Page 3 of Tricked in October
Sophie approached the bar and slammed down her tray. “Miss Kelsey, there’s a tourist at table six who needs to be cut off.”
Kelsey shuffled to the computer screen and frowned. “But he’s only had one beer.”
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe he was already drunk before he came in. He’s making crude comments and I swear, if he touches me, my jujitsu training might make an appearance.”
Ricky always handled the drunk and disorderly customers. It was just another reminder of the things Kelsey had to take care of now that he was gone. But with Charlotte screaming in her ear, the packed bar, and the leaking sink, she felt near the breaking point.
She pinched her eyes shut and swiped the back of her arm across her forehead. She absolutely hated asking for help.
“Hey, Kels. Everything okay?”
At the sound of the soft and rumbling voice, Kelsey’s muscles relaxed, and tears nearly welled behind her eyelids. Her throat thickened as her eyes flew open. The sight of the familiar and kind face of her best guy friend, filled her with relief.
Davis.
Despite his over six-foot-tall frame, she felt like tackling him with a hug.
“Thank, God you’re here,” she said, breathing out a lengthy sigh.
As shocking as his presence was—because he rarely came into O’Henry’s—she was grateful. People who didn’t know him might find him intimidating. But to the ones who did know the introverted, shy, Vance twin, he wasn’t. When he smiled, his lips practically disappeared and his glassy, blue eyes crinkled at the corners. He kept his facial hair at a permanent three-day stubble that drove Kelsey crazy. Was he growing out a beard or was he just being lazy?
Ugh.
His dark brown hair was unruly, not quite curly but not straight either. He was soft-spoken and often dressed in flannels and oversized sweaters and sweatshirts, hiding the overly fit physique that would make any woman swoon.
Any woman but Kelsey.
Tonight, Davis had on a light blue sweater and his wild hair was tucked beneath a Tapp’s Brewery hat.
“What’s going on?” he asked, brows furrowed and concern streaking across his face.
“What’s not going on? I’ve got a drunken tourist at table six, a leaky sink in the kitchen, and a crying baby in a bar.” She gestured at her hip where the youngster clung on.
Charlotte’s crying had turned to a whimper, and she kicked her legs. Charlotte loved Davis. He crouched and leaned in toward her, tickling her underneath her ribs. She didn’t react with a full-blown belly laugh, but she did let out a squeal, which felt like progress.
Davis put his hands out for Charlotte, and she went to him easily.
Kelsey’s heart shifted in her chest, shoving against her rib cage as Charlotte stopped crying nearly instantly. The girl reached up and tugged on the bill of Davis’s baseball hat before yanking it off completely and she giggled.
“Ha, you’re a little thief,” he teased, his eyes sparkling.
Charlotte smiled wide, her rosy cheeks still dampened with tears.
“You gotta stop giving your mama such a hard time. You hear me?” Davis pressed his finger to the tip of Charlotte’s nose.
Charlotte clutched Davis’s hat to her chest and giggled.
“Kelsey?” Julian hollered from the open door of the kitchen.
“I’m coming,” she called, agitation building in her chest.
“You take care of the leaking sink. Let me go take care of table six,” Davis suggested, handing Charlotte back to her.
“You sure?”
A blush swept across Davis’s unshaven face as he nodded and chewed a bruised thumbnail, the oversized sleeves of his blue sweater tugged over his knuckles. “What? You don’t think I can handle an irate tourist?”
Charlotte began to whine again in between fits of fresh sobs.
