“Eye Candy alert!” Jen my workmate, says, leaning on the bar counter.
I look up and my heart nearly stops beating. You can tell a lot by how a man walks and the man approaching the bar counter has an unhurried sexy swagger. He reaches the counter and stares with liquid brown eyes at the displayed bottles behind me.
Jen grabs the beer bottle from my hand. “Don’t let him get away,” she mutters and leaves.
I’m too mesmerized by the stranger to respond. He’s dressed in a blue button-down shirt that molds the fullness of his chest and his wide shoulders. My breathing goes shallow and my legs turn to jelly. I can’t remember the last time a man had such an effect on me. And that’s saying a lot because I work at The Alma Cocktail Bar and I get to interact with attractive men every night.
I realize that my mouth is open, and I quickly snap it shut. I grab a cloth and wipe the counter in front of him. It’s already clean but I need something to do. My gaze falls on his full lips and I imagine nibbling on them. He looks like a good kisser. You cannot have such lips and be a horrible kisser. I rouse myself from my fantasies and smile at him. “Hi, welcome to The Alma. What can I get you?” I say.
He stares at me as if he knows me from somewhere but cannot place me. Not likely. This was a man you never forgot. He exudes raw sexy magnetism before uttering a single word.
“A bourbon on the rocks,” he says. His voice is velvety, like a caress. A voice that can make you come just by whispering dirty words in your ear.
I turn away to mix his drink and pray that he doesn’t notice that my breath is hitched. My hands tremble. What the hell is wrong with me? This man is a customer. There’s an unwritten rule here at work that servers should not date customers. A rule that my colleagues flout all the time.
Okay. I desperately wrack my brain for another reason to stop romanticizing about the sexy stranger. I bring the image of my ex to the forefront of my mind. Calling Eric my ex is stretching the truth a little. We were together for a total of fourteen days. Most of which was spent between the sheets. Then he disappeared. He stopped taking my calls and answering my messages. A hit and run. It wasn’t the first time it happened. My sister says that I give my heart away too quickly.
She’s right. When I meet a man I’m attracted to, in a matter of days, I’m already planning the wedding. What can I say, I’m optimistic like that. Scratch that. Used to be. I’ve changed. I’m not going to let myself get hurt again. No more planning weddings on the second date.
Not that I’ve stopped believing. I’ll just take my time searching for my prince. I know he’s out there. The idea of finding a good person is what has kept me going. I long for a family of my own. A chance to do things the right way. Coming from a dysfunctional home, I admire families that seem to have it together. I want that for myself. I need to belong somewhere. But salivating after a stranger is not the right way to go about it. Not to mention that bars are not the right place to meet a serious boyfriend.
I turn to the stranger and when I place his drink on a coaster in front of him he smiles, and all the warnings disappear from my mind.
“Thank you,” he says and glances around the bar.
I know that look. I see it in almost all the male customers who come in and a few women too. He’s on the hunt. He’s here to look for a woman. I step away from him and wipe down the sparkling clean counter.
I’m relieved when I spot two customers headed to the bar. One of them is Jeremy, a regular.
“Hi Lexi,” he says and like a real gentleman, he pulls a stool out for his date and helps her sit down.
“Hi,” I say and smile. With Jeremy, I keep conversation to the bare minimum.
“What will you have to drink?” he asks his date, a sweet smile on his face.
She’s charmed. I can tell by the way she looks at him with adoring eyes. I push back visions of the other