Stealing His Heart

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Bobbi Jo

“Yeah, pull two cases of Crown out of the back and some Jack Daniels too.” I walked around the bar to take stock of the beer in the cooler. “And five cases of Michelob Ultra. That’s our best seller.” Joey was new to the bar, and I knew I’d have to hold his hand for a while. “Once you’ve got those things up here and put away, you can go out to the parking lot and make sure it’s clean. You know, no cigarette butts, no trash, nothing but a sparkling clean area for our patrons to park in.”

His dark eyes met mine as he smiled crookedly. “And what is it that you do, Bobbi Jo?”

“Really newbie?” I put my hand on my hip. “You’ve been here all of five minutes and already you’re sassing me?”

“Sorry,” he said as he turned tail and went to the stockroom in the back of the bar. “I’ll get that done. Am I gonna get to make some drinks tonight?”

“Hell yes.” I planned to sit back and watch the new bartender do all the work. “I’ll be supervising tonight.”

The smile he wore told me Joey was okay with working all night. And I was glad he was. It had been several years of me working by myself mostly. Finally, the owners of The Watering Hole had taken my advice—or better said—pleas for help.

While Joey did the hard part, I tidied up a bit then played a few hands of poker on my cell. Friday afternoons were usually hectic for me, but not this one. I was chilled out completely when the first guests walked through the front door. “Evening, folks.”

The man and woman weren’t locals and looked around the empty establishment. “Um, are we early?” the man asked as he put his arm around the lady at his side.

“You are.” I took the chance to help them out, leading them to a nice table for two near the bar. “I’ve got a table with your name on it over here. I’m Bobbi Jo, your hostess for this evening.”

The couple took the seats, both smiling and seeming a lot more relaxed as the man said, “For a moment there, I thought we’d stumbled into one of those private bars where only members are allowed.”

“Not here at The Watering Hole. We welcome everyone.” I pointed at the chalkboard behind the bar. “Those are our signature cocktails. Of course, we serve every beer known to man. And if you’re a teetotaler, we have sweet tea, a variety of cokes, and even coffee.”

“How about something to snack on?” the woman asked.

I offered our most ordered snack. “How about some saltine crackers with summer sausage and cheddar cheese on them?”

“Sounds great,” the man said. “We’ll have a couple of beers—whatever you’ve got on tap will be fine—and that cracker thingy too. She’s starving.”

“Coming up.” I went behind the bar to make the tray of snacks before filling icy mugs with the beer. Joey came out with a couple of cases of beer to refill the backup fridge. “I’ve got this table, but we’re about to get busy. Around here, if people drive by and there’s even one vehicle in the parking lot, they tend to stop.”

Putting the bottles in the fridge, Joey responded, “Ready, boss.”

“Good. I like being called boss.” Putting the things on a tray, I carried them to the table just as more people came inside. “Looks like you guys are the party starters this Friday. I’ll check on you in a bit. And if you don’t feel like getting up, just raise a hand and I’ll make sure a couple more beers get to you.”

“Thanks,” the lady said as she dug into the snacks. “I’m famished.”

Famished wasn’t a word often said in our little east Texas town. “Cool. Enjoy.” People from out of town were always easy to spot.

The regular customers came in. Every one of them looked at the new guy behind the bar then at me. I just waved and smiled as they took their usual seats. Giving a quick glance at Joey, I cut my eyes to the tables where he’d need to get to in a hurry.

Taking my cue, he hauled a*s to our best customers, and I knew then I really could sit back and watch him work. After putting some good music on the jukebox, I took out my cell and went to take a seat behind the bar. Tonight, I would oversee the cash register to make sure Joey knew how to use it and make change.

My feet propped on a barstool, I sat on another one, playing a game as more and more people came in. Joey was moving like lightning around the bar and I loved it. He went to the register to ring up a table, and I took the time to let him know how good he was doing. “Hey, you might just work out, kid.”

“Thanks,” he said, then took off again.

Sighing with relief that my hard days of working alone were over, I saw the door open again. This time three hunky guys came in. All tall. All ridiculously hot. All built like brick s**t houses.

Joey hauled a*s to the bar as the three men came toward it. “Uh, let me get them, Joey.”

With a grin, he nodded. “Got ya, boss.”

I gave the newcomers my full attention. “Hi. Welcome to The Watering Hole. You guys aren’t from here, or I’d know what to pour you.”

They took seats at the bar. Two of them looked around the crowded room while one looked only at me. His teeth, straight and white, glistened under the blue neon lights of the bar. “We like beer and plenty of it,” he said.

By their magnificent physiques, I knew their brand of choice. “Three Ultras then.” I grabbed frosted mugs from the freezer then filled them with the cold beer we kept on tap. Putting the drinks on the bar in front of them, I gave them a bit of southern hospitality. “On the house. It’s not often we get newcomers in here.”

One of them looked right into my eyes. His blue eyes matched those of the other two men. “Get ready to see us around. We’re going to be living here now. We’re the Gentry brothers. I’m Tyrell, this guy here next to me is Jasper, and that little guy on the end is our baby brother Cash.”

The guy on the end was anything but little. “Nice to meet you, boys. I’m Bobbi Jo. And I’m very nosy. So don’t be offended when I ask you lots of personal s**t, ’kay?”

The guy on the end, Cash, nodded as he took a drink of his beer. “Keep my mug filled, and you can ask me anything you want, beautiful.”

Filling a bowl with fresh peanuts, I put it in front of the men as I looked into the baby blue eyes of Cash, trying not to salivate over his dark waves of thick hair that hung to his broad shoulders. “Okay, for starters, how about you tell me what made you move to our little town of Carthage?”

The one who’d been introduced as Jasper answered my question. “We’ve inherited the Whisper Ranch.”

“Gentry is what you said your last name is?” I mused. “So, you’re related to old man Gentry—the rancher who rarely left home. Wow, I didn’t know that man had any family.”

Cash grinned at me. “Yeah, we’ve been told he was a hard a*s. Not that we knew him or even of him. Our father didn’t want anything to do with his father.”

Tyrell asked, “Do you know how many people or who attended Collin Gentry’s funeral?”

I had no idea at all. “I’m not into the whole obituary scene. I know a lot of town gossip though. You don’t want me to tell you what kind of things I’ve heard about Collin Gentry though; I promise you that.”

Tyrell looked at the pool tables then back at Jasper. “Care to let me beat you at pool?”

“I’ll let you try.” He got up, and the two of them left, leaving handsome Cash behind.

“So, you guys are living at the ranch then?” I asked as I picked up a glass and a white bar towel to clean it. It was a habit that I had.

Nodding, he took another drink. “That house is huge. I’d never seen a log cabin mansion before, and now I’m gonna live in one.”

I’d never seen nor heard of the house on Whisper Ranch. “I bet it’s awesome.”

“You’d bet right.” The way he smiled made my heart skip a beat—and my heart didn’t do s**t like that. “So what do you do, besides tending bar here at The Watering Hole?”

“Sleep mostly,” I said with a laugh. “This is my job, my leisure activity, and most of the time, my social scene as well.”

“You don’t get out much is what you’re saying?” He chuckled, making his chest move, taking my attention.

Mesmerized by the man, I answered, “If you ever want to find me, your safest bet is looking right here.”

“Cool.” He took another drink. “It’s always nice to know where I can find a pretty girl to talk to. Care to hit me again, beautiful?”

Going to get him another frosted mug, I bit my lower lip as I caught him giving my a*s the once-over through the mirror behind the bar. Maybe he thought I was as hot as I thought he was.

As I filled the mug, I had to let him know he wasn’t the first customer to come onto me. “You know, I’ve heard just about every pickup line there is. And ‘beautiful’ is a thing I’m called at least ten times each night. I would think a man of your total hotness would have better lines than what you’ve come up with so far.”

“That sounds like a challenge.” He took the mug from me, his fingers grazing the back of my hand as he did so. “So, how about if I don’t try to pick you up at all then?”

The way my blood ran hot told me I wouldn’t hate it if he tried to pick me up, but I wasn’t that kind of girl who wore her heart on her sleeve. “That would be best, Cash. I’m not the dating type anyway. You’d be wasting your time.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” His lips curved into a sly smile. “You’d be wasting your time too, as I don’t like to date either.”

My bets were that he didn’t have to date. Women probably just fell at his feet, and he took them any way he wanted to.

“Cool. Glad to see we’re on the same page, stud.”