Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (65 page)

“It is a very important decision.”  Gabe pulled a sheet of paper out of his desk and handed it to her.  “This is a list of the doctors that accept the insurance that my employees are covered under on the health plan.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that you had a health plan.”

Gabe winked at her.  “Oh, it’s only something that select employees are covered on.  Not everyone knows about it.  There aren’t many choices since Brunton is a small town, but you do have your choice of male or female.  I know that some women feel more comfortable having their child delivered by a woman.”

Robyn had the feeling that the employees that were covered on Gabe’s “employee health plan” were all female.  Even if he didn’t sleep with his female bartenders, she had a feeling that he was more generous with women in a lot of ways than he was with men.  “Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome.  Are you looking forward to your first day?  Did you get your rent and everything taken care of?”

“Yes.  You didn’t need to give me so much money.”

Gabe shrugged.  “Honestly, if I’d thought that you would have accepted more I would have given you more.”

“Gabe, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I don’t feel comfortable having you do so much for me.  I have to pay you back, or do something to make up for all of this.  I realize that you have a generous nature, and you have already done absolutely amazing things for me, but it’s just too much.”

Gabe sighed.  “Why could I not have met a woman like you before I’d married Leslie?  I may not have made so much money so quickly without her, but I am a smart man and would have made my fortune otherwise.  Leslie has so much and she wants more.  Always wants more, whether it’s sex partners or clothes or hideous art pieces that she usually ends up shoving in our attic once she’s tired of displaying them.  I should have married a woman that was hard working and humble.  You’re just as beautiful as my wife, but you’re so different.”

Robyn cleared her throat.  “I should probably get to work now.  I remember how to make a lot of mixed drinks and run a cash register but it has been a while.”

“I’ve made you uncomfortable again haven’t I?”

“Gabe you are an attractive man.  I’m sorry that your marriage isn’t what you wanted it to be.  My life has never gone the way I planned on it going either.  I wanted to be married by now and have a couple of kids.  I didn’t necessarily want to stay home like my sister, but if it was possible I would have and I would have been happy to do it.  I don’t think that you’re hitting on me, or that what you’ve done for me means you expect something from me other than for me to do my job, but I think that it’s probably better if we keep our mutual attraction in our heads, where it belongs.”

“Of course.  I’m sorry Robyn.  If I do something that makes you uncomfortable just tell me.”  He gave her a bright smile.  “I’ll make sure that you feel comfortable behind the bar before I leave for the night.  Eric seems to be in a mood today.  I’ve already talked with him about not hitting on you, but he isn’t always the best at listening.”

“Great.”

“I’m sorry Robyn.  I didn’t mean it like that.  Eric is a good looking man that has always taken advantage of that fact.  He openly pursued Kasia, even though she has children and has an off again on again relationship both with the father of one of her children and another man.  Kasia did request not to work with him.  But I believe that is due to the fact that they had an encounter one night after closing time that she later regretted and that played a large part in her decision not to work with him anymore.  If you tell Eric no, and are firm about it, he may still make sexual comments to you, because that’s just the type of man that he is.  But he will not pursue you if you make it clear that you’re not interested in any kind of a relationship with him.  And he does tend to save his charm for customers because they are the ones that show their appreciation in tips.”

“Oh.  So you think that Kasia did something to encourage him?”

Gabe sighed.  “Kasia is a beautiful woman and she knows it.  She is a wonderful mother but she flirts with men of all ages and takes the flirting further all too often.  She doesn’t know who the father of her third child is.  She admits that she wanted another child and set out to get pregnant.  But there were so many men that could have been the father by the time she got pregnant that after so many paternity tests, she gave up.  The father of her oldest son was married when they were together.  Their affair ruined his marriage but he didn’t care because he loves Kasia.  He is wealthy and gives her enough money to support all of her children and will probably continue to support her for the rest of her life on the hope that she may one day return to him.  He is not the man that she has an on again off again relationship with.  That would be the father of her daughter.  He is a man much like your Fuller.  He walked away from her when she told him she was pregnant, but instead of just slapping her, he gave her two black eyes, a fat lip and almost broke her nose.  He flits in and out of Kasia and their child’s lives and only pays child support when he’s threatened with jail.”  He shook his head.  “I probably shouldn’t have told you all of that.  I just wanted you to get a better understanding of Kasia.  She seems hard and sometimes more than a little trashy, but she adores her children and always makes sure they’re well supervised when she goes out.”

“I see.  I probably shouldn’t have asked you that question, but I was curious and wanted to make sure that I have a good feeling for Eric before I put myself through working with him.”

Gabe chuckled.  “You’ll be fine.  And if you’re not, you can always call me.  My number is on the back of that list of doctors that I gave you.  Your insurance card should be arriving in the mail shortly.  I put in the paperwork first thing this morning to make sure that you and the baby are well covered.”

“Thank you.”

They walked back out to the bar.  Eric was flirting with a busty brunette, though she wore a wedding ring.  Gabe followed her behind the bar and showed her the basics of the cash register and the list of drink prices, and ingredients for mixed drinks in a pinch.  The cash register was similar to those that she had used before.  She was happy to find that she had remembered the ingredients for some of the more popular mixed drinks correctly.

She felt comfortable when Gabe had showed her everything he felt she needed to know and had left her with Eric.  The night went quickly at first.  The business was steady and Eric seemed to serve as few males as possible.  She fought an eye roll every time she saw him fawning over another woman, but the male customers that weren’t with women seemed to prefer being served by her anyway and the tips were good.

When business slowed down Eric approached her.  She was sitting down in the only chair behind the bar because her feet hurt a little.  She was worried that she would end up with swollen ankles.  Her sister hadn’t worked during any of her pregnancies, but she had had swollen ankles anyway from doing housework and other things that required standing.

Eric smiled.  “You are gorgeous.  But I’ll bet you hear that all the time huh?”

“Probably not as often as you’d think.”

Eric chuckled.  “You want to hear it, just let me know.  I’m more than willing to tell you how hot you are.  Do you have a man?”

“No.  My boyfriend left me a few days ago.”

“What an idiot.  We should go out sometime.  I could show you a real good time.”

“I don’t want to sound rude Eric, but no thank you.  You’re very attractive, but I don’t feel comfortable dating my coworkers and I don’t think that I’m ready to start another relationship right now anyway.”

“It doesn’t have to be a relationship.  If you want no strings attached, I’m happy to do that too.  I bet you are fantastic in the sack.”

“I’m not interested in casual sex either.”

“That sucks.  You might rethink not wanting to date a coworker when you see Neal.”

Robyn smiled at him.  “I doubt it.”

“Well, if you change your mind, I will be here.  Anytime, anyplace beautiful.”

“Uh huh.  I’m pregnant Eric.”

“Oh.  You don’t look pregnant.”

“Thank you.  That woman over there is giving you the eye.  Why don’t you see if she needs something?”

Eric glanced at the woman who was tall and a few pounds overweight.  She had dark hair that looked to have come from a dye bottle and thick glasses.  He sighed.  “It’s pretty sad that not counting you, she’s the best looking chick in here.”

“She’s pretty.  I’m sure she’s very nice.”

Eric snorted.  “Take off twenty pounds, lose the bad dye job and get her contacts-maybe.  The way she is now, no thank you.”

“Do you want me to check on her?”

“No.  I can let her dream.”

Robyn shook her head as he walked away.  Eric was a jerk.  She hoped that he was done hitting on her. 

Robyn almost laughed when Eric said something to the woman and she gave him a look that could kill and got up from the bar.  She approached Robyn and handed her a tip, on the condition that she wouldn’t share it with Eric.

Robyn smiled politely and promised that she wouldn’t.  The woman bid her a good night and walked out of the bar.  Eric chuckled when he approached her. 

“What did you say to her?”

“I told her that she’d be a fine piece of ass if she’d lose a little weight; quit dying her hair and get contacts.”

“You’re an asshole.  She probably has a man that deserves her a lot more than you ever will.”

“She said that she has a man and that he’s better looking than me.”  Eric chuckled again.  “Yeah right.”

“She probably does.  Not all men are shallow.”

“Like you have to worry about that.  Even when you’re pregnant guys are gonna be all over you.  If you hadn’t told me no and I wasn’t a little weird about doin’ a pregnant chick, I’d be all over you.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re what your average person thinks of as attractive or not when a person is shallow.  They see the same things when they look at you as when they look at someone they don’t consider attractive.”

Eric snorted.  “You’re a little weird if you think that’s true Robyn.”

“Because you are shallow and you don’t get it.  A woman like the one you were rude to, she might have more trouble turning a man’s head than I would at least initially, but wait, you know what?  She’s not even a good example, because I think she was pretty.  You take a woman that’s really overweight or has really bad teeth or a big nose or something that makes people want to look away from her instead of looking again, and she knows that when a man wants to be with her it’s for the right reasons or at least it’s more likely that he is.  When you’re beautiful, you don’t know that a man wants to be with you for the right reasons.  You might be able to turn heads but what does it matter if they just want to get down your pants or have someone that they can look good with in public?  And shallow people see do see the same thing in a way, because it’s all about sex or approval or some bullshit.  Their eyes may see different things and certainly find one woman to be more appealing than the next, but it all starts with the same bullshit in their heads.”

Eric shook his head.  “Gabe hires women with really strong opinions.  I should have known you wouldn’t be any different.”

Robyn laughed.  “You should think before you dismiss a woman because you don’t look at her and get an instant hard on.  Someday, when you grow up, you’ll find out that pretty girls are too damned high maintenance a lot of times.  When you decide you want to settle down, do you want it to be with a woman that looks like a cover girl who you’ll always have to worry about
hopping into bed with the next guy that comes along?  Or do you want it to be with a woman that will stand beside you and love you and take care of you when you need it?”

Eric sighed.  “Why can’t I marry a hot girl when I’m ready?”

Robyn smiled.  “You missed my point.  I’m saying that when you judge people solely by their appearances on the surface, not only do you miss out on a lot of really great people that aren’t perfect on the outside, but you find out that people that may look great on the outside are really fucked up on the inside.  Sometimes, the fact that they look so great on the outside and the fickleness of our society actually causes them to become even more fucked up on the inside.”

“Well, there are plenty of fucked up fine bitches, but how can I look at a girl that is twenty pounds overweight and yet still has no boobs and think about wanting to go to bed with her?”

“Eventually Eric, you’re going to get to a point when you can look at a woman and not think with your dick.”

“I don’t think that I look forward to that day.  My dick has pretty good taste.”

Robyn groaned.  “Wow, I am glad that I didn’t meet you when I was going through my phase of going to bed with every hot guy that asked me.”

“Damn.  You’re so fine I think I might be able to put my aversion to pregnant chicks aside and bone you anyway.  You sure you don’t wanna give it a try?  You let me blow your mind once, I’m sure you’ll come back for more.”

“No Eric.  If I have sex with someone while I’m pregnant, it definitely won’t be with a man that has an aversion to pregnant women.”

“Neal might like it.  You might be the woman that finally breaks him out of his shell and makes him remember that he likes pussy.”