Page 3

CHAPTER 3

Henry

I set my sights on my sister and the other members of Giselle’s party from behind the bar as I gathered waters for the table together, watching with perhaps a little bit of fear of missing out.

My sister, Mia, and Giselle had been friends for years, so it wasn’t like it was unexpected that Giselle would have asked her to be a bridesmaid. What was unexpected was how Giselle constantly opened the invitation to me to join her and the wedding party at events that were deemed for the wedding party themselves. Like tonight, they had all decided they needed a “night out” and had decided to come to M’s Place for the monthly Bar Bingo and Karaoke. Giselle texted me, as well as my sister, inviting me, but unfortunately I’d been called in to work due to a last minute call off. Which happened to be the very place they were going.

How embarrassing that I couldn’t hang out with everyone because I would be the one serving them.

But I guess, in a way it was like I was still part of the group... even if I couldn’t really hang out because I was working.

The party themselves was a decent size, and I recognized a few other individuals at their table, even though I knew they weren’t part of the main party. Taylor, the local florist, and Giselle’s GQ-esque brother were also in attendance.

Though from my understanding the older Sanderson sibling was both elusive and single. Not that either of those things should matter to me, but it was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who liked to keep to themselves in this gossip-ridden town.

While Mia and Giselle were practically joined at the hip in their younger years, they were also a few years older than me, which meant when they were giggling over heartthrobs and having sleepovers, I was still playing video games and building Legos.

To be frank, I wasn’t part of the it crowd, and I didn’t spend a lot of time over the Sanderson’s. It wasn’t even until Giselle’s engagement that I’d met her older brother, for a millisecond before he was being pulled away by their mother for something.

Still, I had to respect the man for doing his own thing and staying out of the mouths of the Sunday Susans who loved to dish over who was romancing who.

I headed over to the table, if only to say hello and get their orders started, but between the bar and the hightop, something changed.

It was like the closer I got to them, to him, I could feel this magnetic pull, like the planets were aligning or some shit.

I shook off the weird feelings as I set my tray down, dispersing the drinks. Mia threw her arms around me, Giselle squealed in excitement, Aaron and Riley entangled in some deep discussion about hockey, and Lane and Lacey were, of course, entranced in one another’s eyes as usual.

Which left Julie and Grayson as my focal points.

Heat enveloped me as I caught Grayson’s steady gaze, and I couldn’t help but meet it.

At the engagement, he’d looked rather dapper in his expensive suit, every bit the well-to-do bachelor, but in the low light of M’s Place, dressed down in a pair of tailored chinos and a dark blue button down, his dark hair swept back like some teenage heartthrob from those old magazines, I couldn’t help but gape at his features.

His perfect jawline, plush, pouty lips.

Deep, rich hazel eyes that reminded me of autumn sunsets over the lake.

God, he was beautiful.

And like an idiot, I’d only realized I was staring when I heard the tail end of Julie’s drink order. I quickly recovered, thankfully, and continued around the table, making eye contact with everyone except the man whose stare was burning a hole in my back at the moment.

Finally, when I could no longer ignore the hot older brother of my sister’s bestie, I turned to face him with dignity, but I was weak.

I was barely able to form a coherent sentence around the man, apparently captivated by his dreamy sunset eyes, and the way his shirt clung to his form like a second skin, drawing attention to his toned arms, his strong form.

Somehow, I’d managed to take the man’s order without flatlining completely, though I hightailed it back to the bar like I was being chased by fucking zombies if only to get a breath of air, regain my sanity.

What the hell was wrong with me?

It wasn’t like I’d never met or seen the man before, but somehow...

Somehow, this felt different, like we were both meeting again, as someone new.

And I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Thankfully, Giselle and her party were true to their word. They’d come to let loose, and boy did they let loose.

As I loaded up the empties from their second and third round of drinks, Mia grabbed me by the arm.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” she asked with a giggle.

“To the kitchen to drop these off...”

“Play with us,” she said as she waved her bingo dabber at me.

“Oh, I don’t know if I can, I—”

“Oh come on, Henry, surely you can just tell your boss your unruly customers forced you into it, and the customer is always right,” Giselle said with a smirk as she slid a bingo card over to me.

My gaze caught Grayson’s, who just shrugged as he drank gracefully from his glass.

“Best not to deny them. They are ruthless,” he said, shaking his head to dispel some stray hair that had fallen out of place.

My gaze settled on the way he wrapped his pillowy lips around the large olive, the sight of his tongue along the green skin eliciting my cock to attention.

My mind was apt to wander at the sight, images of those lips wrapped around other things pushed forward in my mind as I wondered what said lips would feel like against mine.

I’d never been a person to deny fantasy, but then again, most of the places I’d worked left little room for attractive men and steamy fantasies to begin with.

It wasn’t like I didn’t have a selection here, in Jasper Springs, but I also didn’t have the best luck when it came to most things. And I had even worse luck when it came to men. The thought of my ex threatened to rise up, but I shoved it down quickly.

I didn’t want to think about the past, and certainly not while I was at work.

While my sister had worked at the same job for the last seven years, I was still looking for that adult career. You know, the one where you get up everyday, punch in, do your thing. The job that might be boring, but was stable.

After getting let go from my last job, I’d had zero luck finding something that paid as well, but I knew waiting tables would be enough to get me by until I’d found something else.

Still, Jasper Springs may have been a lot of things, but it certainly wasn’t lacking attractive men who were most certainly out of my league.

Grayson slowly sucked the olive, using his teeth to pull it off the toothpick, and I felt my heartbeat quicken. My cock voiced its own opinion by twitching against the inside of my pants, and I was more than thankful my most inappropriate erection was hidden by my damn server apron.

I gulped as I forced myself to break his sensual stare, if only because now was certainly not the time to get all hot and bothered.

“Just one game,” Mia pouted.

I sighed, looking over my shoulder at Max, who seemed to be chatting up someone at the bar at the moment, which meant she too was distracted.

Maybe one game wouldn’t hurt.

“Sure, but uh, just one game,” I said as the host called out the first number, B-6.

I marked it immediately as grunts and yes’s surrounded the space. I noticed Grayson had not moved. Instead, he looked rather uninterested in his game.

With every number called, I neared closer to Bingo, eliciting squeals of excitement from my sister and the other party members.

Except Grayson that was, who looked at my card with a scowl.

“G-54!” The host yelled, and my sister yelled “Bingo!” faster than I could comprehend I’d won.

I’d... won!

Maybe my luck was starting to turn around.