“No, babe. The hot boss.”
I frown but I don’t know why that idea irks me so much. “Er, no.”
She pouts at me. “Did your mother never teach you to share?”
“Arturo’s gay.”
Clem stares at me, her eyes filled with suspicion. “I’m not buying it. I heard what he called you before—Pequeña azul.”
“What does that mean? Azul is blue, right?”
She grins and dips a chip into her guac. “Little blue.”
“Huh.” My hands automatically find and toy with a lock of my blue curls.
She tracks the movement and smiles. “Does he give all his staff nicknames, or just the ones he wants to fuck?”
I frown. “You can’t sleep with my boss, Clem.”
“Why not?” She crunches her tortilla chip and swallows. “Unless ... you’re sleeping with him?”
“Oh my god, I’m not sleeping with him. I just told you, I finally slept with—”
“But you want to.”
Pink creeps into my cheeks. “I did not say that.”
“You didn’tnotsay that.”
I throw a lime wedge at her. It lands against her cleavage with a heavy splat, and she picks it up and sucks it. I pour her a shot of tequila and set the salt on the bar beside it.
“You like him. You little whore. All this time you’ve been harboring a gargantuan lady boner for your boss as well as Gabe.”
“I’m not harboring anything for my boss. I love working here, and I love the staff.”
“You mean you’d love to workhisstaff.”
“Stop it. Arturo’s been good to me. He’s nice.”
“Nice, but you know he’s all dark and twisty in the bedroom. Mexicans always are.”
I flatten my lips into a straight line. “Um, I don’t think you can generalize like that.”
“Bitch, I’m Latina. He and I probably come from the same fucking village. I can generalize however I want, and that man”—she points to Arturo who catches the gesture and edges closer to the bar—“that man wants to fuck your brains out, tie you down, and make you call him Papi as you beg for his cock.”
“Will you shut up, please?” I beg.Too late. Art stands beside me at the bar, and there’s no way he didn’t at least catch the tail end of that.
“Well, this sounds like a colorful conversation.”
I grimace and turn my best sheepish smile on him. “Sorry, she’s just leaving.”
“Such a shame, you haven’t introduced me yet.”
Clem thrusts her hand across the bar for Arturo to shake. “Clementine.”
He shakes her hand, but then turns it and presses a kiss to her skin. “Arturo, pleased to meet you, Clementine.”
“I hear you’ve been taking good care of my girl, Lo.”