Page 20 of From the Start

Nope. She smuggled into me and petted my abs. She’s interested. But she’s resisting me because she thinks I’m too young. It’s the twenty-first century. Age doesn’t matter anymore. It’s just a number.

I saunter toward the bar, but when Harper notices me, she scurries to the storage room. Good. She’d fight me for what I’m about to do.

“I don’t have time for whatever this is,” Sloane says when I reach the bar.

“I’m not here to cause problems. I’m here to help.”

“If you’re here to help.” She throws a towel at me. “Get to pouring the beer.”

This is working out even better than I expected. I make my way behind the bar.

“Where’s the order?”

She shows me how to bring up the orders, and I get to work.

“What are you doing?” I nearly jump at Harper’s question. I manage to stop tapping the beer before it overflows and place it on the waiting tray.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

She scowls. “I didn’t hire you to work behind my bar.”

“I’m merely helping out. If you don’t need my help, I’ll go back to my brothers.” I nod toward the line waiting for service at the bar.

“I can handle this.”

“I know you can. My slugger can handle anything.”

She blows out a breath. “I’m not your slugger. I’m not a slugger at all. I wasn’t the one handing out punches.”

“Because you were too busy being distracted by my manly chest on display.” I wiggle my eyebrows.

She snorts. “I was merely surprised you didn’t have a chest full of tattoos you got while you were too drunk to remember.”

“No tattoos. I don’t let any random person touch my chest.”

Her eyes flare before she clears her throat. “If you want to spend your Saturday night working for free, be my guest.”

“Oh, now I’m your guest.”

“I can’t with you. I just can’t…” She throws her arms in the air before walking off.

Sloane nudges me. “More beer pouring and less drooling over the boss, Casanova.”

I get back to work but this time with a smile on my face. Harper is warming to me. I’ll keep hammering at the ice around her heart until she finally melts in my arms.

All the effort will be worth it in the end. Harper’s worth it.

Chapter 7

“Kai needs to look the word romantic up in the dictionary because he doesn’t have a clue what it means.” ~ Harper

Harper

My phone rings and wakes me. I groan and cover my head with my pillow.

I didn’t get home last night until six. I guess I should say this morning. I am not getting out of this bed for the phone.

“Answer your phone, Harper,” Dad yells. “Or I’ll come in there and tell whoever it is you can’t answer the phone because you’ve been abducted by aliens and are getting probed.”