Free Strong Enough by TERESA HILL Page B

same hand.
His body weight shifted all to the right which is causing every
single muscle in his arm to flex to hold him up. His quiet demeanor
can be seen as the only person I have seen him address or talk to
is Mr. East Coast. The moment he realizes I am walking toward him
he shifts his weight to rotate and face the bar head on, right in
my direction. My back tenses and my mouth clenches as I wring my
hands together to either get rid of the sweat or just have
something to do with them. No one has ever affected me this way
before.
    I pause when I hit my station and reach out
to extend my hand but quickly grab a shaker. He reacted for a
second to almost extend his hand until he saw me change course.
With no order to be made I mix up a couple shots and start giving
away drinks simply to keep my hands busy. Well
hell, need to remember to add those to the spill
sheet.
    After four rounds of free shots have been
handed out and customers are really happy I glance at Stormy who is
giving me a very evil eye. Rolling my own eyes because I know she’s
right, I look back at him and stick my hand out in his direction,
waiting for him to take it. Time must have come to a stop because
he is looking at my hand and me for what seems like an eternity and
still not taking it to shake.
    Defeated, I start to retract my hand as I
look away only to be brought back to attention when I feel his warm
hand slip into mine. The minute his skin touches mine my whole body
warms. The subtle up and down movement of our hands causes me to
forget to speak. His feel seems very familiar, safe. He smiles but
doesn’t say anything. I can feel a smile pull to my lips but I
force it back. Now or never chick, what’s it
gonna be?
    “Hi, names Reece and you are…” I pause for a
response.
    His head tilts to the left as he turns his
head ever so slightly in the same direction. His chisel jaw line
lends to a very kissable neck. Did I just think
kissable neck? His eyes are focused on me but he has yet
to speak. If he doesn’t say something soon I am not only taking my
hand back, but I am leaving the bar.
    “Why aren’t you smiling?” His question
throws me off. I’m still waiting to hear his name as his voice
echoes in my head. I feel like I have heard it before. The southern
drawl pulls at me from a deep place. His words roll over and over
in my head as I try and remember where I have heard his voice
before.
    “Um, didn’t know I wasn’t.” Was all I could
come up with.
    “Nope you aren’t, you almost look like
you’re pissed at me or at someone.”
    My irritation has just hit mega high levels.
And for that you better be damn straight I am not smiling. I hate
it when people ask why I’m not smiling. If I have something to
smile at I will. You can’t tell me people walk around all day 24/7
constantly smiling. If they do, they are stupid.
    I attempt to retract my hand but he grasps
it tighter to hold.
    “Why are you trying to get away? I only
asked a question.”
    “And why are you avoiding telling me your
name and instead being rude?”
    “I wasn’t avoiding anything, I was asking a
question based on an observation I made of you,” he says as he
continues to hold my hand.
    I still am trying to remember where I have
heard his voice before. Just like his feel, it is calming to
me.
    “Ok Reese, you win, you don’t have to answer
my question.” His southern charm fighting to show through as the
side of his mouth curls into a slight smile. “But I will say, you
are even prettier when you do smile.” A twinkle dances in his eye
as he leans in and kisses the very top of my hand before he
releases it.
    I pull my hand back and rest it on the lip
of the ice bin directly below me. I have seen charm and I have seen
flirting, but I have never had both done to me at the same time.
Flustered, it doesn’t register that he still has not told me his
name.
    His back is now to me as he turned to talk
to Mr. East Coast, who is facing me and has the silliest grin