She closes her eyes and takes one more deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.” She knocks on the door and we stand there, quietly waiting for David to let us in. “You don’t have to wait with me, you know,” she says, never taking her eyes from the door.

“Yeah, I do,” I say, grabbing one of her hands in mine in an attempt to calm her.

“Can I help you guys with something?” a deep voice says from behind us. Fucking Reid. He’s rarely here, and two days in a row is pretty much unheard of.

I let go of Alex’s hand just long enough to turn around and catch a glimpse of him. The guy always wears a freaking suit, but tonight he’s wearing jeans and a Loft 10 t-shirt. The only difference between us is our shoes. His are black Italian leather and probably cost more than one month of my rent. “We’re waiting for David. He’s supposed to have Alex’s t-shirt.”

“Yeah, well David’s still sick. Let me grab you one and you can get changed, then I’ll get you started with orientation, Alex,” he says, never taking his attention off her. I don’t like the way he looks at her, and I can’t think of any other employee that Reid Murphy has ever trained. “Dane you can get behind the bar. We have a large party coming in tonight, so you need to make sure the coolers are fully stocked,” he adds, looking down at his watch.

Alex tugs on my arm and nods her head, letting me know she’s okay. I lean in to give her a kiss, but she turns, forcing me to kiss her cheek instead. When I pull back to say goodbye, her eyes are narrowed at me. She doesn’t want to have a kissing session in front of our boss. I get it, but the as**ole needs to know she belongs to me. I know him well enough to know he’s used to getting what he wants, but Alex is going to be the exception.

I glare at Reid as I walk by. If he’s at all scared of me, he doesn’t show it. This is going to be a long night, I think, as I go to work stocking the coolers. I can feel the tension in my arms and shoulders as I carry box after box. Alex and Reid disappeared into his office as soon as I left them, and they haven’t come out since. It’s not that I don’t trust her, but Reid is another story.

“Hey, man, what are you so wound up about tonight? I would hate to be one of those boxes. You do realize those bottles are breakable, right?” Jay jokes, leaning against the bar with his arms folded over his chest.

“Shut up. You would be too if your girlfriend was in Reid Murphy’s f**king office with the door shut,” I spit, feeling my nostrils flare.

“Dane, have you seen the way that girl looks at you? If a girl ever looks at me that way, I’m skipping past the whole relationship thing and proposing marriage. You’re wrapped all the way around her heart, man, and no one else is getting in,” Jay says, patting me on the back. I’m not blind; I see the way she looks at me, but her incident with Mason put a little hole in my confidence. We were broken up then, I get that, but she said I owned her heart then, too. Some days I just can’t get past it.

“And how many relationships have you been in, Jay?” I ask, turning to empty the last box.

“Not as many as you,” he smiles, turning to wipe down the bar.

It’s a little after nine, and the place will start filling up any minute. I like working here. It’s not my dream job by any means, but I make good money and time goes by fast because we’re so busy. I just don’t know if this is the place for Alex.

The door to Reid’s office finally opens just as the place starts to come alive. I’m eager to get a peek at Alex, and I swear to God if he did anything to upset her, I’ll lose my shit. She surprises me by coming through the door with a huge smile on her face. My jaw clenches when Reid exits wearing a similar expression. This is going to be a long f**king night if he thinks he’s in charge of entertaining her and following her around like he owns her.

“Hey guys, I’m going to pair Alex with Kara to learn the ropes. If anyone needs help with anything, I’ll be in my office,” Reid announces before shooting Alex one more smile and turning to go back to his office.

“How’s it going?” I ask Alex, trying to hide my displeasure.

“Good, I think I’m going to like it here,” she says, resting her elbows on the bar.

“Nice shirt, Alex,” Jay says, appearing beside me. I was so caught up in the expression on her face when she walked out of his office that I didn’t see the t-shirt. It’s tight. Way too tight. I’m in so much trouble, I think, as I go take an order at the end of the bar.

I watch Alex follow Kara to the VIP section to take drink orders and at least a dozen eyes turn to look at her retreating ass. I keep myself busy and the next couple hours fly by. Kara and Alex are so busy running around from table to table that I haven’t had a chance to talk to her.

Things finally start to slow down a little bit, so I run to the cooler in the back room to get some things to restock before it starts to pick back up again. I open the door to find Alex standing in the corner of the cooler with her eyes closed. I slowly walk toward her, careful not to ruin her moment. “Hey, what are you doing in here?” I ask, resting my hands on her hips.

She doesn’t startle or open her eyes. It’s like she can sense me. “It’s so hot out there. I’m going to need another shower after work,” she replies, reaching back to pull her hair over her shoulder. I notice the way her ni**les perk up under her shirt and my pulse instantly starts to race. I feel like I’m daydreaming, but when I slide my hands up and run my thumbs over her nipples, I know she’s really here.

She tilts her head back giving my lips access to her slender neck. I watched her walk around the bar for a few hours thinking about doing just this. Being able to see her, but not touch her, requires every bit of willpower I have. She moans softly as I gently pinch her ni**les between my thumb and index finger. Her reaction makes me feel like I’m going to explode at any moment.

“Dane, we should stop. Someone could walk in here,” she murmurs, pulling my hair between her fingers. But I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to. She’s my temptation, and no part of me wants to fight it.

“I just want to play,” I say, capturing her lips with mine before she has a chance to argue with me anymore. I’m not in sweet mode as I attack her lips and press my tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. I don’t know what spell she has me under, but I can’t get enough.

She curves her h*ps into me and I know she feels exactly what she’s doing to me. It doesn’t take much. As our mouths continue their dance, I find the hem of her shirt and run my fingers over her tone stomach. I feel her unzipping my jeans and use my hand to stop her. She pulls back, questioning me with her eyes, and I shake my head. This is about her right now.

I free her br**sts from her bra and take advantage of what the cold air is doing to her nipples, teasing and pulling. I turn us so that my back is to the door before lifting her shirt to taste her. The chance that someone could walk in at any minute heightens my senses, but I focus on the girl in front of me. Her hand begins running up and down the front of my jeans giving me a little pleasure as I move my lips back up to meet hers. My fingers rub the sensitive spot between her legs as she throws her head back and closes her eyes. I use my free hand to pull her face back toward me, and kiss her until she’s having trouble catching her breath.

I wrap my arm around her to support her. I think I’m making my girl a little weak in the knees. She breaks the kiss, throwing her head back again. “Dane,” she pants. “Oh my God.”

Something about doing this here makes me feel alive. I press my lips right below her ear. “Come for me, baby,” I whisper against her neck, and she lets go at the same time I cover her mouth to swallow her screams. I feel like I’m in high school again because I almost come from the light touch of her fingers over my denim-covered erection. I remove her hand and rest my forehead against hers. She has that sexy, satisfied look on her face, a look that belongs to me. “I hate watching all the guys in the bar check you out,” I whisper, pulling her shirt back down.

She smiles. “They can look all they want, Dane, but you know I belong to you.”

I close my eyes. “Mine,” I say before opening them again.

“Yours,” she whispers, pressing her lips to mine. She feels and tastes like heaven. I hate when the jealousy sweeps through me, but good things don’t usually last for me. Maybe I’m just waiting for her to realize she can find someone better, someone who can give her the things that she’s used to, someone who hasn’t lived such a f**ked up life. She chose me, though. It might take awhile for it to sink in, but my dream girl isn’t a dream anymore.

I hear the door open behind me and quickly place an arm on either side of Alex to shield her. “What’s taking so long in here,” I hear. It’s Jay. He’s probably ready to kill me; the bar is probably packed.

“I’ll be out in just a minute. I had to take care of something,” I say, smiling down at Alex whose biting her lower lip, trying not to giggle.

I glance back to see Jay moving toward us. “Hey, I said give me a minute.”

Alex peeks over my shoulder and I watch a shit eating grin play on Jay’s face. “Okay, I get it but hurry. It’s starting to get crazy again.” As soon as he’s gone, Alex and I work to straighten our clothes, and I help her fix her wild hair. I notice her lip-gloss is smeared and use my thumb to clean her up.

“Here, you have a little on you too,” she says, licking her thumb and rubbing it along the sides of my mouth. I want to taste her again, but if I do, we’ll never get out of here and the last thing I need is Reid popping his head in.

“Thanks, baby,” I say, kissing the tip of her nose. “We should probably get back out there.”

“I’m going to use the bathroom quick and I’ll be right out,” she says, squeezing my arm as she walks past me.

I spend the rest of the night watching her walk back and forth between the bar and tables. I don’t look at the other guys around her even once; the smile she throws my way every time our eyes meet is enough to reassure me that I have nothing to worry about. What she does when we get home to reward me for what I did in the cooler sets it in stone.