Lori Foster - Getting Rowdy

“He does a great job,” Avery agreed.

At thirty-four, Ella was eight years older than her. Unlike Avery, the waitress wore heeled shoes and a low-cut top, and she never stopped smiling. Forever flirting, she called everyone “sweetie” or “sugar,” and she liked to touch. Nothing too intimate, at least not while working. But she did like to get close.

On some women, that barhop personality might seem clichéd, but not on Ella, who was too sincere and far too caring to be anything other than original.

Twining a long lock of her dark brown hair around a finger, Ella leaned on the bar while Avery filled three whiskey shots. “What do you think the meeting is about tonight?”

Avery shrugged. “Rowdy didn’t say, so who knows?”

“Jones was hoping he’d finally get some help in the back. That poor baby works up a sweat every night.”

While Avery would never call the midsixties, lean-and-mean cook a “baby,” she agreed that he had his hands full. Jones, like Ella, was a happy guy. He wore his long graying hair in a ponytail, had more tats than Avery could count, and cursed while cooking—especially during the busier nights.

When possible, one of the waitresses lent him a hand, but those times were few and far between. Rowdy had hoped to keep three waitresses full-time, but only Ella had accepted. The other two, who enjoyed the tips they’d made while dancing the pole, hadn’t appreciated Rowdy’s decision to remove it. They’d dropped to part-time, their schedules rotating so they could pick up work at a club.

“I doubt it has anything to do with the kitchen since we’re getting together late.” With some remodeling still underway, Rowdy often called meetings. If it involved the cook, he’d have collected them before work because the kitchen closed at eleven.

“Well, no matter. He always pays us well when he keeps us over, so I don’t mind.” Ella picked up her tray. “Rowdy sure is something.”

Yeah, he was something all right. Big. Macho.

Oversexed.

Sashaying with each step, Ella strolled away.

Even without the pole, Ella made a killing in tips. But then, it was a busy night, so Avery didn’t do so badly, either.

At 1:00 a.m., when Rowdy gave the last call, Avery was more than ready to call it a night. Twice Rowdy had given her a break, but she’d yet to see him off his feet.

Finally, when the last guest was out the door and Rowdy had locked up, they gathered in the break room. As soon as Avery and Ella took a seat at the round table, Rowdy said, “Sorry, Ella, but we’re switching to a uniform.”

“Why are you sorry, sugar?” Ella crossed her long legs. “I’ve worn uniforms before. Some of them are real cute.”

“Not this kind.” Rowdy laid out the black, unisex, crew neck T-shirt with the bar name on the front in neon yellow. “Nothing sexy, Ella. I want everyone wearing the shirt with jeans.” He shook an apron from a bag. “And one of these.”

Avery eyed the black utilitarian aprons with the same logo as the T-shirts. “I like them.”

Ella looked horrified.

“You get three each. If I could, I’d pony up one for each day of the week, but hopefully, for now, these’ll get you through.”

“You’ll look incredible, Ella,” Avery told her. “It’ll be like a tease. All the men will wonder what they’re not seeing.”

“It’s not the same.” She located her size, hesitated, then put the shirts back and took a size smaller. “I better not lose tips because of this.”

“I doubt you will,” Rowdy said, “because the customers love you. But all the same, I’m giving you a raise. Additional buck an hour.”

That got her smiling again. “Really?”

“We’re doing better than I’d expected, and you’ve really given a hundred percent.”

“Aren’t you the sweetest ever?” Ella dropped the shirts and left her seat to give Rowdy an enthusiastic hug.

Clearly thankful for that reaction, Rowdy hugged her off her feet and kissed the top of her head.

He looked so relieved that Avery assumed he must have been expecting more of an argument.

Over the top of Ella’s head he met her gaze, and slowly eased the other waitress away.

Did he think she’d be jealous of Ella? No. She knew Rowdy valued Ella as an employee, nothing more.

Ella beamed up at him. “Is there anything else, sugar?”

“Nope. That’s it.” He put her shirts and aprons in a bag for her. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Ella gave him a loud kiss on the cheek, stroked his chest once and headed for the back door with her share of the new garments.

From her chair, Avery could see out the break room, through the kitchen to the back door. She watched Rowdy lock the door and then return to her. He dropped into a chair. “One down,” he muttered.

Grinning, Avery asked, “She had you worried?”

“A little.” He rolled his shoulders, rubbed the back of his neck. “I like Ella. She’s a hard worker with a great outlook. Never complains. Smiles at all the customers. But man, she does like to put it out there on display.”

“And here I thought you enjoyed that sort of thing.”

“Somewhere else, sure. But we’re trying to be a different type of bar, remember.”

Realization hit. “So the uniform shirts were your way of downplaying Ella’s assets without hurting her feelings?”

He shrugged. “It seemed better than telling her that she was showing too much boob.”

Avery laughed. “An ingenious move.” She picked up a shirt to better examine the logo. “And I like this. Casual but classy.”

“It’ll go with your jeans.”

Since that’s all she wore while working, she appreciated the effort. “Thanks for that. Just so you know, if you’d produced some cheesy uni that either looked ridiculous or like a fetish, I would have refused.”

“I figured.” Rowdy watched her as she gathered up three shirts and the aprons. “Looks like you’re doing the opposite of Ella.”

“How’s that?”

“A size larger than you need, versus her size smaller. You hide your figure. Ella flaunts hers. But I guess it balances out.”

“It’s not that I’m hiding anything.” Though she had stopped dressing to attract attention a while ago. “It can get pretty fast paced behind the bar. I need freedom of movement. Comfort is more important to me than anything else.”

“Avery?”

She folded the shirts. “Hmm?”

He didn’t move from his seat, didn’t change his tone, so it took her by surprise when he asked, “Why were you early today?”

Pausing, Avery felt the memories flood back in on her.

Rowdy’s deep, rough groan.

His taut expression while coming.

Flustered, she avoided his gaze while fussing with the garments. “I left my phone here last night.”

Slowly, Rowdy leaned forward in his seat and crossed his arms on the tabletop. “You could have gotten it when you got here.”

And instead she’d caught him getting his jollies in the office. “I needed to make a call before my shift started.”

“Yeah? Who did you call?”

No way would she tell him she’d planned to set a doctor’s appointment to get on the pill...because she’d wanted him to get his jollies with her.

But definitely not in the office. “It doesn’t matter now.”

He picked up that bad attitude again. “A boyfriend?”

Avery did a double take. “Where in the world did you come up with that?”

“You got a call from a man. Someone you’re seeing?”

“I... No. That was probably a wrong call or something.” She hoped. Waving off the question, she admitted, “I’m not seeing anyone.”

There was a heavy pause before Rowdy asked softly, “No?”

Refusing to admit it again, she checked the clock on the wall. “I need to go or I’ll miss the bus.”