He walked into McDucker’s and saw none of his friends were there yet so he went and sat up at the bar to have a beer while he waited. He flagged down the bartender and ordered a Miller Lite. Right after he got his beer Jake walked up beside him and said, “Hey man, what’s up?”
“Not too much, you? Just got here, I was almost at Bernie’s when you sent the text.”
“I know that was my fault, I decided I didn’t want to drive out there…I’m just glad the weeks almost done, I’m beat.” Then both Jake and Trevor’s phones beeped. They looked to see what it was, it was a text from Sam and Drew.
“Seriously? Again, what the hell?!” Jake said after reading the text message
Trevor looked up and said, “Well looks like it’s me and you man, they bailed.”
“Guess it is, good thing I like you bro.” Jake said as he smirked and flagged down the bartender to order.
“Wait, did you say again? Do they do this a lot?” Their friends cancelling on them surprised him.
Jake ordered his beer and sat down next to Trevor. “Sometimes they do and if you don’t come then it’s me and Susan talking all night,” he nodded toward the bartender, “good thing she’s cute.”
Trevor looked at her again and said, “You’re right she is, why haven’t you gone for it yet?”
Jake smiled and said, “I tried already but she has a fiancé. Maybe the next one.” They clinked their beers in a toast.
Taylor and Elle walked into McDuckers thinking it might be pretty busy, but it wasn’t too bad. They were able to find a table easily. The bartender looked their way and put up a one-minute gesture. They both sat down at their table, not too far from the bar; Elle looked around at the other people in the bar. “Oh my God!” she said as she whipped her head back around.
“What is it?” Taylor said sounding a little worried
“Look at the bar, he’s here!” Elle exclaimed in a whisper.
Taylor looked around at the bar not sure who she was seeing even though a couple people did look familiar. “Who’s here? What’s going on?”
“Trevor is here.”
“He’s in the dark gray shirt and he’s with his friend Jake, they’ve been friends for a long time and now they work together.”
“He is? Hot damn!” She turned towards the bar to look at the two of them, taking in the sight of the two delicious looking men. “Damn he’s hot! His friend is pretty hot himself, what’s his deal?”
Taylor glanced over at Jake again; he had just the right amount of muscles to appeal to any woman and short, chestnut brown hair. She liked what she saw so far. She found herself wanting to stare.
Elle turned slightly and looked back at the two of them, she had seen Jake once before briefly and thought he was very handsome, but in her eyes he didn’t compare to Trevor. She kept cutting her eyes his way, thankfully he hadn’t noticed her yet, but at the same time hoping he would notice. Elle just wasn’t feeling so sure of herself at the moment and they’d never seen each other outside of a work environment so this was going to be a totally new experience for them.
Elle turned back to Taylor, “Jake was in the military, Air Force actually, and now until he finds something else he works with Trevor. He says Jake is a really good guy and they’ve been friends forever. I’m not sure if he’s seeing anyone but if not go for it, you said you wanted a hot, sexy man.” Elle smiled at her best friend.
“He is hot and he sounds good, what little you know about him. Maybe I should get try to know him better. As long as he isn’t seeing anyone! I would like to point out that we’re here and they’re both here…so now what?” Taylor asked with a wink to Elle.
Elle sighed, she knew her friend was right. “Okay if I go over and say hi I’ll be able to introduce you then we’ll see what happens from there,” Taylor being there helped her feel more at ease to go over and do something as simple as say hi.
Taylor just laughed then saw the pissed off look Elle was giving her, “I need your help and your laughing” Taylor cleared her throat and said, “You need to go say hi, it would be rude to be twenty feet away and not speak to him…especially when you want him.”
Elle knew Taylor was right and turned straight to face her friend, “You’re right. As soon as we get our drinks I’ll go say hi.” As if on cue the bartender came over and took their drink order.
Taylor rolled her eyes at Elle. “Really that’s the plan? Now that we’ve ordered you can go up in a minute to get the drinks and say hi too, kill two birds with one stone; help out the bartender and say hey to the hotties,” she said with a wink. She was trying to loosen her friend up a bit.
“Okay I guess,” was all Elle said and they sat in silence for a minute.
Trevor took a sip of his beer and glanced around the bar to see other people had come in since he got there and it was beginning to fill up. He noticed two women sitting at a table near the bar, the one facing him he didn’t recognize. Then the other woman with her turned around and he saw her face, he almost fell off the bar stool when he saw who it was. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed.
Jake turned to his friend and gave him a “huh?” look. “What’s wrong?”
Trevor turned back to face the wall behind the bar and said, “Nothing’s wrong, Elle’s here. I don’t know if my night just got better or just got worse.” What was good, and made him smile to himself, was that the “friend” she mentioned earlier was a woman, not Rob.
“Where?” Jake asked since he had only met Elle once and that was a while ago.
Trevor just said “over there” and gestured with a nod of his head.
Jake looked in the direction Trevor was nodding and he saw two women who were quite attractive. One stood out to him more so, she had straight dark dirty blonde hair and the face of an angel; he drew in a breath at the sight of her. “Oh! Which one is she again?” Hoping like hell it wasn’t the angel.
“The brunette. The blonde must be her friend Taylor.” Trevor turned around and saw Elle standing and heading towards the bar and him. His heart started beating hard into his ribs.
Jake looked at the woman with the dirty blonde hair coming towards them too. She was gorgeous he thought, in that sexy-as-hell “girl next door” way. She was probably about 5’3 but had on high-heeled boots to give her a few inches, she had dark plastic framed glasses. She was petite, but looked lean and strong from what he could tell, what she was wearing made it hard to be sure.
Elle felt nervous as hell as she headed to the bar, the short distance stretched out in front of her felt like a marathon; when she stood up and saw Trevor turn around her heart almost jumped out of her chest. She walked up to the bar, where there happened to be an empty stool next to him. She leaned on it as the bartender saw her and nodded. “Hey, how are you? I saw you over here and thought I’d come say hi.”
He looked over at her and said, “Hey, I’m good, you? I see this is where you ended up going with your friend?” he said as he gestured towards Taylor.
The bartender came up with Elle and Taylor’s drinks, Elle paid then answered. “Yep this is where Taylor decided to come and here we are. That’s my friend Taylor by the way,” she said as she nodded at Taylor.
“This is Jake, Jake this is Elle.” He said as he gestured between them then added, “and that’s Taylor,” as he again gestured to her. Elle grabbed the drinks and said, “Is it just you two or are your other friends coming too?”
“Nope it’s just us.”
Elle looked at Taylor who nodded as if she knew what Elle was about to do. Elle turned to both Trevor and Jake, “Would you guys by any chance want to join us?”
Jake and Trevor looked at each other and then said in unison, “Sure.”
They got up from the bar where they were sitting and followed the women back to their table.
When they got up from the bar Taylor noticed that Jake was probably about 6’0, she’d already noticed his amazing green eyes when she walked up to the bar with Elle. He was definitely one hot man!<
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Once they were back at the table they paired up as couples. Elle was thinking how good it was they were there together and that he’d agreed to come sit with them. She asked to be nice but of course was hoping he’d want to join them.
Trevor was pumped he and Jake ran into Elle and Taylor, his night was beginning to look up, he even thought it was a good thing their friends bailed. He was eager to see how he and Elle got along outside of work.
Elle noticed Taylor and Jake exchanging glances and she couldn’t keep from smiling because she thought they’d make a good-looking couple. Taylor needed a stable relationship with a good guy. She deserved it, especially after her high school sweetheart Bill left her a year and a half ago…just two months before they were supposed to get married. All he told Taylor was that he changed his mind. It rocked her to her core and she hadn’t seriously dated anyone since.
“How’d you two end up here alone?” Jake asked, taking Elle away from her thoughts.
Jake snuck another glance at Taylor, he had a hard time looking away from her alluring deep brown eyes; they were so pretty but slightly hidden behind her glasses. At that moment she flung her long hair over her shoulder he got a whiff of something exotic and sensual. Uh-oh he was in big trouble! He thought to himself.
“Thursdays we do a girls night and today it brought us here, what about you two?” Taylor said
“Supposed to be a guy’s night but our friends bailed,” was all Jake said.
“Do you usually come here on Thursdays?” Trevor asked
“Not usually but we needed a change.” Elle said and added, “I really do like this place though.”
“Well then, you two got lucky tonight because Trevor doesn’t usually come with us when we go out” Jake said as Trevor shot him a “what the hell?” look. Jake just smiled lazily at his friend.
“You know how it is, I get busy or just lazy and tired sometimes.” Trevor said to the group but was looking at Elle.
Elle smiled wide and said, “I definitely get it. Taylor had to twist my arm to get me to come out tonight.”
That made Trevor smile too, he felt like she understood and sort of stuck up for him too. Yep, this night was going well, he thought.
“I didn’t have to completely drag you out of the house like I thought I would have to though.” Taylor said and they all laughed.
They laughed and talked for another hour, each one took turns buying a round, the waitress had just walked away after Jake bought another round when Taylor announced, “I want to try snowboarding, who’s up for it?”
They all stared at her and Elle said, “Huh? You know its April right? And that was completely random by the way.”
Taylor laughed and said, “Yes I know it’s random and April but I’ve been thinking about it for a while and decided I’m gonna try it.”
Elle knew Taylor was usually up for anything and said, “Okay, if you say so. I’ll go with you even though I’ve never done it either but I can at least try it out.”
Both guys just looked at them dumbfounded. When finally Jake said, “Neither of you have never been snowboarding? What about skiing?”
Both girls just shook their heads.
“Man, you’re missing out, it’s so much fun. Would you want company on your little adventure? Trevor and I have gone plenty and we’re pretty good, if I do say so myself.” Jake said with a wide grin.
“Sure that sounds fun,” Elle said before blushing at how quick she answered; she just volunteered to spend a whole weekend with Trevor. She looked up and saw Trevor smiling right at her. There was no doubt there was a spark.
Taylor couldn’t contain her smile, “Okay sounds like a plan. But none of you can bail on me now; I need teachers and a best friend who can’t do it either there for support.”
“Don’t worry we won’t bail.” Jake said looking right at Trevor.
The four of them sat around talking easily as if they knew were old friends, except for the sexual energy between Trevor and Elle that was electric.
Soon after their next round of drinks came Jake’s phone rang. He looked at it and groaned, “I have to take this, be right back,” then walked to door and stepped outside.
When he came back a few minutes later, he said, “Sorry to bail but I have to run.”
“Is everything okay?” Trevor asked.
“Yeah, fine but I do have to go. We should all do this again. It was nice meeting you both.” With that he dropped a small napkin with writing in Taylor’s lap when he bent to give an awkward “nice to meet you” hug to both Taylor and Elle.
Elle barely caught what Jake did but saw it out of the corner of her eye as she took a sip of her beer. She wondered if Trevor saw it too?
“Bye guys. Trev, I’ll see you tomorrow man.” Jake said as he walked away.
Taylor’s eyes sparkled as she watched Jake walk out of the bar.
“Does he always do that?” Taylor asked Trevor.
“Nope, must have been something important but he said nothing’s wrong.”
“Okay just checking,” Taylor said before quickly putting the napkin in her jeans pocket. Hoping neither of them would notice.
They were almost halfway through their drinks when Taylor’s phone buzzed; she read a text and said to Elle, “Crap! I’ve gotta go V’s run out of gas, again!”
“You’re kidding this is the third time in like a month!” Elle’s tone matched the frustration of Taylor’s.
“V?” Trevor asked, knowing he might sound nosy but was curious who that was.
“Veronica she’s my sister, she was on her way home from her dance class, because she wants to be a ballerina, and ran out of gas. I have to go pick her up; she’s sweet but can be a bit of an airhead, this happens to her a lot, she’s waiting for a tow now.”
“Okay let me finish this real quick and grab my purse.” Elle said to Taylor.
“I forgot I’m your ride, sorry to make you leave too but I have to go now.”
“If you want to stay and finish your drink I can drive you home.” Trevor offered.
“Are you sure?” Elle asked, she was a little surprised but appreciative.
“Yeah it’s no problem,” he said to her and liked the idea of taking her home.
“Okay that works, sorry about this. Elle I’ll text you later, nice to meet you Trevor. Bye guys.” Taylor said then rushed out the door.
“Taylor probably feels bad about dumping me like that because coming out tonight was her idea.”
“No problem, I like your company. I’m glad you guys came tonight.” Trevor paused before adding, “It’s nice to see you outside of an office.”
His comment made Elle blush so she took a drink to fill the awkward silence. Hearing him say he liked her company was remarkable considering the history of their working relationship.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have said that but it’s out there so I’m gonna add to it; I’m not sorry I said it. It’s nice to loosen up and have a beer with you instead of looking over stacks of files and project schedules.”
“No, no it’s fine. Don’t be sorry and I’m glad you said it because it’s nice to see you away from work too.”
“Really?” Now Trevor was surprised, things were definitely going better between them this time around.
“Yeah I am.” Elle smiled again.
A few beats of silence passed and Trevor figured he should just let a good thing lie, so he moved onto something else.
“You three aren’t having much luck with cars recently are you?” Trevor said referring to the flat tire Taylor got a few days before and now her sister’s empty gas tank.
Elle laughed, “No I guess not, but I don’t want to be next if this is the new trend.”
They sat there a few more minutes finishing their beers. He took his last swig when Elle said, “I’m going to run to the ladies room I’ll be right back, then we can go if you want.”
“Okay.” Trevor said as he watched Elle walk to the bathroom. He couldn’t help but w
atch, he loved the swing of her hips. Damn he couldn’t look away!
Trevor waited thinking how his night was turning out pretty damn good. He realized tonight Elle was a pretty laid back person. He wouldn’t have guessed from their time working together, she came across so serious; kind of an odd combination, laid back and serious; he assumed that was her business side, tonight he got to see the personal side, she was a complicated woman and it was a killer combo. Then there was her shyness, which most women saw as a weakness, he never thought about it one way or the other. Elle made it so damn appealing and intriguing, and he liked that he was getting to know her better.
Elle came back and sat down, “Are you ready or am I rushing you?”
“No I’m good I’m done anyway. Let’s head out.”
Trevor led Elle out of the bar and towards his truck; he stepped in front of her to open her car door.
Elle got in the truck and waited for Trevor to hop in. She couldn’t believe what was happening tonight with Trevor, he was being so nice to her and he was so sexy to boot.
hen Trevor got in he turned to her and said, “So where’s your place?” She gave him her address and was about to give him directions when he then said, “I know where that is, it’s not far from my place.” He started the ignition and led the truck out of the parking lot in the direction of Elle’s house.
Elle was hoping that the ride to her house wouldn’t be awkward because of the enclosed space and the fact that his masculine scent and his cologne filled the cab of the truck; she was engulfed in the amazing smell of Trevor. She felt her nervousness starting to get the best of her and she just started talking. “Sorry about Taylor suckering you and Jake into going snowboarding this winter. She gets ahead of herself sometimes. Especially when she’s excited or has a plan, which for the record doesn’t always work out how she hopes. She doesn’t like to be bored.”
“It’s fine, really. I don’t mind and I know Jake doesn’t either. We like to go and we haven’t been in a while so it’ll be fun. So do you think Taylor was excited or had a plan?” he gave Elle a sly smile.
My Missing Puzzle Piece (Creekside Falls #1) Page 5