When I parked, I glared at the dark stairway that led up to my apartment, silently cursing the building manager for never taking the time to change a damned light bulb. I trudged up the dark stairs and down the short breezeway to my door. I had just put my key in the door when it was jerked open and I shrieked as I jumped back in shock.
“Sorry!” Delilah grabbed my hand and dragged me into the apartment. Her excitement was bubbling over as she stared at me expectantly. I just looked back at her with her brown hair pulled up in a messy bun and her lounge pants and a t-shirt. She gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes when I didn’t start talking immediately. She yanked on the hand she still had a hold on and pulled me over to the couch and plopped down.
“Why are you even up?” I questioned as I sank back onto the couch beside her. The coffee table was littered with soda cans and several pieces of popcorn that had obviously escaped her bowl as she snacked. Delilah’s computer was opened on the floor with a document on the screen and her schoolbooks were scattered around, some open with highlighted passages glaring at us. Gesturing at all her schoolwork, I asked, “Don’t you have a class in the morning?”
“Not until ten,” Delilah waved me off, “I want to know about these guys from the bar. Jackie called me and said you hid from them all night. She also says they are definitely worth a romp, her words, not mine. So, what happened?”
She rattled all of this off in seconds and I chuckled at her enthusiasm. Delilah was so dedicated to getting through nursing school that she didn’t get to go out with her friends often. The end result was that I was constantly getting the third degree about everything going on at the bar.
“Of course, Jackie called,” I rolled my eyes, “That girl can’t leave anything alone. I don’t know about the romping, but they were pretty hot.” I could even hear the lie in my voice. If I hadn’t been just a little afraid of Alex, I would have been luring him into the employee bathroom. There was just something about how intensely he had stared at me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very…different about him and his friend Wyatt.
“Ugh, how can I live vicariously through you if you won’t sleep with the sexy stranger who stares at you all night?” Delilah threw her arms in the air and flung herself back on the couch.
“Well, to start with, he stared at me all night,” I stressed, hoping that Delilah would get how creepy he had been. “He came in the bar after getting into a fight. His friend seemed to defer to him about everything. Oh, and I think he sniffed me. All together I’d call him a weirdo, not a potential lay. Sorry kid.”
“Ok, so what I’m getting from you is: he finds you attractive, he’s tough, he’s a leader, and he thinks you smell good even when you’re in sweaty bar attire,” Delilah ticked each item off on her fingers as she said it. “Wow Zipporah, I don’t know why you didn’t have him thrown out.” She rolled her eyes at me and stood up to go to her room.
“You come down to the bar and take him home if you want then,” I yelled at Delilah’s back as she stomped towards her room. Someone banged on the ceiling of the apartment below ours and I stamped my foot back at them. “Oh, keep your shirt on! You never sleep anyway!”
I contemplated Delilah and my conversation as I stripped out of my greasy clothes in my room. I hated to admit that Delilah was right, and I may have been too quick to judge Alex. He was intense and gorgeous, maybe he just made me nervous because he didn’t act like the locals at the bar. I knew I definitely didn’t want Delilah to meet him. The thought made my insides twist with jealousy. Why the hell am I jealous over a guy I just met? I chastised myself and putting thoughts of Alex out of my head I got ready for bed.
******
Sundays were always long days for me. I spent my day cleaning cabins and suites after tourists left. Even in early September people were still filling the cabins, sometimes for a week and sometimes just the weekends. They checked out on Sundays, and I got to clean up the mess. I was dragging when I finally made it to the bar that night, closer to six than I would have liked. Dinner rush was over, and people had started drinking. I got good tips from the drinkers, but the people who came to eat didn’t feel the need to grab my butt as often.
I busted through the kitchen door hollering to Lynn, “Sorry, Lynn, I know I’m crazy late. You wouldn’t believe the shit I found in one of the cabins today. I swear, don’t these people know someone has to clean up that mess?” I was tying on my apron as I pushed through the door behind the bar to let Lynn take a break. I froze as soon as I saw Alex at the bar, with a highly amused look on his face. Perfect!
Chapter Four
Alex
“Maybe they think you’ll enjoy imagining all the things they were doing,” I winked suggestively at Zee and she blushed. I’d been sitting at the bar waiting for her since it opened two hours earlier. I knew Zee would be there eventually. That was the great thing about having a beta who didn’t mind flirting for information. Jackie had been all too happy to tell Wyatt anything he wanted to know.
“Hmm, maybe,” Zee purred, catching me completely off guard. I watched as she turned into a vixen
