But once again, the petty part of me rose up. "Sure." I slid into the booth next to Dax. "Are you guys taking a break from a case?"
"We just finished up with a bigwig on a trip to Japan. This is our first night out in a couple of weeks,” Dax said.
"I see you have two new bartenders." The woman’s gaze latched on the bar, or more accurately, Sam.
"Jared is new. Sam is just filling in for tonight."
She waggled her brows. "Is Sam the pirate? He definitely has some moves."
I had the urge to pick up Dax’s drink and toss it on her. I tamped it down because the last thing I wanted was to be jealous.
"Have you taken advantage of the music?" I asked.
"Not yet. But I wouldn’t mind a twirl around the floor with the Sea Siren herself," Dax said.
I smiled and nodded. "Well, let's go, then. I'll try not to drown you."
He laughed and put his hand on my lower back as we walked toward the floor. That petty part of me had me glancing up at the bar, and I was pleased to see Sam's affable smile drop into a glare. Eat your heart out, Sam Clarke.
CHAPTERFIVE
Sam
Oh, hell no.My gaze fixated on Kate as a gangster put his hand on her back, leading her to the dance floor.
They moved to the music, and watching Kate’s sublime body was like watching art in motion. My dick stirred in my pirate pants, making me shift. Thank God I was behind the bar as I didn’t need the ladies flaunting themselves at me to think I was responding to them.
As Kate and mob-guy moved in a circle, I could see his face, his gaze on Kate’s body. I had no doubt that his dick was stirring too.
The urge to jump over the bar and kick his ass was almost more than I could resist. By the look of him, I'd probably lose the fight. It wasn't the gangster suit that made him look dangerous. The man had a dark edge to him that made me think of a mercenary or a hired goon.
Dammit. And the night had been going so well. I had stayed away from Kate for the last week, hoping that my absence might affect her in a way that she wouldn't automatically put her walls up the next time she saw me.
Not that I thought she'd come running into my arms like in my dream, but maybe like me, the sweet memories of the past and what we had would soften her up enough to give me an opening to begin winning her back.
When I saw the sign announcing a Halloween party outside the Sea Siren, I decided I would attend. I saw it as a sign from the universe since I'd met her on Halloween.
I considered showing up in aCaptain Americacostume, but I didn't have it anymore and I didn't want to be wearing tights on the off chance that my dick got a mind of its own, sort of like now as I watched her dance with some asshole.
I arrived early thinking I could help out in some way. After all, Max and I had thrown a few Halloween parties at our clubs.
The hard-edged server I learned was named Dana, stopped me before I could reach Kate’s office and told me that unless I knew how to bartend and was willing to work for free, I had to leave. I suspect she thought that would make leave.
Luckily for me, I knew how to bartend. I was really good at it. And as it turned out, it was a good thing I showed up because while the kid behind the bar knew the basics, there was no way he was going to be able to keep up on a busy night like Halloween.
I suppose I wasn’t surprised that Kate ordered me to leave, but luckily, people started arriving and she had no choice but to let me stay. I got busy doing my thing, flair bartending, and before long, a group of women had crowded around the bar watching me as I created drinks.
They flirted with me and I flirted back because that would keep them ordering booze. It's exactly how I did when I worked in my aunt’s club. Only then, Max was usually with me, and we put on quite a show—flair bartending twins.
It did my ego good to catch Kate looking my way every now and then. She would then turn her attention to the women and scowl, and my spirits rose.
If she didn’t like the attention I was getting, that could only mean one thing—she was jealous.
Jealousy meant she still felt something for me. Yup, I was feeling really good about tonight. At least until I saw that asshole put his hand on her.
Until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to me that Kate could be seeing someone. For all I knew, she could be married with kids, except Ethan would have told me that when he was feeling out my intentions toward Kate. So she had to be single, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in a relationship.
I stepped back toward Jared. "Who is that with Kate?"