Bobby winked. “Good man.”
I picked up my drink and moved with Shane and Conrad hot on my heels. They waited until I nabbed a seat before they peppered me with questions. “Why aren’t you sitting with us?”
“Where’s, uh, what’s the girl’s name he’s seeing now?” Conrad asked Shane like I wasn’t right there.
Shane smirked. “Yeah, right. Like I pay attention to their names anymore. He goes through them too fast to make that necessary.” He made a show of looking around me. “But surely you aren’t alone tonight?”
My brother laughed. “Of course, he is. That’s why he chose to sit at the bar. Who did you see up here that caught your attention, little bro?”
If only he knew.
Shane leaned into me. “Don’t you want to spend time with us?” He pouted, fluttering his lashes over his big brown eyes.
“Or aren’t we good enough to be seen with?” Conrad asked, faking annoyance and crossing his arms over his chest.
“What on earth are you two doing?” the man who appeared behind Conrad’s shoulder, their third, Davis asked. My brother leaned back into the older man, who instantly wrapped his arms around him from behind and rested his head on his shoulder, flashing me a smile. “Hello, Creed.”
“Thank goodness you’ve come to rescue me from these idiots. I don’t know how you deal with them all of the time. They’ve got no chill,” I teased with mock-outrage.
Shane wrapped his arm around my shoulders and scooted in close. “We have no chill? You’re the one sitting at the bar listening to other people’s conversations.”
I laughed and kissed his cheek. “You know I’m a people watcher. And they were standing right in front of me.”
They shook their heads. Then we spent a few minutes catching up before they returned to their friends. Throughout the night, the different members of their group, including them, made their way to the bar at intervals to talk. The seats on either side of me filled in, and as was my way, I made friends for the night, and chatted with whoever entered my space. They all teased me, trying to figure out who I had my eye on, not believing me when I shook my head and assured them that I was merely people watching.
But the whole time, I stayed conscious of Bartender Logan. He’d gone from flustered to the picture of serenity quickly once he began pouring drinks and taking orders. He didn’t chat up his customers the same way Bartender Bobby did, but he seemed content to let the other man entertain the crowd around the bar. He remained attentive to every person he poured for, stopping to chat whenever anyone started a conversation. He didn’t rush the customers or the waitresses when they were hemming and hawing their orders, staying serene and calm, patient.
At one point, the music over the sound system changed to an upbeat tempo, and Bartender Bobby danced over to Logan, grabbing his hand and lifting his arm to spin under it. Bobby giggled hysterically as he got Logan to take a couple of stiff, shuffling steps, causing the larger man to shake his head and chuckle a deep rich sound. My pants tightened unexpectedly as I watched his shoulders fall as the tension drained away at his coworker’s silliness. I’d never seen a man’s face transform so thoroughly. He went from lumberjack to appearing much sweeter than such a grizzly looking man should. For some reason, I found him utterly captivating.
After walking my brother and his men out to their car, I went back to the bar. I had no reason to seek out the gentle giant who’d served us all night, but there was something about him, and I couldn’t leave without at least talking to him.
“Did you need something else, sir?” Logan asked politely as I approached where he was cleaning up.
“I’m Creed,” I said, extending my hand and flashing the cocky smile that had landed many women in my bed.
“Um, Logan.” I resisted saying I know. He dried his hands off quickly on the towel at his side and shook my hand. “Was there a problem tonight?” he asked warily.
I casually leaned my elbow onto the chair right in front of him, hoping to relax him. “Not at all. The food was good and the drinks were great. I overheard you and the other bartender talking though, and since you don’t normally work nights and are leaving soon, I thought I’d hang around and keep you company until you’re done.”
His whole body startled, pale gray eyes widening and fascinating me further. Why did this man appear so vulnerable and call out to every protective instinct inside of me? For the second time tonight, my pants tightened. Yeah, I wasn’t going anywhere without getting to know the sweet Logan a little better.
Chapter Three
Logan
“You don’t have to. Bobby, the other bartender, is one of the best, and if he says he’s got it, he does. I’ll be heading out shortly.”
Creed—not that I’d needed him to introduce himself, I’d caught his name hours ago—shrugged his broad shoulders and eased onto the stool. “Well, humor me. You finish what you’re doing, and I’ll walk you out.”
To hide my confusion, I lifted my lips in my best customer service smile. “Okay, well, let me know if I can get you anything else.”
He waved me off with a grin, so I went about my business cleaning glasses, wiping down the bottles, and restocking things to make the rest of Bobby’s night smoother. The whole time, Creed’s fingers flew across the screen on his phone. Every now and then, he’d groan, but otherwise, he appeared content to just wait. But why? He’d spent a lot of the night standing at the end of the bar. Where others went back and forth from their table to get their drinks, or waited on the waitress, he’d hung out and chatted with whoever happened to walk up. Based on the conversations I’d overheard, socializing and shooting-the-breeze came easily to him. Honestly, it had made the whole night easier for me. People loved to chat up their bartenders, especially the evening crowd, and talking had never been my strong suit.
If I hadn’t overheard his brother and his men—which, how cool was that? A throuple—teasing him repeatedly through the night about how fast he went through women, I’d think maybe he’d stayed to hit on me. Since that didn’t seem to be likely, I had no idea why he patiently sat there, without actually speaking to me, playing on his phone. It seemed odd. I guessed him not staying to pick me up was actually a good thing. While Creed’s spectacular body next to most of his friends had been larger with muscle, my sheer body mass and height made me considerably bigger than him. In my experience, any man with a body that showed plenty of time spent in the gym, when they pursued me, they had only one thing in mind: get held down and fucked hard by the big tattooed guy. So not m—
“You okay over there? I’m pretty sure whatever spilled, you got it.”
Creed’s amused voice interrupted my ruminating, pulling me back into the present. I glanced up at him, confused.
He pointed to the broom in my hands. “You’ve been sweeping that same spot for about five minutes.”
“Oh.” My face heated with my embarrassment. “Sorry, I guess I got lost in my head.”
Creed set his phone down on the bartop. “Penny for your thoughts.”