It's in His Kiss Read online

  “We didn’t order yet,” Sam said.

  “Oh for the love of—” She slapped Tanner’s hand before he could snatch a nacho, picked up the platter and the beers, and once again vanished.

  She was back a breathless moment later, looking flushed as she held her order pad. “Okay, let’s start over. I’m Becca, your server for tonight.”

  “You sure?” Sam asked.

  She let out a theatrical sigh. “Listen, I’m not exactly in my natural habitat here.” Suddenly she straightened and gave them a dazzling smile as she spoke out of the corner of her mouth. “Quick, everyone look happy with your service. My hopefully new boss is watching. I made a bet with him that I could handle this job and I have tonight to prove it.”

  Sam craned his neck and saw Jax at the bar, watching Becca. “It’d help if you were actually serving,” he said.

  “Working on that,” she said, and vanished.

  The three of them watched her go for a moment. She went straight to the bar, smiled at Jax, grabbed a tray of drinks, and then brought them to a table. That she had to take drinks right out of a few people’s hand and switch them to someone else’s made Cole and Tanner chuckle.

  “She can’t serve worth shit,” Tanner said. “But she does have a great smile. And those eyes. Man, it’s like when she looks at you, you’re the only one she sees.”

  Sam watched her take an order from the table. One of the customers said something and she tossed her head back and laughed. Not a fake I-want-your-tips laugh, but a genuine, contagious one that made everyone at the table join her.

  Cole and Tanner were right. She was cute. And as he already knew from catching her staring at him several times now, she absolutely had a way of making a guy feel like he was the only one she saw.

  She left the table and vanished into the back, coming out a moment later with a tray laden with plates of food. The muscles in her shoulders and arms strained as she moved, and Sam found himself holding his breath. Maybe she did suck as a waitress, but no one could deny that she was working her tail off. She got all the way to the back table before she dumped the tray.

  Down the front of herself.

  The man closest to her must have gotten sprayed because he flew to his feet and held his shirt out from his body, jaw tight. He said something low and undoubtedly harsh given the look on Becca’s face as she bent to clean up the mess. Grabbing her elbow, he gave her a little shake, and before Sam gave it a second thought, he was on his feet and at Becca’s back.

  “You’re the worst waitress I’ve ever seen,” the guy was yelling. “You are nowhere near good enough for this job.”

  The barb hit. Sam could tell by the way Becca took a step back as if slapped, bumping right into him.

  “You’re going to pay for the dry cleaning of this shirt, do you hear me?” the guy went on.

  “Hard not to,” Sam said, steadying Becca. “Since you’re braying like a jackass.”

  Becca slid Sam a look that said she could handle this. When he didn’t budge, she made a sound of annoyance and turned back to the pissed-off customer. “I’m sorry,” she said. “And of course I’ll pay for your dry cleaning.” Then she bent again to clean up.

  Sam crouched down to help her scoop the fallen plates onto the tray, but she pushed at him. “I’ve got this,” she whispered. But she was trembling, and her breath hitched. “Stop, Sam. I don’t need you to help,” she insisted when he kept doing just that.

  He’d disagree with her, but that would only back her into a corner. So he continued on in silence, and then when she vanished into the kitchen, he went back to his table.

  Tanner and Cole were grinning at him.

  “What?”

  “You tell us what,” Cole said.

  “I was just helping.”

  “No, helping would be going into the kitchen and wrangling us up some burgers,” Tanner said, rubbing his belly. “I’m starving.”

  Sam shook his head and turned on his iPad again. “Where were we?”

  “You were playing hero,” Tanner said.

  Sam ignored this. “Our boat fund will hit its projected mark this year,” he said.

  Both Cole and Tanner blinked at him.

  “You’re serious,” Tanner finally said. “You really did manage to pay us and save a mint while you were at it.”

  “Do I ever joke about money?” Sam asked.

  “Holy shit,” Cole said. “Just how much are we making anyway?”

  Sam thumbed through the iPad, brought up their receivables, and shoved the screen across the table.

  They all stared at the numbers and Tanner let out a low whistle.

  “Why the hell are you so surprised?” Sam asked, starting to get insulted. “I send you both weekly updates. Between all the chartering and the profits from the boats I’ve been building, we’re doing good.”

  Both Cole and Tanner still just stared at him, and Sam shook his head in disgust. “I could be ripping you guys off, you ever think of that?”

  “Yeah,” Cole said. “Except you’re a terrible liar and you’re not nearly greedy enough.”

  Needing the beer Becca had taken away, Sam went to the bar for a pitcher. The bar was crazier than usual, and Sam realized he saw only a hungry crowd and no sign of Becca at all. He took the pitcher back to his table and poured.

  “To Gil,” Cole said, and as they always did, they drank to Gil’s memory.

  A few minutes later, wondering if maybe Becca had gotten her sweet ass fired, Sam stepped into the hall and found her standing there with her back to him, hugging herself with one arm, the other hand holding her cell phone to her ear.

  “No, I can’t come play at your concert,” she was saying. “I’m— They’re paying how much?” She paused. “Wow, but no. I can’t— Yeah, I’m fine. In fact, I’ve got my toes in the sand right this very minute, so you just concentrate on you, okay?” She paused. “The noise? Uh . . . it’s the waves. It’s high tide.”

  This was when she turned and caught sight of Sam standing there. Flushing a deep red, she held his gaze. “Gotta go, Jase. The whitecaps are kicking up and it’s making my muse kick into gear.” She lowered her voice and covered her mouth and the phone, but Sam heard her whisper, “And don’t come out here. Okay? I’m good. Really, really good. So just stay where you are.” She disconnected and made herself busy stuffing the phone into her pocket before flashing Sam her waitress smile. “I think your order’s almost up.”

  “How would you know? You’ve got your toes in the sand.”

  She drooped a little. “Yeah. I’m probably going to hell for that one.”

  “Jase?” he asked.

  “My brother.” She sighed. “You know families.”

  Yeah, Sam knew families. He knew families weren’t necessarily worth shit, at least not blood families. He wondered what her story was, but before he could ask, she sent him one last shaky smile and walked away.

  Chapter 5

  It was two thirty in the morning when the bar finally got quiet. Becca was cleaning up, or supposed to be, but really she was staring at the piano again.

  It was always like this. She’d be drawn by the scent of the gleaming wood, the keys, the beauty of losing herself in the music.

  And then she’d sit and the anxiety would nearly suffocate her.

  It’d taken her ten years of playing, from age seventeen to twenty-seven, ten years of needing anxiety meds to get on stage, before she’d admitted she didn’t have the heart for that life. She might have said so sooner but her brother had needed her, and her parents had depended on her being there for him. A painful crush on their manager Nathan had only added to the pressure. The crush had eventually evolved into a relationship, but when that had failed, she’d walked away from the life.

  That had been two years ago.

  She’d been working at an ad agency ever since, writing jingles for commercials. Behind the scenes really worked for her, though about a year ago, Jase had hit rock bottom and Nathan had come to he