Page 41 of Smokin’ Situation (Masked Men of Sage Springs #3)
“Don’t worry, your job is secure,” he chuckled, stepping back into the office. “I wouldn’t know what to do with this place without you. It’s bad enough Hazel abandoned us to go draw naughty pictures, if you left, I’d be screwed.”
At least one man in my life couldn’t live without me—even if it wasn’t the one I wanted.
Leaving Hudson in the office to finish his paperwork, I made my way to the front, absently scanning the tables for familiar faces, pausing when I recognized the man sitting in the corner booth.
Baker nodded when he saw me standing there, but quickly returned his attention to the papers on the table.
I wondered what the story was behind him being here alone and not at his apartment or his parents’ house for the holiday, but I was sure my sister had a part in him coming here.
While some of our regulars had taken up residence on the stools at the bar, there weren’t many other faces I could pick out of the crowd, which was a relief.
“There’s our favorite firecracker,” one of them joked, tipping his glass in my direction, but they were busy watching a baseball game on the television screen mounted on the wall above the bar.
“Nah, Haz is the firecracker nowadays since she took up with that bad boy next door. This one is more like a sparkler—flashy and mesmerizing, but she won’t do too much damage. Now that Charley… she’s like a mortar. Don’t treat her with caution and she’ll blow you to smithereens,” another chimed in.
“Now gentlemen, I know you were taught better than to compare women to inanimate objects,” I teased, but they didn’t seem fazed, returning to arguing over which team was hitting better in the game they were watching .
“Hey, Ann,” the newest bartender on our roster, Noah, greeted as I stepped behind the bar. “I didn’t know you were on tonight.”
“Technically, unless you need me, I’m not here. But I’ll work on getting stuff restocked back here while you do your thing. I’m not here to cramp your style. But if you need me or want to take a break, I can step in.”
He nodded, moving to the opposite end of the bar, where he turned on the charm and greeted a group of young women with a dimpled smile.
“You have a hot date tonight?” A deep voice asked, and I blinked as I looked up, straight into Baker’s amused hazel-hued eyes.
“Um, no. Not exactly. No dates for me. Not anymore.”
He swiveled his bar stool side to side as he rested his elbows on the bar top, fingers steepled under his chin.
“Well, you can’t just drop that kind of comment and expect me not to be curious. What did cowboy do?”
He hadn’t done anything other than rescue the wrong woman.
“What makes you think it’s his fault?”
“Isn’t it always the guy’s fault?” he laughed, but there was an edge to it. I’d never outright asked what went on all those years ago between him and my sister, but since she held a grudge like no one else, I had a feeling he’d done something she deemed unforgiveable.
His older sister Addi and I had been in the same friend group in high school, but we’d lost touch once she left for college a year before me, and I’d never reached out to see if she knew anything.
“Not always,” I sighed, picking up a cloth and wiping at a nonexistent spot on the counter. “Some women are capable of screwing things up all on their own by making reckless decisions.”
“You’ve always seemed pretty cautious, kind of like the other Thomas sister I know. I have a hard time believing you’re all that reckless.”
That might have been true a week ago, but all the decisions I’d made since the festival had been wildly out of character. Still, I was having a hard time regretting most of them. It felt good to do what I wanted for once.
“You’d be surprised…” I trailed off.
“Dude was down bad at the festival for you. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you.
I even warned him how much trouble you and your sister were, but he couldn’t help himself.
We all saw how he looked at you the other night too and you can’t fake that kind of chemistry. He’s an idiot if he walks away now.”
My cheeks flushed at Baker’s comments and as I recalled Tripp’s intensely focused gaze as he’d moved through the festival crowd on his way to help me. Right before the first time I embarrassed myself by passing out.
“I think my sister is right, you are delusional,” I replied, but he just laughed in response.
“Your sister is always right, but I’m not that delusional. Just you wait and see.”
Leaning back, I scanned the spare bottles underneath the counter, making an inventory in my head of what needed replenishment. “Since you’re here, why don’t you put those muscles to good use and help me carry crates out from the storage room.”
“And why should I do that?” he asked, quirking one eyebrow.
“Because I know all my sister’s secrets and if you want to get in her good graces, I might be able to help.”
“Don’t know all her secrets,” he muttered, spinning backward and hopping off the stool. He held out his arm, gesturing toward the hallway that led to the storage rooms. “Grace before beauty.”
“Did you just call yourself beautiful?” I laughed, shaking my head. He was just as ridiculous as I remembered, but maybe having him as a distraction for a little while would keep my mind off things I didn’t want to think about.
“I know my assets,” he responded with a grin, following me down the hallway.
Baker was a dutiful assistant, holding crates while I pulled bottles down and recorded what stock was left on the clipboard Hudson used for inventory .
He didn’t harass me about Tripp anymore, deciding to tell funny stories from the fire station to fill the silence, careful to avoid mentioning the handsome cowboy firefighter who was the elephant in the room.
“Annie, are you back here?” Hudson’s voice carried down the hallway and I put the bottle I’d just pulled down in the crate on Baker’s lap.
Poking my head out the doorway, I frowned as I saw Charley dressed in barn clothes dotted with straw following Hudson down the hallway. “Hey, what’s up? Does Noah need me out front?”
“Someone needs you out front,” Charley said, a mischievous grin tugging at her lips.
“We’re in the middle of something right now,” I replied, gesturing to the imposing firefighter—holding a crate full of liquor—who’d followed me into the hallway.
“Hi, Baker,” Charley greeted, and he winked at her in return. Hudson narrowed his eyes at the younger man, but let it go.
“Annie, you need to go out front. Because they can’t stay out there all night, and they’re asking for you.”
“Who is asking for me?”
“Just, don’t worry about it.” Walking past Hudson, Charley grabbed my arm and towed me down the hallway.
Curious stares followed us toward the front doors of the bar, and I frowned as I saw several people abruptly sitting who had been looking at something outside through the windows along the front of the building.
Pausing at the front door, I pulled Charley to a stop. “Seriously, who’s out there? I have no desire to be fodder for the gossip train this week.”
“Too late for that now,” she replied, pushing open the door and grabbing a hold of my wrist to tug me into the parking lot.
While I’d been expecting one of two men to be out there, waiting to yell at me for being an idiot, that wasn’t exactly all that was waiting for me in the parking lot.