Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (24 page)

Josh was right. But my brain kept egging me on. So I pounded my fist again on the bar and chanted "Drinks! Drinks! Drinks!" Several underclassmen that we had snuck in with the theater department's collective stash of fake IDs joined in with the chanting.

Within a few minutes the bartender had reappeared with large tray of shots. She looked at Josh. "He
is
paying for all of these right?"

Josh nodded. "He won't be happy about it tomorrow but there's no saying no to him when he's like this." Josh put on a fake smile and wrapped his arm around me in a hearty side hug. Josh stood up. "Shots for everybody but Wilder here!" he called out. Then he turned to me. "Get out your wallet. I've got to get you home before you start stripping, man."

I wasn't so far gone that I couldn't hear reason. I pulled out my debit card and hoped that I had enough on it. The bartender swiped it and handed me the receipt. Josh saw the total and his eyes nearly fell out of his head. He turned around. "Hey! Everybody on Wilder's tab needs to pony up for a tip, okay?" He lifted the large glass pickle jar and passed it to the guy next to him. "Everybody throws in at least a five, alright?"

Josh exhaled and lifted me off the barstool. My head was spinning a little, but I knew that the feeling would pass once I was out in the fresh air. It took a lot to get me drunk and sure enough, it wasn't long before my head had cleared some. All I was left with was a nice, heavy buzz that made me feel like I was floating down the sidewalk.

I still leaned on Josh slightly, feeling my way over the concrete. "We probably look like a four-legged monster from far away," I whispered comically, giggling as I said it. Then I turned my face to the sky and screamed. "This was the best fucking night ever!"

"You will not be saying that tomorrow morning," Josh said to me with a grimace, grunting under my weight.

"How is it that
you
are not drunk?" I asked him.

"Because I have a final in approximately six hours," he responded.

"Oh shit, you should have fucking told me that!" I replied, feeling guilty.

"And leave you alone to drink? No way. That’s not how
that
works."

We were close to campus now, within spitting distance of the library. "Actually," Josh said suddenly. "You'll probably feel a lot better in the morning if I can get some caffeine into you now." Josh looked inside the lit-up windows of the coffee shop. The sign said
Sorry, We're Closed
. "Dammit," Josh said, kicking the concrete. "You are going to be a monster in the morning." He shook his head and walked away.

I put my face up to the glass. I thought I saw a shadow of someone moving in the back room. I smiled and turned to face Josh. "Wait just a fucking minute," I called after him.

Josh stopped and turned. "What?"

"If you have learned anything in the nearly twenty years you have been my best friend, what is it?"

"Tequila makes you mean," he said, laughing a little.

"Fuck, Josh, not that." I tilted my head toward the coffee shop. "It's that when the situation seems impossible, I can find a way through it to get what I want."

Josh sighed. "Wilder, it’s just coffee. Don't be dramatic."

I grinned. "You're talking to a drama major. And me being a monster in the morning
is
a serious concern, is it not?" I turned to look in the windows so I could bang on the door and sweet talk whoever was in there into letting me have some fucking coffee.

That was when my heart stopped. "Fuck," I said loudly.

"What?" Josh asked, walking over to the window. "Oh."

Standing there in the coffee shop was the most gorgeous fucking woman I'd ever seen in my life. She was ridiculously tall, with an ass that wouldn't quit and long blonde hair that kissed the bottom of her curvy tits. I felt my dick tingling underneath my jeans. She was flipping chairs on top of recently wiped down tables. They were still streaky from the wetness of the cloth. All the lights were still on.

"It couldn't have been much time since she closed up the shop," I said with a smile.

"Wilder," Josh said, turning to me. "We are here for
coffee
. I don't have time to be your wingman tonight."

I ignored him and pounded on the glass. "Hey! Could you please let us in?" I yelled, plastering my face with the widest smile I could.

The girl jumped about a foot in the air and put her hand over her chest, trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry!" I said back, holding my hands up. "I didn't know if you could hear me!" I said loudly.

Josh laughed next to me. “When you’re drunk, the entire
campus
can hear you even if you’re whispering.”

She pointed angrily to the sign. "We're closed. Can't you read?" Her mouth formed itself into the sexiest pout I'd ever seen in my life. It only made me want to get in there even more.

"I'm Nick Wilder," I said, shining the biggest smile I could muster. "You know who I am.
Everyone
knows I am."

Josh groaned. "You're more drunk than I thought you were. You're like, bragging to the cheerleading squad that Richard Branson is considering you as a candidate to fly to Mars drunk."

I turned to him. "You will never let me forget that." I knocked on the window again. "Come on. Can't you see that I'm drunk? I have an exam tomorrow." The girl looked at me skeptically. "Okay, well.
He
has an exam tomorrow.” I pointed toward Josh. “And he's risked his perfect GPA to make sure that his best friend in the entire world doesn't get so blinding drunk that he strips his clothes off on the quad." I tilted my head to the side and stuck my lip out slightly.

"Dude, puppy dog face is not going to work with her. Just trust me on that,” Josh informed me.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Because I come to this coffee shop all the damn time. She flirts with no one. She's immovable. I swear. I think she's too good for you anyway," Josh said.

"Challenge accepted," I replied. I saw that the girl had turned back to stacking chairs on top of tables. "This could be your community service for the week. Helping out two sick bastards with much-needed caffeine."

That worked. She turned around and walked toward the door, scowling. She turned the metallic lock and pulled the door open. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. My eyes were drawn immediately to her chest. Thankfully I was able to save the moment by glancing at her name tag. "Olivia," I said quietly, smiling at the feel of her name in my mouth. That wasn’t the only thing of hers I wanted in my mouth, either.

She blushed slightly. I internally gave myself a high five. I was
in
.

Olivia put her hand on her hip and scowled. "This is only so you will leave me alone so I can go to bed," she said, irritated. "Also the owner says that any leftover coffee gets deducted from our paycheck for waste. So drink up and pay up."

I took a calculated risk. “Can I hug you?” I asked her. It wasn’t really a question.

She looked surprised. “I guess-“

I didn’t wait for her to finish. I bent down, reaching my arms around Olivia and hugging her tightly. I felt her stiffen and then relax slightly. I smelled her silky hair. It smelled like vanilla.

I pulled away from her and saw that her face was one of confusion and pink blush. "Okay, boys," she said, turning away from me. "Make it quick."

She pushed past us and stood behind the bar, pulling out ceramic mugs that clinked together. She filled them with steaming, black coffee from the industrial sized coffee maker that sat perched on the bar. She pushed the mugs rapidly to the center of the counter.

"I'm not your waitress here. Come get it."

Josh set down two chairs and then grabbed the coffee mugs. I walked around the countertop and opened the sliding glass doors of the case of baked goods. I saw exactly what I wanted there and picked it out deftly.

"Plates?" I asked Olivia. She gaped at me, evidently not amused by my initiative. "What? You said to serve ourselves."

"Underneath the counter," she acquiesced, jabbing her finger to indicate the cabinet door by my feet.

I grabbed two plates and plated the cherry turnovers, placing them on the table. Josh looked at me, confused.

"I'm allergic to cherries," he said, furrowing his brow.

I gave him a significant look. Of course I knew that. I'd known that since his ninth birthday party, where Josh's throat swelled up so incredibly after a juice box mix-up he'd ended up in the back of the ambulance. It was the best birthday ever. I'd managed to charm the ambulance driver into letting me sit in the front and operate the sirens. I remembered that Josh, ever the rule follower, had been concerned that the breach of protocol might lead to the firing of the very kind EMTs who had saved his life.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that," I said quietly.

Josh smiled and then rubbed his hand through his hair. “I'm too tired to argue."

I leaned forward and whispered. "You also owe me for spring break. Those two girls I managed to wingman for you?"

Josh held up his hands in surrender. "You had me at spring break." I gave him a quick hug.

"See you at home," Josh said. "Walk carefully." Then he whispered, "Do not fuck with this girl, okay?"

He'd never said that to me before. That must mean that he knew something that I didn't. "Deal," I replied.

Josh raised his voice and looked over in the direction of Olivia, who had pulled out the cash drawer. "You guys going to pay or what?" she asked without looking up.

Josh replied. "Wilder's getting the check. I'm actually going to head back to my dorm for the night," he said. "Thanks so much for letting us in."

I stood up and walked over to the counter, pulling my wallet out. "Of course I will pay," I said, counting out five one dollar bills and hoping it would cover it. My debit card had barely managed to cover the bar tab and this was all that I had left.

Olivia took the five dollars from me without looking, flipping up the black plastic arm that held down the bills and sticking them neatly in the drawer. I hovered, watching her count. I suddenly noticed that she wasn't taking any notes on the math that she was doing. Instead, she was whispering feverishly to herself a string of numbers.

I had the sense to wait until she was finished to talk. "Are you some kind of math genius or something?"

Olivia took the excess money and zipped it into a fake leather pouch with ‘First National Bank’ emblazoned on the red material in white letters. She bent below the countertop and twirled the metal knobs of a black metallic safe with her fingertips. It clicked open a moment later and she shoved the zippered pouch behind its heavy door, closing the safe with twirl of the knob. It spun freely for several seconds before coming to a stop. She stood up, dusting off her knees and exhaling.

"Your friend forgot his pastry," she said pointedly, looking over at the table that now had two mugs of hot coffee and two pastries on plates sitting there. I looked next to the register and saw a small vase with wilting flowers. I picked the vase up and set it in the center of the round table. Then I turned around and gestured grandly at the impromptu picnic.

"Josh is actually allergic to cherries," I said grimly. "I was hoping that you could join me instead."

Olivia's cheeks turned pink once again. She rearranged her face into a scowl. "Really, playboy? Does this normally work for you?"

I felt the headiness of my buzz still going strong. I pulled a chair out and motioned to her to sit down. "It only needs to work
right now
."

She tapped her fingers on the countertop. I couldn't tell if it was from nerves or annoyance, but it showed me that at least she was thinking about it. "Okay," she finally said. "But only if you mop floors when we are done eating. Oh, and fill up the dishwasher and run it."

I pretended to consider her offer when really my insides were screaming to be closer to her. "That seems like a fair deal," I replied.

Olivia took off her apron and hung it on the back of the door to the kitchen. She walked around the counter and sat down in the chair that I'd offered her. I walked around the table and took a seat, jiggling my leg slightly out of nerves. I felt like electricity was arcing in the air between us.

She picked up the cherry turnover and took an enormous bite of it, chewing it slowly. Flakes of caramelized sugar fell onto her chin. I had the intense urge to dive across the table and lick it off her face. Instead I reached behind me for the silver napkin holder filled with brown napkins and grabbed one, handing it to her.

"Thanks," she mumbled through the remaining bit of turnover still in her mouth. She reached for the napkin, grazing her hand against mine. Electricity crackled in the places where our skin was touching. Olivia jerked her hand away, but not quite quickly enough. "I didn't eat lunch," she explained while she stuffed her mouth with the rest of the turnover.

I waited until she was done and then motioned to my own turnover. "Do you want this?" I asked her. "I'm more than happy to sit here and watch you eat." I stared at her with as much intensity as I could muster. I saw the pink from earlier creep back into her cheeks. I pushed the plate toward her and she took it without a word. I leaned back in my chair, smiling. "You like me," I said cockily.

Olivia put her hand over her mouth to conceal her chewing. "Why would you say that?" she asked thickly through pastry layers. "I'm stuffing myself with food in front of you. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement that I want you to see me naked."

I felt my pants get tighter just at hearing her say the word. Then I twisted my mouth into a wry smile. "Interesting that you went right to
naked
.” I leaned back toward her. "Why'd you miss lunch?"

Olivia dabbed her chin with a napkin. "There was a table of over-privileged frat boys ordering coffee every five minutes. We're understaffed right now since it's the end of term."

I nodded in understanding. "That male privilege is a bitch," I said seriously.

Olivia laughed. "Yeah, you would know."