~ Chapter 5 ~

Jackie took a step back to watch Bobby; he was a really good bartender.  He mixed drinks effortlessly, offered out smiles and had even pulled a few tricks.  The bar opened an hour ago and the crowd was slowly trickling in, a lot of the regulars sliding up to the bar and other than lending a hand on a few of the specials, Bobby had it under control. 

She was even willing to step up and help when he got an order for a round of six shots, three beer bottles, two specials, two small bottles of wine, and two rums and cokes, but he waved her off.

She watched as he lined up the shot glasses on the left side, the bottles on the right and unscrewed the lids on the bottles with his right hand while his left poured the shots with his left hand and then he made the mixed drinks.  She rang up the order and then handed the guy the receipt and card back before she turned and looked at Bobby.

                “Impressive.  Most people go for the drinks first.”  He smiled as he wiped down the area and washed the mixers with a shrug.

                “I used to as well, before I learned I could do the easy things with my left hand, like pouring shots.  Back in Florida, orders like that came quite often, so you better be ready and be fast.”

                “Well, being that able and with those good looks sir, you will have every female leaving you quite the tips.”  He wanted to ignore that comment but she talked about him looking good, and even though he knew that, that sent little tingles through him.

                “How does that work, tips I mean?”

                “We have a jar that gets split if people want to put it in there, but if it’s on your order, like that one, it’s yours.  My pay isn’t great, so I will never take your tips.”  He nodded as he looked around the bar, it already being quite full.

                “This looks good.”  Jackie looked around and then back at him.

                “This is slow.  There’s bar space open; it will pick up shortly.  And nights where I have games on, it’s bursting at the seams.”  She smiled at his shocked expression.  “I have an ideal location for a lot of businesses, so a lot of the crowd is business men.”  She nodded her head as a couple of young ladies came up and she watched as he turned on the charm.  A wave of something overcame her and she had to look away. 

Bobby wasn’t hers, not by a long shot, and she knew those looks would draw in the ladies; hell she told him as much, but she didn’t like seeing it.  She bit the inside of her cheek to stop the flow of that feeling and after taking a deep breath, she turned back around, seeing he was done with their drinks and ringing them out, the ladies giggling at his attention.  ‘Oh, sure, real mature,’ she thought to herself and had to stop her eye roll.

She grabbed her rag and went to pick up some of the bottles and glasses from some of the empty tables and wiped them down, her mind trying not to focus on the other bartender.  Yeah, he was going to hold his own here and she was happy.  And maybe if he brought in even more people, she might have the means to hire another bartender so she wasn’t on the floor so much.  She paused as she thought that over.  That would never happen; she loved being behind the bar herself way too much.

“Jackie!”  She looked up at the bar, hearing Bobby call her and she saw many of their customers quickly turn their heads away as she looked up.  Huh, odd.  She walked over and lifted a brow.

“What’s up?”  She tossed the empty bottles as she asked.

“I’m running low on some stuff.”

“Ah, okay.  Let me go in the back and grab it.  What do you need?”

“Two cranberry juices, two more vodka’s, probably one tequila, oh and another orange juice.  It seems to be in high demand tonight.”

“Got it.  Let me cheek with Buzz to see if he needs anything before I go back.”

“Are you sure?  I can go, that’s a lot of stuff.”  She laughed again and patted his arm.

“Thanks for the concern but I lift quite a bit of heavy stuff so don’t worry.”  She smiled and walked off to Buzz, his skin burning form that contact.  He watched as she walked back to a back room and he noticed quite a few heads and turned to watch her walk away.

She might not have seen the looks she was getting, but he sure as shit was; and just about every man had eyed his full of her.  How could she not notice that?  Most females he knew, knew they looked good and often flaunted it.  And yeah, she had a few extra curves but it did not look bad.  Fuck, on her, they looked amazing.  And why the fuck was he thinking of that, yet again?  He had a woman’s number in his pocket and he had every intention of calling, just maybe not tonight.

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                Bobby wiped down his counter again before he cleaned off the empty bottles and threw them away.  That was not something he expected.  It was Thursday night, so to him, those were slower nights, but there had been nothing slow about tonight.  And if this was busy, he hated to see what any other night looked like.

                He groaned as he lifted the trash bag out of the bin and tied it off, a chuckle coming up behind him, and he knew who it was.  Buzz had left an hour ago and they had closed the bar down 20 minutes ago.

                “Tired?”  He turned around and looked at Jackie.

                “That was not what I was expecting on my first night.”

                “Hey, I was willing to give you the night off because I know how it was going to be.”  She laughed and he had to mentally groan again; why was beyond him truthfully, it was something he didn’t want to think about actually.

                “You did, and I am tired, but a good tired.  I always like being on my toes and the night flew by.”

                “That’s why I love my bar.  You can go ahead and leave; I’ll take the bags out when I’m done.”

                “Nah, it’s nothing for me to do it.  Besides, mom told me to always help beautiful ladies.”  Bobby watched as the blush crept up on her cheeks and he was fascinated by it.  Sure, he had his fair share of woman and often passed compliments or the dirty talk, but none of them had blushed and he could admit that he liked it a lot on her.

                “Thanks Bobby.”  He watched those hips as they left to go back to her office with the money and he took the bags out and then headed up to his little apartment; well big actually.  For being a one bedroom, the shit was sure spacious.  And tomorrow, he would go and do a quick shopping trip before starting his shift.  He was changing for the night when he heard the click of the door from downstairs and watched her walk to the car through his window, his eyes focused on that amazing lush ass.  And he sighed, for when he went to bed, he was going to have to do something that he hadn’t done since he was a teenager; and that was jack off.