A good man was not who I was.
“A good man, huh? I think I’m already out of the running.”
She reached across her desk to give me a sympathetic squeeze on my wrist. “That’s not true, Stefan. You’re not a bad man. You just do things good men don’t usually do. There’s a difference.”
“Oh yeah? So if I didn’t do those things I might have a chance?”
“Um…maybe. I can tell you that a good man would treat a woman with respect. I’m not saying you don’t do that with the women you date, but maybe you could be less about sex and more about what interests her.”
All I knew about what interested Shay was that none of it interested me. She was a science geek. I didn’t give a damn about science.
“I don’t think we like anything the same.”
“Stefan, is she a bartender?”
“Yeah. Don’t tell Cash. He’ll have a stroke or something and ruin your whole wedding.”
Olivia rolled her eyes and smiled. “I won’t. He’ll be up all night pacing about future lawsuits, and I don’t want to see him upset like that. But you have that in common with her. You both work here. Maybe you can start there.”
“Maybe. It’s not much to go on. Any other advice?”
“Stefan, how well do you know this woman?”
“Pretty well. Well, not really.” I hesitated a moment and then confessed, “We’ve already slept together.”
For the second time in our talk, Olivia’s eyes flew open. “Oh. Okay. Uhh…do you think you might have gotten to know her before you slept with her? Not to sound all old fashioned or anything, but it would have made getting her to fall for you a little easier.”
“I guess, but that’s all water under the bridge now. So you think I should just talk to her about the club?”
My question made a grimace come over her face for a moment, but then her expression softened. “I don’t think that’s the way to go, Stefan. Think of it this way. If you really want her to like you, she has to see the person I see. What she sees now is the player. You have to make her see the fun guy who made me smile when your brothers intimidated me, the guy who jokes around and drives Cash and Kane crazy. Then she’ll see the real you.”
“Okay. This is good. I can use that. A few jokes, some sweet talk, and I should be in like Flynn. Thanks, Olivia!”
I rose to leave, but she stopped me. “Wait a second! That’s not exactly what I meant. You need to be genuine.”
“Yeah, I’ll be genuine. You know me,” I said with a smile as I headed out into the club.
So I needed to be funny and genuine. No problem. I had this under control. Kane’s Mustang and his part of the club were all but mine.
My plan couldn’t have been simpler. I’d see Shay at work that night, turn on the genuine and funny charm, and let nature take its course. I ran home for a quick shower right after six to make sure I looked as good as I could. I guessed Shay was more of a button down shirt kind of girl, so I broke out my favorite black dress shirt and checked out my look in the mirror. A little too close to Cash’s style for my taste, but I wasn’t trying to seduce me.
I got back to the club in time to see Shay walk in with Lola, ruining any chance I had for flirting with her. Why was Lo here? Tonight was her night off.
“Hey, Lo! Come here!” I yelled as they headed toward the bar. She came running, as she always did when I called, a look of worry on her face.
“What’s up, Stefan?”
“What are you doing here? You’re not scheduled.”
Lola looked up at me with fear in her eyes. “Is it okay? Kerry called and said she had an emergency and asked if I’d take her shift tonight.”
“Yeah. I guess. I just didn’t have you scheduled. Now I’m going to have to rearrange everything.”
She smiled and gave the answer I knew she would. “Oh, that’s okay, Stefan. Just put me anywhere. I know it’s not my night, so wherever you were going to put Kerry is good. I’m just here to help out.”
“Thanks, Lo. That helps.”
Flinging her arms around me, she hugged me tight and whispered against me, “You’re the best, Stefan.”
The familiar scent of her flowery perfume drifted up from where her head pressed against my chest, and I remembered what Kane had said about keeping her happy. The thing with Lola was going to be a problem. Nothing I couldn’t overcome, but a problem nonetheless. As for tonight, I could separate her and Shay, but I’d promised Shay I wouldn’t put Lola at the back bar anymore and I didn’t want to put her there. But she was filling in for Kerry, so I had a little more wiggle room.
I gently pushed Lo away and forced myself to smile at her. “Time for work.”
With just a nod, she walked away toward Shay to await the nightly meeting. As I stood there quickly growing frustrated by the whole situation, I saw Kane stroll down from his perch on the top floor and walk right up to Shay. What the fuck was he doing?
I watched as he stood way too close and laughed just a little too much at whatever the hell she was saying. When he touched her shoulder, a clear sign he was up to no good, I walked over to break up their little whatever it was. Deep in conversation, they didn’t even notice me standing there for nearly a minute.
“Hey, Kane. I need to talk to you,” I finally said, interrupting them.
He turned to look at me, still wearing a silly grin that seemed to have been charming Shay just a moment earlier. “Look who it is! Stefan, what’s up, baby brother?”
“I love that you call him baby brother,” Shay cooed in a voice that I never heard when she spoke to me. “That’s too cute.”
Kane made some joke about me as a baby, ridiculous since he didn’t meet me until I was nearly twenty, before he flashed Shay another smile and finally tore himself away to follow me. We got to my office, and I barely closed the door before I barked, “What the fuck was that all about?”
“What?”
“Don’t give me what. What are you doing with Shay?”
“Nothing, Stefan. I just saw her standing there and stopped to talk.”
“Why didn’t you talk to Lola then?”
He chuckled. “I did. It’s just that Shay seemed more interested in talking back to me.”
My blood pressure steadily rose until my temples throbbed. “I know what you’re doing. You think I’m going to win our bet, so you’re throwing up roadblocks to make sure I don’t. This is bullshit, Kane. Step back out of my way.”