Lucas elevated his beer, a look of interest on his face.
“And my brief but memorable foray as a dog walker…”
Chapter 5
Hot?” Rachel asked Bree.
“That’s what he said.” Bree wiped down the bar in front of her. “I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but I clearly made out the phrase ‘hot neighbor’ and by the time he mentioned the black and white Great Dane, I knew he was talking about you.”
Rachel had the day off work but popped into the bar to drop off the dress she’d stolen from Bree’s closet. The bag was in her hand, and she hadn’t yet brought up the fact she’d borrowed her friend’s clothes. In a plaid button-down, jeans, and boots minus the heels, by comparison Rachel was downright slumming.
She hadn’t slept well last night thanks to Adonis waking her three times to go out, so she’d spent the day cleaning and doing laundry before crashing for a three-hour midday nap.
As a result, her brain was chugging along groggily.
“I’m about to use part of my dog sitting pay to take a certain Great Dane to a kennel,” she said around a yawn. “He’s exhausting.”
“Why didn’t Oliver kennel the dog?”
“He said Adonis is used to being at home. Apparently, he’s used to being with the usual dog sitter, and I’m not an acceptable replacement.” Or maybe it was because the dog sitter Oliver typically employed had one job: dog sitting. Rachel had two, and being here forty-plus hours a week was putting a serious dent in her quality time with Adonis.
“I want to hear more about the long-haired, muscled neighbor you have. You underplayed him.” Bree leaned a hip on the bar. The Andromeda was in the middle of a lull, which wasn’t surprising given it was nine o’clock. “He’s still here, you know.”
“Here?” Rachel’s eyes went wide as she looked around. “Now?”
No way could she have missed him. He simply took up too much space. Tag was easy to notice. Like the time she’d spotted him briefly outside of Oliver’s apartment building.
The sound of low, male laughter echoed off the adjoining room, and she turned around to see Tag and an attractive dark-haired guy standing at the pool table. The other guy held out a hand and she heard him say, “I’ll take my twenty back now.”
“What’s he doing here?” Rachel whispered, trying to remember if she’d mentioned she worked at Andromeda. She didn’t think so, but if she had, that would mean Tag had come in here to see her.
Surely not. A ripple of excitement flowed through her at the thought.
“You mean did he ask about you?” Her friend’s smile was shit-eating.
“No.” Rachel drew out the word, hoping Bree would believe her.
Reaching into the Pup Paradise bag in which her dress and boots were being held, Bree asked, “Where did you go in this?”
“Nowhere. I chickened out.”
Bree shook her head and took the bag. “Fine. Keep lying to me. Lie to me, lie to your parents…” She stashed the bag beneath the bar.
“Hey, I will have you know I told my mom I broke up with Shaun.”
“You did not.” Her friend’s eyes went wide.
“I did. I told her we broke up. I told her I moved out.” Rachel bit down on her lip. “I did not tell her I was bartending instead of sitting in my own office.”
“Progress. You are making it.” Bree moved to the taps and pulled a beer. Then she gave Rachel a real smile as she filled a second glass. “Now go make some more progress, and take these to the two gentlemen playing pool.”
“Me? It’s my day off.” Rachel held up her hands in protest, and Bree put the beers into them.
“Go say hi to the large, pretty man with the beard and the gun show.”
“I can’t. He’s…too much.”
“Too much? What, like you can’t handle him?”
Rachel thought for a minute. Not that she couldn’t handle him, but…Yeah, kinda that she couldn’t handle him.
“He’s over six feet tall, and there’s so much hair, and…the sheer width of him.” She gestured said width with the beer mugs in her hands. “I don’t know. Shaun was reasonably sized. Somebody I could picture myself with until he turned into a jerk.”
Bree’s eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t say settle down with the guy. I said take him a beer. Talk to him. Maybe have a hot, steamy make-out session in the corner by the pool table.”
“Breanna!” Rachel hissed.
“What? You’re off the clock.”
Rachel was saved by a couple who walked up to the bar. Bree shuffled off to wait on them, but not before she turned and said, “Thanks for delivering those beers, Rach.”
With a growl low in her throat, Rachel turned on her heel and headed for the pool table.
Tag, in a low-slung man bun, was bent over lining up the cue ball. Rachel took brief inventory of his wide thighs decked in denim but quickly jerked her attention to his face when his dark-haired friend elbowed him. From his hunch over the table, Tag turned his head and pegged her with a look that was borderline animal. Then a bearded smile curved his mouth.
He straightened, put the pool cue stick on the floor, and stood with it at his side like a staff. At that moment she realized her assessment of Tarzan was incorrect. He looked more like a Viking. Or a supersized Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.
“Bree was in the weeds, so she asked me to bring you your beers,” Rachel lied. Because she had to have a reason for bringing him booze. She couldn’t hover in the doorway while Tag pierced her with those fierce blue eyes.
“You work here?” Tag asked as she put the beer glasses on a narrow ledge along the wall behind him.
“You didn’t know?” Disappointment sank into the pit of her stomach. Part of her had hoped he’d sought her out.
“No idea.”
“It’s my day off. I stopped in to…” Well, she couldn’t tell him she was dropping off the clothes she’d gone upstairs to his apartment wearing, now could she? “I just stopped in.”
“Do you drink beer?” Tag’s friend asked.
“Yes.” Rachel sent a look from him to Tag. Tag shook his head, but his smile remained. She was missing something.
“Good. I have to go home to the old ball and chain.” The friend held up his left hand and wiggled his wedding band with his thumb. “You can have my beer. And Tag can pay for everything since he owes me money for whipping his ass at pool tonight.” He snagged his coat off the coat rack—black leather—and slid his arms into it.
“I’m telling Gena you called her a ball and chain,” Tag said as his friend moved across the room.
“Tell her whatever you want. She barely believes you anyway.” Then he leveled Rachel with a warm amber gaze. “Lucas. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
He extended a hand and she shook it, noting his extra emphasis on the word finally. She apologized for her hand being damp from the glass. Then Lucas was gone and Tag and Rachel were in the billiard room by themselves. She put her hands in her coat pockets and gave the beer a dubious look.