Page 34 of Badd Ass
I teared up. “Bitch, you made me cry.”
“I ended up at a department head lunch one day recently, totally by accident, and got talking to Thomas, and I guess I mentioned you at some point, and then two days later he emailed me asking if you’d be interested in the position. They haven’t really even started looking yet, so if I were you I’d send Thomas your résumé, like, today. You could have a job by the time your vacation is over.” She glanced at me sideways as we wandered on foot in the general direction of the Rainbird Trail; I sort of remembered where we’d gone last night, and if not, Google Maps would show me. “There is one other little tidbit of information, which may or may not interest you.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s only an hour and forty-five minutes by air from Seattle to Ketchikan, and my guy happens to be a pilot.”
My heart skipped a beat or ten. “Um. That’s neat, but just, you know, out of curiosity…why would that be a factor?”
Claire continued the nonchalant charade. “Oh, no reason. Except that you could then continue to see Zane, he of the epic penis and godlike cunnilingus skills. You could catch a ride up here with me on the weekends. We could double date, do that whole four people sharing a milkshake thing.”
“That would make the practice relationship real, though.”
She nodded. “There would be that. But face it, snickerdoodles, you’re already fighting the urge to think in those terms. I know this because I’m going through the same thing. This way, we could go through it together. We could stop each other from intentionally sabotaging our own relationships.”
“Why would we do that?” I asked. “And don’t call me snickerdoodles, either.”
“Because we’re a pair of big old scaredy-cats who are terrified of real intimacy due to the fact that we both have serious daddy issues.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah, that.”
She wasn’t wrong. About any of it.
“Do you have any idea how annoying it is that you’re right all the damn time?” I asked.
Claire nodded without a hint of irony. “I do. I annoy myself, sometimes. Being right all the time can be a serious burden.” She quirked an eyebrow at me. “We’ve all got our burdens to bear, after all. You’ve got those giant tits you have to lug around everywhere, and I’m almost never wrong.”
I snorted at her, but there was, of course, a kernel of truth to her words.
Chapter 8
Zane
Iwas scheduledto open the bar, so I was downstairs by ten thirty setting things up, getting the kitchen opened and taking the stools off the bar and tables, cutting garnish fruit, stocking the alcohol, and counting the register drawers. The place was busy the second I opened the doors, since it was a weekend during tourist season. It was a blessing, though, because it meant I had zero time to let my head run away from me…either the big head or the little one. I was slammed from the time I opened the doors until Brock floated in at three-thirty, a stupid grin on his face as he stared down at his phone.
He tucked a bar towel in the back pocket of his jeans and joined me behind the bar, checking the coolers and shelves to see what he had to restock before he took over for me. He’d put his phone away, but he still had the stupid grin on his face.
“What’s up your ass, sunshine?” I asked, setting a pair of beers on the service bar for Lucian to take to his table; Luce, it turned out, had offset his savings by waiting tables and tending bar during his travels, so he was an experienced and skilled addition to the bar.
Brock just winked at me. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
I grabbed a ticket as it printed from the service bar printer. “Bullshit. Only one things puts a grin like that on a man’s face, and that’s prime pussy.”
Brock left and returned with two cases of beer held on one shoulder and three bottles of liquor clenched in his other hand. “Yeah, well…a gentleman never kisses and tells.” He said this with a sly grin.
“That prime, huh?”
“Let’s just say it’s a good thing I’m tending bar instead of flying today, because I’m running on, like, maybe three hours of sleep.”
I snorted. “Pussy. Try staying awake for seventy-two hours, boots on the ground in enemy territory, completing a mission, and then having to swim six miles in full gear to reach the E-Z.”
“Andyoutry performing death-defying aerial stunts in six cities in five days while flying yourself from venue to venue.”
Lucian collected his drinks from me. “How about you two quit measuring dicks and get to work?” He took his drinks and moved back into the bar to deliver them without a backward glance.
Brock and I glanced at each other and chuckled.