by Ciara Shayee
*
"Holy crap," Piper laughs breathlessly, her sneakers silent on the cement floor as she steps down into the stock room.
I chuckle at her, but it quickly turns to a groan as I heft the beer barrel into place to replace the empty one.
“This is nuts!”
“It’s definitely that,” I agree.
Both our big groups are in, as well as a handful of walk-ins. We've had to turn away a bunch of people because we're at capacity. The smaller group of the two is a family visiting the bay. The bachelor party is thirty-two guys out to get hammered, by the looks of things. The groom is already wasted. He rocked up earlier in suspenders, a plastic clam bra, and a sparkly tutu.
Thankfully, they've all been well-behaved so far, but I've managed to keep Piper mainly dealing with the family just to be safe. I don't want to scare her off chucking her in at the deep end.
It’s possible I’ve decided she’d be perfect for filling some of Ashley’s hours. I’m not willing to drop the ball with the managerial side of things she was in charge of, but after seeing the way Piper interacts with the customers and handles herself even on a fast-paced, hectic night like tonight, I can’t deny that she’d be a perfect fit here.
And certain other places, but I’m not letting my mind go there. Carson’s daughter. She’s Carson’s daughter.
I’ve just got to man up and broach it with her.
“I didn’t realize it gets this busy here! I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so packed.”
The excitement and exhilaration on her face…it’s unreal. Her enthusiasm is infectious.
“It’ll get plenty busy throughout the summer,” I promise. “This is the warm-up, but it’ll get crazier. We get a ton of vacationers passing through before all the kids go back to school.”
Her lips curl up and her eyes crinkle with something like…awe?
“What?” After connecting the replacement barrel, I rub the back of my neck and face her. The look in her intense gray eyes, admiration and what I can almost trick myself into believing is affection, has my stomach in knots.
“You really love this, don’t you? The food, the people…”
My brows furrow. “The food, sure. People, not so much.”
“You could’ve fooled me. You’re great out there,” she gushes, pointing at the ceiling. “It’s, like, a totally different side to you that I’ve never seen before.”
Discomfort wins out over pleasure. I’ve never been good at receiving praise, no matter who it’s from. To my relief, Piper seems to sense that. She shakes her head with a soft laugh, turning to face the floor-to-ceiling wall of drink stock.
Spying the big box of post-mix Cola syrup she’s eyeing with obvious trepidation, I ask her to find the rosé I originally came down for. “It’s probably right in front of me, but I can’t see it,” I lie, stifling a smile at the relief all over her face.
“Sure. How many bottles?”
“Just a couple, please. I’ll take this.”
The post-mix isn’t particularly heavy for me, but Piper would have struggled to get it up the narrow staircase. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t—I’ve seen her hefting her boys around and none of them are all that small, so who knows.
She might even be stronger than me.
*
“Okay, so I have one Bay Classic, no tomatoes, extra cheese with chili cheese fries…”
The groom cheers for his food, which Piper sets in front of him with a flourish before listing the other two dishes on her tray and handing them to the hungry, slightly drunk bachelors who ordered them. When she returns behind the bar, it’s with rosy cheeks and a dramatic wipe of her brow.
“Well done,” I praise, squeezing her shoulder. “You did good. Now you can chill for a little bit.”
While TJ handled refilling the drinks, Piper took charge of serving the food. For having only eaten here once in almost a decade, she did great at recognizing everything. I guess it helps that I haven’t changed any of what I’d call ‘the classics.’
“Can I get you a drink?”
“A Coke would be amazing, thank you.”
Distracting myself with the dirty glasses in the basin, I can’t completely ignore the almost indecent way Piper palms her sternum as she drinks the cold soda I hand her. With her head tipped back and the graceful line of her neck exposed, it’s impossible to stop myself wondering if the skin there is as soft as I imagine, or if she smells better up close than she does every time she brushes past me.
I don’t know what the hell has gotten into me.
Well, that’s not strictly true. It’s Piper. She’s under my skin. Somehow, she’s wormed her way under there in an insanely short space of time. All I’ve got to do now is make sure she doesn’t get any deeper.
“What can I do for you, hon?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I see one of the bachelors leaning over the bar to talk to Piper. She can handle herself, so I’m not worried. However, I do keep one ear on their exchange while I wipe down the counter. Fuckin’ milkshakes exploding everywhere.
“You can write your number down for me right here.”
Piper laughs, her chest brushing my side as she stretches around me to grab a fresh glass from the rack. She mouths “I’ve got this,” so I refrain from telling the guy to beat it and go back to his table.
“How about a beer instead?”
“Aw, c’mon, baby.”
Baby?
Piper flashes the drunken goon a polite smile as she sets a bottle of Corona in front of him—a Corona he ignores in favor of staring at her. “Shall I add this to your tab, or ring you up?”
“Mm-mm, you can somethin’ me up, baby, but ringin’ ain’t got a lot to do with it.”
No fucking way. Too far. “All right—”
A split second before I can round the bar, Piper’s small palm lands on my chest. The warning in her eyes and the heat of her touch is enough to make me pause, but I’m not happy about it. With a begrudging nod, I turn my attention to the asshole making moves on her. I don’t mind some banter or camaraderie between my staff and the customers, but being a dick? Not on my watch, and not with her.
I’m not going to put too much thought into why it bugs me so much when it’s her, specifically.
“If there’s nothing else I can get you, why don’t you rejoin your buddies?”
The douche cocks his head before laughing and doing as she says. Only once he’s sitting back at his table do I realize how tense I’ve become. How fast my heart is beating. How hard my fists are clenched.
“Are you okay?” Piper whispers, her hand still resting on my chest.
“I’m…” Scrubbing my hands over my face, I mumble some bullshit about needing some air. Before she can say anything, I’m around the bar, down the hall, and listening to the fire door slamming shut behind me.
“Fuck,” I groan, kicking a random plastic bucket. It clatters down the alley before rolling to a stop right outside the back of Vaughn’s. The fucking Vaughns.
If that prick wasn’t such an asshole, I wouldn’t be thinking about offering Piper a job at Burger Co. It never would have come up at Carson’s in the first place if Isaac Vaughn could muster anything other than arrogance. But it did come up, and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Asking Piper to come and help tonight was an error. It would have been easy to write her off before, but now, having seen her in action, I can’t deny she’d fit in well.
So why am I struggling with this so much?
Hell, I don’t even know if she’d take the damn job if I offered it. I’m too chickenshit to bring it up.
The squeal of the door sliding open a few minutes later startles me from my thoughts. My lips kick up when a pinky-red head of hair pops out.
“Hey, are you okay?” I can just about make out the red blush rushing to infuse her cheeks with color. She steps out, hugging herself around the middle, and jumps when the door swings shut behind
her with a bang. “Sorry, I just…you ran out of there pretty fast, so I thought, well, I thought I’d check on you.”
“I’m fine.” My voice is a little too gruff and a lot too loud in the dark of the quiet night. I wince, shaking my head. “Busy night, lots on my mind, the usual.”
It’s a shit excuse, and I know it. Piper looks ready to accept it, then she clears her throat and steps closer. The dim light on the wall illuminates her features better. The arch of her eyebrows. The narrowing of her gaze. The twist of her mouth.
She’s…determined.
“That’s bull.”
So maybe I don’t have the best response to her very correct assumption. I laugh—hard. The first chuckle is laced with surprise; the rest are pure shock.
Nobody calls me on my bullshit. With the exception of Kendra, maybe, but even she lets me get away with it for the most part.
Not Piper, apparently.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I finally manage to clear my throat. “I’m not laughing at you.”
The pursed-lipped scowl she shoots me is downright adorable. Kitten-like. “Don’t lie to me, Kellan.”
Not for the first time, I’m struck by how much it affects me to hear my name from her lips. I’m ‘Kellan’ to very few. Piper and her boys are the only ones who come to mind. It makes me ache. I feel like I lost that part of myself seven years ago along with the other part I never thought I’d say goodbye to.
The part named ‘Daddy.’
“I’m not—”
“You’re doing it again.”
“Piper—”
“All you have to do is quit lying to me,” Piper interjects with a shrug, clearly frustrated. As I step toward her, holding out my hands in supplication, she wrings hers in front of her stomach. “Did I…did I do something wrong? That guy—”
“Was being an asshole. You were perfect.” I close the gap between us. She’s close enough now that I can smell her perfume; it’s sweet, light, and floral. Heady. Distracting. “Banter is one thing. Being a pushy fucker is another.”
“I can handle pushy.”
“But you shouldn’t have to.”
Blue. There’s a pale tint of blue to those deep gray eyes of hers. For maybe the first time, I’m close enough to see how the flecks of darker gray are interspersed with a blue so pale it verges on white.
“I don’t, um…” Her voice trails off into a whisper, her head tipping back so she can look me in the eye.
I’m close. Too close, maybe.
My hand twitches, searching for hers. My fingers brush soft skin, electricity rippling across the connection. A shiver runs up my spine. She sucks in a deep breath, her chest ghosting over mine, and I find myself wanting.
It’s dark and warm out here, but the heat of her touch is scorching.
Without my permission, my eyes dart down to her lips as she licks them.
“Kellan, I—“
Before she can finish whatever she was going to say, the door swings open again. “KP, we’ve got a car crash in progress. The groom is waaay done.”
TJ’s appearance is like a bucket of ice-cold water over my head.
What am I doing?
Piper’s face asks the same question, the haze of the moment we just shared dissipating even quicker than it descended.
“I need to…”
Piper’s shoulders sag, but she nods and smiles—though it doesn’t reach her eyes.
Shaking my head, I march inside after TJ and tell her not to loiter in the alley alone.
TJ casts a quick look over his shoulder. “Sorry, boss. I didn’t want to interrupt, but—”
“It’s fine.”
Nodding at my clipped tone, he sighs, swerving into the kitchen as I head out into the dining area to deal with an inebriated groom instead of my own messy emotions.
*
Once the two big groups are done ordering food, I close the kitchen.
TJ and Lily have enough on their hands without worrying about any last-minute walk-ins, so I send Piper in to help them. It means I’m stuck cleaning up the dining area alone, but the time by myself gives me time to think.
Of course, my mind goes to the moment I shared with Piper in the alley.
What was I thinking? Fuck.
So much for my mantra.
She’s Carson’s daughter.
And that’s the kicker right there, because if she were anyone else, I could let myself fantasize about her for a bit and then forget about her, but I can’t do that this time. I already feel like a pervert for noticing how much she’s changed since she left.
As I rinse the cloth and sigh, dropping myself in a seat, I wonder what’s for the best. Piper would fit in here, no doubt about it, but she’s already slowly but surely taking over my mind. If I see her almost every day, that could get better or worse, but I wouldn’t know which until it was too late.
It’s not like I’d be able to fire her easily if it didn’t work out.
“Hey, Kellan?”
My head snaps up, finding Piper watching me with crossed arms and a cocked head.
“What’s up?”
“TJ and Lily left…”
Frowning, I listen for noise from the kitchen and hear nothing.
Piper laughs. “They walked right by you and said ‘bye.’ I guess you were lost in thought.”
Oh.
With a grunt, I stand to grab the bucket of water at my feet and the cloth I’d been absentmindedly mangling. “I’ll get rid of these, then we can go.”
“Okay,” she murmurs, heading down the stairs to the break room.
Once I’ve tidied up after myself, I double-check my office is all locked up, making sure everything that needs to be switched off is switched off, then meet Piper back out by the bar. She’s sitting up on a stool, twisting slightly side-to-side. Her hesitant grin when she looks up and spots me watching her makes me sigh—again. I feel like I’ve been sighing a lot lately.
“Do you want a drink?”
It’s out there before I’ve even made the conscious decision to speak.
Piper hums, finally nodding. “Sure, why not? I haven’t got the boys until tomorrow.”
Okay, then.
*
The first two bourbons go down easy.
The following…I don’t even know how many…go down easier.
“You’ve gotta be kidding!” Piper laughs, her rosy-cheeked smile and bright eyes making me grin.
“I’m not,” I promise, lightly banging the bar with my fist for good measure.
Piper shakes her head and throws back her glass, finishing the last of her fourth—or is it fifth?—daiquiri. “There is no way Dad did that.”
Frowning, I none-too-gracefully leave my stool, grabbing the bar to keep myself upright when my foot catches one of the legs. “Shit.”
“Oh my God, are you okay?”
My frown tightens, but a laugh rumbles out of my chest. “You don’t sound all that worried,” I point out, gesturing at her holding her stomach and laughing at my almost-misfortune.
“I really am,” Piper giggles.
“Hmm. Wait here a second.” I return a couple of minutes later with my laptop and glasses. The glasses are a necessary evil, however much I dislike wearing them in public.
Then again…the way Piper absentmindedly licks her lips as she watches me slide them onto my face might make me reconsider my opinion of them.
Reclaiming my stool, I notice her empty glass. “You can help yourself to refills. You don’t have to wait for me.”
“I didn’t want to assume…”
I wave one hand at the shelves filled with booze and use the other to power up the laptop. “Help yourself.”
Piper hops down, giggling “whoa” when she almost goes flying before saving herself by clutching the bar. “I haven’t stood up in a while. I forgot I’d need a hot sec to adjust.” Palming her cheek, she rolls her eyes at herself. �
�Lightweight express, coming through.”
“I suppose…do you get a lot of chances to drink, though? With the boys being around, I mean.”
“Not often,” she admits, slipping her feet out of her sneakers to round the bar in just her socks. “Jude used to babysit for me sometimes, but mostly I had the boys all the time, and I never drink when I’m solely responsible for them.”
For reasons besides who her parents are, I admire the heck out of Piper Fitzgerald. The last couple of hours have flown by, filled with topics ranging from Burger Co. to England to being back home with her family. She’s spoken about raising her sons by herself without going into the father’s whereabouts in any kind of detail, although I know enough to be sure I wouldn’t enjoy hearing about him.
“Didn’t their dad ever watch them so you could go out with friends or somethin’?”
Piper scoffs, looking down at her hands on the smooth bar top.
“Once or twice. To be honest, I didn’t have that many friends to go out with, anyway. I got pregnant right out of college when all the friends I’d made were starting their new careers. I kept in touch with a couple, but it all fizzled out.” She manages a weak smile. “Besides, I had Jude, and then I had my boys. They’re the best friends I’ll ever need.”
Uncharacteristic nosiness, coupled with secondhand annoyance that she never had the support she should have, forces me to keep speaking. “But the boys’ dad…he should have stepped up, Piper.”
Her sarcastic smile says it all, really. “He much preferred to be out doing his own thing. I mean, he was pretty good for the first couple of years with Jax and Finn. He had his moments, but I just kept explaining it away as new father jitters, you know? Lord knows I had plenty of ‘what the hell have we done’ moments.”
Smiling just slightly, I nod. “Don’t we all?”
Her eyes soften as she lifts them to me, then shakes her head. “Richard was a decent enough dad for as long as it suited him. By the time my little ‘whoops’ baby came along, he’d basically checked out. Having said that, I’ll be forever grateful for that dumb night of too much drinking and not enough thinking for giving me Arlo. He’s the result of a few-too-many wines and very little thought.”