Page 19 of Shaken and Stirred (Bottle Service Boys #1)

He looked good. More than good. He looked downright edible.

I blew out a silent breath and adjusted my Henley’s collar. I had to fight the urge to fan my face. Maybe the fire was too high.

No one else had noticed Alex yet, so he remained alone after James departed. I shouldn’t have been staring so openly. If he noticed me, he’d no doubt scowl and march off in the opposite direction, but I couldn’t make my eyes obey. I barely even blinked.

After a few seconds, Alex’s gaze settled on Trevor, and a soft smile curled his lips. He shook his head slightly, exasperated by Trevor and his unrequited obsession with our boss—the worst-kept secret at Top Shelf.

I still couldn’t drag my gaze from him. I should. Staring was foolish. Any second now, his attention would swing my way, and he’d—there it was—notice me.

As though flipping a switch, his face screwed up and his shoulders bunched. You’d think he was the only one in the room who knew I’d committed a heinous crime with how fast his expression turned hostile.

I sighed. Keeping my promise to Trevor would be a challenge.

The best thing I could do to avoid making a crack that would have Trevor coming for me would be to stay as far away from Alex as possible tonight, especially if we were both drinking.

I’d likely say something insulting, and he’d scowl so hard his face would freeze.

I could imagine trying to explain to our Top Shelf customers the reason his face had a permanent glower.

Well, you see, I was wasted and trying to get under his skin, so I called him freeloader like I used to when I was a dumb high schooler. After shooting lasers at me with his eyes, he scowled at me, and bam, face stuck.

Parker would fire me on the spot for damaging his golden bottle service boy.

I snickered. It might be worth it.

“Alex! You’re here!” Trevor bounded across the room to fling himself at Alex, who easily caught him. He smiled. Actually fucking smiled a huge happy upturn of his lips, complete with teeth and a half-laugh.

Something twisted in my gut.

What the hell? I’d seen the man smile before at work, plenty of times. Not at me, of course, and not those free but practiced smiles for our customers, and real ones for other coworkers.

Asshole .

Why the hell did I care? I’d made it my life’s mission to irritate that cranky fuck. His not ever smiling at me meant I’d accomplished my mission. Maybe it was less about Alex and more about the fact that no one had smiled at me that way recently.

Something had been off with me for the past few weeks. I had a huge friend group here in Boston, both from college and high school, but I’d barely reconnected with them since returning home.

I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I felt different.

It could be the secret I’d been harboring about the change in my education and career plans.

No one, and I mean no one in my friend group, would understand why I wanted to become a teacher when I had the chance to take over a billion-dollar empire.

And that was okay. No one needed to understand it.

Hell, I barely did, but I had a suspicion they wouldn’t support me either.

And that’s the part that had me biting my tongue.

I wasn’t ready for the criticism and pressure that would accompany the news getting out.

My sister’s support meant the world, but all the naysayers would drown out her voice.

I turned my back on Alex and strode toward where Luke was chatting with Dominic, one of the bartenders. Dom and I had met but hadn’t chatted much beyond drink orders.

“Hey, Ryder,” Luke said as I joined them. This was my first time seeing the club’s host out of a suit. He dressed down well in jeans and a striped blue and gray sweater. “Dom was just telling me about a customer who followed him home and tried to climb in his window.”

“No shit?” I sat on the couch next to Luke and across from Dom, who’d perched on the coffee table as though the thing didn’t cost ten thousand dollars. “Was this last night?”

Dom waved his beer bottle back and forth as he shook his head.

Dressed in baggy jeans and a band T-shirt with combat boots, Dom was a little gruffer than most of Parker’s staff.

“This was a few years ago when I lived in Chicago. I worked at a wild place with a very different vibe from Top Shelf. The best part was that the person who followed me was a woman. It was a plain old sports bar, and she had no idea I didn’t swing her way.

Poor thing got herself arrested tryna catch some dick from a dude who’d rather walk on broken glass than give it to her. ”

“Amen to that,” Luke said as I laughed along with Dom.

“I had a girl offer me two hundred bucks to sleep with her in college,” I said before taking a sip of Parker’s very nice whiskey.

“Shit, I’da done it for that. Just close my eyes and imagine Idris Elba,” Dom said with a snort. “Did you do it?”

“I tried.” I shrugged. “Got as far as taking off her bra before I bailed. Tits were not made for me.”

Both Dom and Luke burst out laughing, and from there, the conversation flowed like we’d been friends forever.

We laughed and drank, swapping stories and trying to outdo each other for the wildest ones.

I hadn’t enjoyed myself so much in ages.

Even the night I hung out with Turko and Manny, I’d had an odd sensation of not fitting in.

Here, with these men I was just getting to know, I didn’t feel the pressure of confessing my secret.

After I’d finished my first drink, Luke insisted I have one more. He returned from the bar with my refill just as Parker announced it was time for dinner.

“Come into the dining room,” he said, waving us through an arched doorway. “I kept it simple tonight. Just pizza and salad.”

I couldn’t keep my eyebrows from rising to save my life as I purposely held back to let Alex in first. Hopefully, we wouldn’t end up sitting near each other. But I’d scale that mountain if I got there. “I’m struggling to imagine Parker Door Dashing a bunch of pizzas.”

Luke laughed at my expression. “That’s because he didn’t. You’ll see.”

Sure enough, we trailed Parker into the dining room only to find a long table with a red and white checkered tablecloth.

Five platters of pizza, two giant salad bowls, and multiple bottles of red wine were spread out along the length of the table.

But not just any pizza. These pies were clearly homemade in a wood-fired pizza oven.

A chef stood off to the side in his gleaming white coat and tall hat.

All that was missing was the Italian tenor crooning in the corner.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” the chef said.

“Tonight, we have prepared for you five different pizzas. We have margarita pizza, barbecue chicken pizza, a white pizza with garlic and spinach, sausage and pepperoni pizza, and finally, one with sundried tomatoes, chicken, and pesto. Don’t be shy.

I have plenty more to serve if you finish these. Please enjoy.”

My mouth watered at the sight and smell coming from the table. “Now, this is a dinner party,” I muttered.

Dom rubbed his hands together. “Damn straight.”

“Dig in, please,” Parker said as he gestured toward the table.

Who was I to deny the host his request?

The food was excellent and the company even better. Drinks flowed easily through the meal. I don’t think my wine glass fell below a quarter full before being refilled, which meant I had no idea how much I drank.

Dangerous but fun. This was the perfect way to get to know my coworkers. The club was so busy that we rarely had time to wave as we passed each other, running back and forth with giant bottles of expensive alcohol. This dinner allowed us to bond and become friends.

I was having so much fun I’d forgotten Alex was sitting at the opposite end of the table.

Almost.

Toward the end of dinner, I made the mistake of glancing toward Trevor, who was laughing so loudly I couldn’t hear Luke next to me.

The second I turned my head, my eyes locked with Alex’s.

He sat beside Trevor, and to anyone else, it appeared he was listening to his friend’s story, but I could feel the intensity of his attention to the tips of my toes.

I swallowed a bite of dry crust that abraded my throat on the way down. I barely felt the discomfort. The force of Alex’s gaze had me frozen. Like when he first arrived, he wasn’t smiling or frowning. His eyes radiated a heat I’d never seen from him. It stole my ability to think or breathe.

The rest of the room faded to a fuzzy background. My dick thickened, and if I’d been in my right mind, I’d have checked to ensure the tablecloth hid my sin. But all I could do was bask in the fire of Alex’s gaze. Time slowed until I could mark its passing by the thump of my pulse in my throat.

What the hell was happening?

Did he feel it, or was I lost in my own delusion?

“Anyone up for billiards?” Parker’s sophisticated tone sliced through my trance without mercy. I jolted and blinked, only to find Alex talking to Trevor as relaxed as could be while I sat there with my insides churning.

Did I imagine it? The connection from seconds ago? Had I had some kind of wakeful fantasy where I dreamed the heat and electricity crackled across the long table?

My rock-hard dick thought it really happened, but Alex didn’t appear a fraction of a percent as affected as I felt.

“If you mean pool, then hell yeah,” Dom said, rubbing his hands together. “Last time I cleaned up, and I’ve got my eye on some heated grips for my bike so I can ride longer.”

Trevor snorted. “I’ll never understand you motorcycle guys. Who wants to ride around with a thousand pounds of vibrating metal between your legs?” He pursed his lips. “Hmm… you might actually be onto something, Dom.”

Dominic winked at him. “Now you’re catching on.”

Everyone at the table laughed as they stood and began to file back into the rec room while trash-talking Dom’s pool game.

I didn’t get up, partly because my dick still tented my pants, but mostly I feared my legs wouldn’t support me. I’d yet to recover from the intensity of what transpired between Alex and me, whether real or imagined.

“Ryder.” I glanced over to see Parker studying me with a tilted head. “You coming?”

I almost groaned—poor choice of words. I couldn’t be further from coming, yet now I wanted it, and I wanted Alex to make it happen.

“Uh, yeah,” I croaked. Way to sound normal, Ryder.

“You okay?”

“All good.” My voice still radiated discomfort. “I’m gonna hit the bathroom first, then I’ll be in.”

He nodded. “Use the one at the top of the stairs. No one will bother you up there.”

“Uh, thanks.” How humiliating. He probably thought my stomach was revolting after the heavy meal. I’m not sure if that was better or worse than him realizing I had a boner for another of his employees.

After Parker left, I forced myself to my feet. Thank God no one else lingered in the dining room, eyeing my tented pants with judgment.

I exited the dining room and turned left toward the staircase I saw when I’d first arrived.

Thankfully, I didn’t run into James or anyone else milling about and doing their jobs for Parker.

By the time I reached the top of the stairs, I’d managed to convince my dick to chill the fuck out.

Unfortunately, my brain didn’t get that same memo.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Alex had been staring at me.

Hungry. Hell, ravenous.

A dozen steps from the staircase, the bathroom was easy to find.

A few minutes of quiet and some splashes of cold water on my face would help me get back on track.

I opened the door and stepped inside the large powder room with a wall-mounted white stone sink and gold fixtures.

A large round mirror hung over the sink.

I shouldn’t have peeked. I’d have been better off not seeing the tipsy and horny need in my eyes.

“God, I’m fucked up,” I muttered to my image in the mirror.

“You are.”

I jumped so hard, I think my heart stopped for a few seconds.

“Alex,” I said with a gasp as I spun to face him. He stood in the open doorway, chest heaving and eyes blazing.

My eyes widened. I didn’t dare blink as I took him in.

“One time,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me. “One time for each of us. If I come first, you can stay. If you come first, you’re gone. Out of my life. You never come back to Top Shelf, and if you ever see me out, you turn and fucking leave. Deal?”

Holy shit. Holy shit.

My heart kicked into full throttle, waging a battle against my chest wall. “You mean…”

“You go first,” he said, all business as he began unbuttoning his jeans. “Get on your knees.”

My cock filled back up so fast I had to reach for the sink to keep from dropping to my knees and cracking my kneecaps.

“Are you drunk?”

He snorted. “Drunk enough not to care that this is a terrible idea. But not too drunk that I can’t consent and remember it in the morning.”

Well, that answered any questions I had about how he currently felt about me. “Same.”

“I want you gone,” he said, venom dripping from his voice as though I’d done something monstrous to him tonight when I hadn’t spoken a word to him.

He stepped into the powder room, turned, and locked the door. The snick of the locking mechanism dropping into place shot through my body like a bullet straight from the chamber.

Alex’s hands resumed their task of removing his belt and unbuttoning his jeans. “You in?”

I lunged forward, shoving him against the door with a hand on his chest. Who would believe Alex was letting me touch him? Who would believe I was about to have his cock in my mouth?

“Fuck yeah, I’m in,” I whispered against his ear. “And I’m about to give you the best goddamn blow job of your life.”

Before he could fire back with something that would cut me to the quick, I kicked the small rug where I wanted it and dropped to my knees. Alex had his jeans open and was about to slide his hand into his royal blue briefs.

I grabbed his wrist, stilling his movement. “We start like this.” Clothed, so I had the privilege of controlling the reveal of his cock.

His eyes, a darker brown than I’d ever seen and cloudy with lust, flared, but he nodded and withdrew his hand.

“Your watch.” I tilted my head in the direction of his left wrist. “Start the timer.”

“Right.”

If I said it out loud, he’d probably bolt, but I fucking loved that he was so flustered he could barely remember why we were in this position in the first place.

“Three… two… one… go,” he said as he tapped the screen of his old model smartwatch.

I shoved my nose into his groin and inhaled. “Let the game begin.”