Page 65 of Kiss and Tell

My heart lifted at the teasing tone. It was just like he used to casually flirt with me before.

Maybe things could go back to normal.

“Do you want to go over what’s going to happen for these interviews?” I asked.

“What’s there to talk about?” He shrugged. “We ask them if they know how to tend a bar, talk to them to make sure they’re not crazy people, boom, done.”

“It’s a lot more complicated than that,” I told him. “And this is only round one. When we narrow down the candidates we’ll need them to show us their drink making skills.”

“Why can’t anything with this ever be easy?” he said.

“If it was easy, everyone would own their own business,” I told him. “Let me ask most of the hard questions. You can be casual to put them at ease.”

“I don’t want to force you to do all the dirty work,” he said.

“You’re better with people than I am,” I said. “But please, for the love of god, don’t flirt with any of the women. We don’t need any sexual harassment lawsuits.”

“Of course I won’t,” he said, looking affronted. “I know when to turn off the charm.”

“Then why didn’t you turn it off for me?” I shot back.

He smirked. “Because there’s something about your long legs and those tight pencil skirts that switches off my brain.”

I snorted. “We better hope none of the women coming here to be interviewed are wearing pencil skirts, then.”

“I’ll be good, I promise,” he said. “I understand this is important. You’ve made me see that. Maybe when I first signed on for this I thought I could just show up and Walt would give me a paycheck, but I’m taking this seriously now.”

The backs of my eyes stung again, but for an entirely different reason this time.

Half the reason he was taking this seriously was because of me. He knew how important this was because it was important to me.

My heart warmed. Even after telling him the two of us could never happen he still wanted to help me, to make sure I did well for the sake of my career.

Connor really was a good guy. A good friend. I was lucky that I hadn’t completely ruined things with him. I was lucky to have a guy like him.

My breath caught in my throat as Connor’s voice echoed in my ears.

You’re so gorgeous,he had said.I can’t believe how lucky I am.

My gut churned and twisted as something almost like grief welled inside me.

I’d had Connor once, and it had been magical.

And it could never happen again.

A knock sounded at the front door. I cleared my throat, putting aside the heartache bubbling up inside me.

“Let’s bring the first one in, shall we?” I said, preparing myself.

But if I’d thought Connor was going to be the good cop and I would have to be the bad cop, I was wrong.

“Tell me about a time you made a mistake on the job, and explain how you resolved it,” Connor said. “Be as detailed as possible in your answer.”

Connor stared directly at the guy on the other side of the table. There was no hint of his usual smile. Instead, Connor looked impatient, his demeanor almost aggressive. He’d been grilling the guy for twenty minutes straight, question after question, leaving no time for small talk.

Beads of sweat appeared on the guy’s brow as he sat up pin straight.

“Um, well…” The guy darted his eyes to me.