée tipped her out as well, the four servers convening at the end of the bar with their free after-shift drinks. The busser, AJ, joined them after she finished wiping down tables and taking out the trash.

“You got ten minutes, guys,” Dom said to them, that way they knew he wanted them gone so he could lock up and cash out.

They all nodded, then went back to their conversations.

Kitchen staff came out for their after-shift drinks, taking seats at a table. Burke sidled up to Chloe. “How’d it go?”

She nodded. “All right, I think. It was busy, but it made the time go by quick.”

“I’ve heard murmurs about this killer Caesar. Would it be too much trouble for you to mix me one up?” He bumped her shoulder playfully.

“Absolutely. Coming right up.” Her smile was bigger than Dom had ever seen. What was that about? And why was Burke bumping her shoulder? Did they know each other prior to her getting hired there? Was he interested in her?

Burke winked at her. “Thanks.” He jerked his chin at Dom on his way to join the kitchen staff at the table.

Renée came over to watch Chloe as she made the Caesar. “Might as well watch how you make one since we’ll be on the bar tomorrow night together.”

Chloe smiled and continued mixing Burke’s drink.

“Thanks for your help earlier today,” Chloe said. “You answered a lot of questions I was a little too nervous to ask Dom. I don’t think he likes me very much.” She tried to keep her voice down, but Dom heard her anyway.

Renée shot Dom a look, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. “Ignore the grump. You’re doing great. I’m excited for tomorrow night. We’ve got a great crew on the floor. So it should be lots of fun. And Friday nights are always busy, which means great tips.”

Chloe used the tongs to grab some pickled beans from the jar, then stuffed them into the pint glass. “Can you take that to Burke for me, please?”

“I’m off the clock,” Renée teased, grabbing the drink and taking it to Burke. “But for you, I’ll do it pro bono.”

“You’re too good to me,” Chloe replied with a cheeky smile.

Dom cleared his throat. “Ready to start shutting things down?”

She nodded. “Sure thing. Lead the way.”

Dom didn’t wait to see if she was following him and just headed outside to the deck. “Usually, the servers take down the umbrellas and turn up the chairs, but sometimes they forget. The string lights along the railings are solar. So they do their own thing. If the servers haven’t brought in the candles, that’s our job.” He grabbed a couple of glass candle holders where the candles had blown out, while Chloe retracted an umbrella. “Then we just lock the deck door.”

They headed back inside, and he showed her how to lock all the doors from the top and bottom latches. Then, just for extra protection, they had roll-down blinds that they unfurled to cover the big windows and doors leading to the deck. After everything that had happened on their property over the last few months, they had increased their security measures in several ways. One of those ways was adding the roll-down blinds. Even though getting onto the deck from outside wasn’t easy, it also wasn’t impossible. The blinds didn’t necessarily stop anybody from breaking a window to get in, but it did stop them from being able to see in and get tempted.

The servers and busser had done a great job tidying up the dining room, wiping down tables, tipping up chairs, and sweeping the floor. But they were also human and sometimes missed things. That’s where Dom came in.

Chloe followed behind him as he shut off the television over the fireplace and scoped out the Sewing Circle booth for forgotten hooks or needles—it never failed they always left something behind.

“Somebody’s going to be beside themselves when they take inventory of their crochet hooks and find one missing,” she said with a pretty smile on her full lips as she bent over and dug a hook out from between the booth cushions.

He chuckled softly to himself. “We’ll tuck this behind the bar until they come back tomorrow. One of them always leaves something behind.”

“Those ladies are an intense bunch.”

“Just wait until next month. Then they’ll all be in here longer, crafting away for Christmas. They set up a table at the local craft bazaar and sell their wares.” He shook his head. “Not my jam, but they’re mostly harmless. Emphasis on ‘mostly.’”

Chloe snickered, her hands full of various pieces of garbage, like napkins, wayward straws, and a few drinking glasses. They did a final sweep, and then ended up back at the bar where they tossed the trash and dealt accordingly with the dishes.

“All right, crew. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” he said, making eye contact with the kitchen staff, then the front of house staff.

A few of them gave half-hearted grumbles, but they all knew the drill and got up, bringing their empty glasses to the glass cleaner.

“You on day shift tomorrow, Dom?” Burke asked.

He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be in here after I walk Silas and the others to the bus stop.”

Burke nodded and shrugged into his jacket. “All right. Have a good night, brother.”

Dom jerked his chin at Burke. “Later.”

One by one the staff filed out, saying goodnight to Dom and Chloe.

The sound of the front door closing behind the last employee was like a gong in a silent monastery, driving home the fact that they were now alone, together, in the pub.

His gaze flicked to her as he started dismantling the slushy machine to put it through the glass cleaner. He hated bellinis and frozen margaritas and shit, but they were so popular—especially in the summer—that it would be stupid not to have it.

Her cheeks filled with a sexy pink color. “What can I do?”

“I’m assuming you’ve used one of these before and taken it apart?” He was referring to the frozen drink machine.

She nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“’Kay, well, we take the mechanism apart every night, put it through the glass cleaner, then leave it to air dry. Why don’t you start putting away the rest of the glasses that have come through the cleaner and then I’ll show you how to cash out.”

Her smile was small, but she got to work. It was impossible for him not to look at the sliver of tight belly skin that showed when she reached up onto her tiptoes to slide the martini and margarita glasses into the hanging racks. And, oh fuck, was that a tattoo on her hip?

He groaned a little inside.

Dammit.

She was fucking gorgeous, if he was being completely honest with himself. Which was probably another reason why he didn’t want her working there. He didn’t want the distraction. The temptation.

But that was a him problem. Not a her problem. He was a grown-ass man and should be able to resist a beautiful woman. He was not in the right place in his life to even think about a relationship right now anyway.

Just because his brothers had all moved on didn’t mean Dom was ready to as well.

He did more tidying and organizing, then brought the cash boxes to the back room where all the servers cashed out. “Can you go lock the front door? I’ll lock the receiving door at the rear of the kitchen,” he said, taking off through the now clean, quiet, and dark space. It wasn’t hot from all the fryers or grills, and the stainless steel countertops were spotless. In less than twelve hours it’d be hot, noisy, and chaotic once again.

She was already back in the cash out room when he returned, and holy fuck, he never realized how tight or crowded the space was until that moment. She had to step back out into the hallway just so he could pull out the chair and sit down. Then he could smell her spicy, floral scent as he began going through the cashing out process.

Her hand on the back of his chair, mixed with her intoxicating scent and that strand of dark-brown hair that had untucked from behind her ear and hung down beside his face, was driving him ever loving fucking mad.

He wanted to yell at her to back the fuck up, but there was nowhere to back up. How did he not realize this place was a goddamned closet?

“So … you, uh you, um …” he cleared his throat, “you erm … you bring up the tills in this software program here and it should tell you what the running tally for sales was for the …” He scratched his head.

“For the night?”

He cleared his throat again. “Right. Yes. Thank you. For the night. Then you deduct the cash from the float to get the total of cash sales and check to see if it balances out on the spreadsheet.”

“I love how far technology has come,” she said. “I remember when we had to physically add up all the receipts with a calculator.”

“Mm-hmm.”

She leaned in closer.

He pulled in a deep breath, filling his lungs with her scent.

Then he shot backward, shoving the seat out and into her.

It wasn’t on purpose. He didn’t mean to hurt her.

He just needed some space.

She made a squawk of alarm. He spun around to see she was pinned beneath the shelf and chair, her eyes wide and wild, staring at him in surprise.

“Sorry,” he murmured, pulling the chair away. “I just realized you should sit here and do it.” He held the seat out for her and stepped into the hallway so she could sit down.

She continued to give him a strange look, but took a seat and pulled it inward. Then she proceeded to cash out without any trouble.

Only now, he could look right down her fucking top and into her deep, creamy cleavage.

Son of a bitch.

“There,” Chloe said with an affirming nod. “It’s all balanced. I don’t know what other nights are like, but this seems like a good one to me.”

“For a Thursday in the fall, it was more than good.”

She spun around, beaming at him.

His cock twitched and his balls tingled.

Dom cleared his throat. Damn, he was doing a lot of throat clearing and snorting around this woman. She probably thought he was some caveman with allergies and zero manners. Maybe that was better? A deterrent?

“Anyway, that’s it. I can show you how to set the alarm, then we’re out of here.” He stepped back into the hallway so she could stand up, then he stowed everything in the safe.

“Should you be giving me the code for that?” she asked softly.

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I guess so, hmm?”

“I mean … you don’t have to. If you want to come when its closing time and do it tomorrow, I don’t mind. I understand your hesitation.” Her half-smile of uncertainty was cute.

He pointed to the camera up in the corner. “We’ve got eyes everywhere now. I’ll have Jagger or Bennett message you with the alarm and safe codes.”

“O-okay.” She swallowed and gave him space when he stood up and flicked off the light. They stepped back to the front of house and she grabbed her coat, purse, and phone. Then she stashed her apron under the bar. “I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, Dom. That was never my intention. This is your bar and you’re running it in a way that works for you. It’s clearly a profitable place. So I apologize if I’ve overstepped. I just want to work on the beach. That’s my dream. I don’t want to insult anybody.” Her brittle smile held so much more than regret, but it was the look in her eyes that damn near gutted him. Pain. Grief. Hopelessness.

All the things he felt in his own heart.

They walked to the front door and he set the alarm, then held the door open for her. “We’ll see how you do tomorrow with Renée.”

Disappointment filled her gaze, and he instantly felt like an ass. But she rallied, plastered on a smile, and nodded. “Renée is great. All the staff is. I think we’ll be okay.”

“I hope so.”

She waited for him to lock up from the outside. Then she said an awkward “goodnight,” which he returned with a grunted one of his own, before making her way to a boring black sedan parked at the far corner of the parking lot.

He wasn’t a total asshole. He did wait until she was safely in her vehicle and driving past him, giving him a hesitant wave, before he headed up to the house.

He was an asshole.

He knew that.

An angry, exhausted, depleted, guilt-ridden asshole.

By the time he got home, he was once again dead on his feet.

Only, he hadn’t seen Silas since that morning. So after he showered, he scooped his little boy up out of his bed and carried him to Dom’s bed. Then he tucked them both in.

Silas instantly snuggled into Dom’s arms, blinking his eyes open just barely. “Hi, Daddy.”

Dom kissed the top of his son’s head. “Shhh. Go back to sleep.”

“Okay. I love you.”

Dom’s throat grew tight. “I love you too.”

Then father and son fell asleep, one of them innocent and sweet, the other an asshole riddled with guilt, and a very inconvenient attraction to his new employee.