Test Drive - Samantha Chase Page 0,2

babysat and walked the dogs, but that really didn’t count. The babysitting was so much fun–Josh was the cutest little boy, and they shared a love of trains and Mickey Mouse. And the dogs were…well, that was fun too. While her friends were out working real jobs, Willow felt like she was just sort of hanging out and doing enjoyable tasks that she happened to get paid for. There was no workweek to end, so why go out to celebrate it?

The other thing that made her hesitant about going?

Her fake boyfriend was based on a real guy.

The bartender at McGee’s–Levi.

Unable to help herself, she sighed dreamily.

“I am so screwed.”

Of course, Levi had no idea she was using him in her make-believe relationship, and if he ever found out, she’d be mortified.

And that was saying something since the only reason they ever met was because she had fallen flat on her face on the sidewalk right outside McGee’s and he had witnessed the whole thing. He had run out of the pub and helped her up and then carried her inside.

Was it any wonder she was crushing on him? He was practically a knight in shining armor, for crying out loud!

He’d cleaned her up and made her call her friends to come and hang out with her at the pub until she felt better. After that, it had become a weekly thing for them.

Not her falling on her face, but the hanging out part.

Although she had been known to trip a time or two…

Her phone chimed again, and she picked it up and swiped the screen to shut it up. Sighing, Willow considered her options. She could bail and text the girls that she wasn’t feeling well, but, like she said, she hated lying. Another option was she could go for just a little while and then fake a headache…

“Pretty soon I’m going to be smelling smoke because my pants will be on fire! Why is this so difficult?”

Knowing she’d feel too guilty with either of those choices, she got up and went to freshen up her makeup and put on something other than yoga pants.

“Why haven’t yoga pants become acceptable sociable attire yet?” she wondered. But once she walked by the full-length mirror in her bedroom, she knew it wouldn’t matter even if they were. There was no way she was going to parade around the pub in front of Levi–or any male for that matter–looking like this. Willow knew and accepted the fact that she wasn’t one of those girls who looked super-cute in yoga pants.

She just looked schleppy.

“So not the look I want to be remembered for.”

Fifteen minutes later, she grabbed her purse and headed out the door like she was heading to her own execution.

And secretly hoped she could get from her car to the pub without hurting herself.

“Hey, Boss, can you add a case of beer glasses to the next order?”

“Why?”

“Because Dex just dropped a rack of them when he was unloading the dishwasher.”

Groaning, Levi walked into his office and turned on his computer. With a frown, he pulled up the program he used for orders and quickly made the notation. “That’s the third rack this month. From now on, he mops floors and takes out the trash. That’s it.”

“You got it.”

He waited until the office door closed before relaxing in his chair. It was a Friday night, and McGee’s was busy as usual, and yet not so busy that he didn’t notice that Willow and her friends hadn’t shown up yet. Besides the fact that he’d just walked around the pub looking for her, no one had mentioned it to him either.

Friday nights had become fun again since meeting Willow and he couldn’t help that he looked forward to seeing her and hanging out with her. Ever since the day he saw her face-plant on the sidewalk and ran out to help her, they’d bonded. Granted, he was friendly with everyone who came into McGee’s, but…some more than others.

Willow was sweet and shy and funny, and he found himself stepping away from the bar more and more on Friday nights so he could hang out with her.

And her friends.

Okay, he seriously wouldn’t mind if her friends opted to skip a Friday or two–or seven–but they were a package deal and it was fine.

Sort of.

Mildly annoying, but…whatever.

Normally he would have considered flirting with Willow, or simply asking her out, but she was different. Not only because she seemed incredibly shy, but he was enjoying getting to