Page 16 of Break My Heart (The Haydon Falls #2)

Gina

‘What time are you leaving?’ Lexi asks as she waits for me to fill a glass from the tap.

‘In a few minutes.’ I hand her the glass. She adds it to her tray, then takes off to a table with four guys.

‘You said you were leaving ten minutes ago.’ Aria comes up beside me as I wipe down the counter. ‘Just go. I can finish up here.’

‘I shouldn’t leave when we’re still open.’ I could, but I’m not ready to. I never should’ve agreed to this. Sawyer’s really hot and I’m starting to like him, which makes having dinner with him a bad idea. We’ll be alone together, in his apartment, late at night.

‘I can handle it,’ Aria says. ‘We’re not that busy.’

We are, but not compared to opening week. Since the beer special ended, we’ve had a steady stream of customers, but it’s nothing like last week when the place was filled to capacity.

‘Did you at least text him to let him know you’d be late?’ Aria asks .

‘No.’ I gather up the empty glasses from the bar. ‘This isn’t a date. It doesn’t matter if I’m a few minutes late.’

‘You should still text him. What if he has dinner waiting?’

‘Then I’ll eat it when I get there.’ I set the glasses in the sink.

‘It’s really sweet of him to make you dinner,’ Aria says. She keeps insisting this is a date even though I’ve told her at least ten times that it’s not.

‘He wants information. That’s why he’s doing this, and why I agreed to it. I’m going to prove to him that his charm doesn’t work on me. He can make me dinner, buy me flowers, but it’s not going to make me tell him anything.’

She gets in front of me. ‘You think he’s charming?’

‘No, but he thinks he is.’ I go around her and continue wiping counters. ‘Sawyer’s a player. He does and says whatever he has to in order to win a girl over, or in my case, to get me to spill my secrets.’

‘Which are what?’

‘My hard cider recipe. Beer recipes. Who knows? I just know I can’t trust him.’ I notice a man at the end of the bar holding up his empty glass. ‘Another Lucky Lager?’ I say to him.

He nods.

‘I got it,’ Aria says, grabbing a glass and going over to the tap. ‘Gina, just go. I’ve got this. If I need something, I’ll call you.’

I sigh, setting my bar mop down. ‘Okay, fine, I’ll go and get it over with.’

Even though I’m pretending to dread this dinner, I’m actually looking forward to it.

I hate to admit this, but I like hanging out with Sawyer.

He’s fun and cute and he smiles a lot. He has good energy, the kind that draws people in.

I bet he was one of the popular kids back in high school, one of those guys who ignored girls like me, a loner who wore all black and pretended not to care what people thought or if they liked me .

Sports are the only reason I had friends back in high school.

I was on the track team, the volleyball team, and the swim team.

Spending all that time with my teammates, a few of them became friends, but we weren’t really close.

I’m not good at opening up to people, probably because I was raised by two men who’d rather die than share their feelings.

Aria brings the guy his beer then walks back to me. ‘You could act a little more excited. The guy’s making you dinner.’

I force out a smile. ‘Is that better?’

‘Way better.’ She turns me toward the door. ‘Go. And don’t worry about closing up. I can handle it.’

I laugh. ‘You think I’ll be there past two in the morning?’

‘I hope so,’ she mutters.

‘What does that mean?’ I say, turning to her.

‘Nothing.’ She smiles. ‘Go! Have fun!’

Going through the door to the back, I head to the break room to change.

I put on a different pair of jeans and trade in my G’s t-shirt and boring bra for a lacy bra and off-the-shoulder sweater.

It’s sexy but casual, like I just threw it on and didn’t put any thought into it.

The truth is I put a lot of thought into it.

I wanted something that was just tight enough and showed just enough skin to make Sawyer distracted to the point that he’s not thinking straight and will tell me what he’s up to.

He can’t think I’m stupid enough to tell him how I make my beer, so what is it he wants? What’s he trying to find out?

*?*?*

When I get to Sawyer’s brewery, I see him next to a table with a group of guys.

He’s smiling and talking loud so they can hear him over the noise in the bar.

The place is packed because he’s still running that special, the one he copied from me.

I decided not to be angry about that, but instead take it as a compliment.

He can copy my marketing tactics all he wants, but it’s the beer that will keep people coming back.

Sawyer’s beer is good, but it isn’t as good as mine, and I’m counting on that to keep me in business.

‘Gina!’ Sawyer yells, motioning me to come over.

I work my way through the crowded bar to Sawyer. ‘Sorry I’m late.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he says, leaning down to me so I can hear. ‘I didn’t realize it was so late. The place has been like this for hours. I haven’t even had time to sit down.’

‘Do you want to cancel?’

‘No, I just need to check in with Wade, make sure he’s good before I go upstairs.’

‘Hey, aren’t you the girl who works at G’s?’ one of the guys at the table says.

‘I’m the owner,’ I say, proudly.

‘What are you doing here ?’ another guy asks.

I look at Sawyer, not sure how to answer.

‘I’m showing her the software I use for orders,’ he says.

‘The one I’m using keeps crashing,’ I say, adding to the story. ‘I was going to switch to the one Sawyer uses, but I wanted to see it before I do.’

‘And you decided to do this on a Saturday night?’ the first guy asks.

‘It’s the only time I had free,’ I tell him.

‘See you guys later.’ Sawyer puts his hand on my back. ‘Let’s go.’ He leads me away, stopping next to the bartender I met the night I came to check the place out. ‘Wade, you okay if I go?’

‘Yeah, I’m good.’

‘I’ll be upstairs if you need me.’ Sawyer takes off to the side of the bar, to a long hallway that leads to a set of metal stairs. He runs up them and stops at the top, getting his keys out to unlock the door.

‘You have to lock it?’ I ask. ‘Even though you’re right downstairs?’

‘I’ve had some problems, so yeah.’

‘What kind of problems?’

‘Women coming up here.’

‘Why would—’ I stop as I answer my own question. Sawyer is hot and he owns the place. I’m not surprised girls want to sneak up to his apartment. And he’s a Kanfield, which in this town is equivalent to being a rock star.

We go in his apartment and he flips on the overhead light.

I like his place. It has an industrial look with the exposed pipes, but also some historic charm with the brick walls.

He doesn’t have much furniture, just a brown leather couch and a wood coffee table that matches the wood in the bar.

The small kitchen has an island with a metal stool next to it.

That’s probably where he eats. He doesn’t have a kitchen table.

‘Have a seat,’ he says as he passes through a curtain that I’m guessing hides his bed. His place is just one open room. There must be a bathroom near his bed, but I can’t see it from the couch where I just sat down.

‘Need help with dinner?’ I ask, noticing I don’t smell anything cooking.

‘Sorry, but I didn’t have time to make anything,’ he says, coming through the curtain.

His work shirt is off and the one he was going to put on is still in his hand.

My eyes drop to his bare chest, to the muscles along his shoulders then down to his six-pack abs.

‘You okay if we order something?’ he asks, putting his shirt on.

‘We could just do this some other night,’ I say, getting up. I wouldn’t mind staying if I hadn’t just gotten turned on at the sight of Sawyer without a shirt. I need to get out of here before I do something stupid.

‘Gina, don’t go.’ Sawyer races up to me. ‘I can have something here in ten minutes. The restaurant down the street is open until midnight and I’m friends with the owner. If I tell him I need something fast, he’ll get it here.’

‘I think I should go. You need to be downstairs. Maybe we could do this tomorrow.’

‘There’s a Packers game tomorrow. The place will be packed. Yours will too. We’ll both need to be working.’

‘My place won’t be busy. I only have two TVs. You have like ten.’

‘Point is, we can’t do this tomorrow. Just stay. I promise the food won’t take long, and in the meantime, you can have a beer or some wine and whatever’s in my fridge.’

I smile. ‘What’s in your fridge? Beer and batteries?’

‘I have more than that.’ He walks over to the kitchen and opens the fridge. ‘I’ve got the steaks I was going to cook, some cheese, eggs, a bagged salad I was going to make to go with the steak, and the cheesecake I bought for dessert.’

‘So you really were going to make me dinner,’ I say, meeting him by the fridge.

‘You thought I made that up?’ He closes the fridge and turns to me.

‘I wasn’t sure. Guys tend to promise stuff and not deliver.’

‘What guy are we talking about here? Your ex?’

I shrug. ‘Not just him. All guys are like that.’

‘Why would I promise to make you dinner and then not do it?’

‘To get me over here.’

‘For what reason? ’

‘I don’t know. Just forget it.’ I walk around the island and sit down on the metal stool.

Sawyer comes over to me. ‘I planned to make dinner, but I didn’t have time. I didn’t invite you here just to lure you up to my apartment.’

I nod. ‘Yeah, okay. So do you have a menu?’

‘For the place down the street? Yeah.’ He goes over to a drawer and pulls out a menu, handing it to me. ‘Order whatever you want. It’s on me.’

‘Sawyer, you don’t have to pay. This isn’t a date.’ I look at the menu, but I’m not reading it, my mind trying to figure out why I’m here. ‘What exactly is this?’

He laughs a little. ‘Does that mean you don’t like the menu?’

I set it down. ‘No, sorry, I meant this , tonight. Why’d you invite me over?’

‘I want to get to know you.’