One Last Shot (Cupid's Conquests) (3 page)

“How are y’all doing tonight?”
s
he asked the group, flash
ing her fakest smile.
Justin was sure the others didn’t notice, but he’d seen the real thing too many times not to notice when it was forced.

“Hi,
Shelby
.” He stood and wrapped his hand around her waist, pressing his lips to her cheek.
The soft scent of her lavender lotion
took him back to being that scared high schoo
l boy and he pulled her closer, wishing he could drown in her.

“
Justin
,” she said and moved back a step
, forcing him to drop his hand
.

“It’s been a long time, Shel. I’m surprised you recognize me.” Her eyes narrowed and he knew his barb struck home.
Good.
Acting like a love-sick teenager wasn’t going to help anyone, least of all him.

“How could I forget? You’re all this town talks about
.” She cocked an eyebrow, daring him to toss another jab, but
he’d made his point and
he wasn’t in the mood for those games tonight.

“Is that the only reason you remember?” He stared unblinking into her eyes, willing some bit of truth from behind her façade.

Her glare finally softened and her shoulders relaxed. “No, of course not.”

“You look good,” he said, running his eyes down the length of her body and then across the bar. “And so does this place.”

“Thanks, Jay.” She winced and he knew she
hadn’t
mean
t
to call him by his nickname. “So, what can I get you boys?” she asked
, folding her arms under her breasts, putting them on perfect display. He doubted she’d done it on purpose until he noticed
Sean
salivating and the girls glaring. Oh, yeah. She’d definitely done it on purpose.

“
Shelby
,
this
is
Cynthia and Melody, and this is
Sean
, my agent.”

Sean
stood, presumably to get a hug, but
Shelby
thrust out her hand and he was forced to take it.

“I was just telling
Sean
how tough
Texas
girls are and we placed a little bet.”

“You want me to get the gloves? Three rounds. Of course, you didn’t fair too well last time if I recall.”
A smile quirked the corner of her mouth.

“You cheated.”
It was an old argument and damn it felt good to relive it.

“Keep telling yourself that
. So what’s the bet?”

“The gi
rls
,”
—
Sean gestured to the two pairs of bulbous implants, rather than the women themselves
—
“well, they’
re a little anxious to get
the after party started
, if you know what I mean
,”
Sean
said
with a wink
. “If I win, we bid adieu to your lovely establishment.
If you win, we stay another hour.
”

“Huh, tough call,
but
what
if I want you to go? You’re a little distracting to the crowd if you know what I mean?”
Justin hid his smile behind his beer. He could see in her eyes she was ready to put Sean in his place
.
S
he just wanted to have a little fun with him first.

“If anythi
ng, we’ve drawn a bigger crowd,”
Sean
said.

Her eyes narrowed.
“Take off your jacket,”
Shelby
said
, like she wanted to evaluate the competition, but Justin could see her mind was already made up
.

Sean
smiled and tossed his jacket to Melody.

Shelby
eyed his muscles and Justin’s hand
curled into a fist
. He knew she was only sizing him up, but it pissed him off all the same.

“He works out,”
Shelby
said
to
Justin
.

Justin shrugged, trying not to let her see his confidence had slipped.
“One minute,”
he
said. “
Sean
said you wouldn’t last
one minute
against him. You hold him for
sixty seconds
and I’ll buy the house a round, for the inconvenience.”

Shelby
looked across the dance floor like she was taking a head count, but he couldn’t read her enough to tell which way she was leaning.

“It’s cool,
Justin
.
S
he’s not up for it,”
Sean
said.

“You scared about losing to a girl
?
”
Shelby
snapped.

“You scared about losing your reputa
tion in front of your patrons?” Sean asked.

Her hand curled into a fist and Justin knew he had her.

“Move,
J
ay
.”

Justin
jumped up and slid his chair toward her. She tossed the towel
to Justin
, dropped into the chair
,
and planted her elbow on the table.

A wicked grin spread across
Sean’s
face. He pushed up his sleeve and flexed,
blowing a kiss at
Shelby
, then propped his arm next to hers. She spread her left hand across the
glossy wood
. A gold band shined from her ring finger and
Justin
’
s
heart plummeted
,
the blood drain
ing
from his face.

“Call it
,
Justin
,”
Sean
said
,
gripping
Shelby
’s hand.

They’d drawn a crowd
by this time
.
Leah
pushed to the front and
smacked
her watch
down
onto the table.
Justin
took a deep breath and counted off, feeling all the more sick by the look in
Sean’s
eye. He wanted
Sean
humiliated, but he looked like he was going to enjoy this
way
too much
no matter which
way it went.

“Go!”
Justin
shouted
.

Shelby
locked her fingers around
Sean’s
thumb and pushed. The shock on
Sean
’s face was worth buying the bar three rounds. He hadn’t expected her to move his hand an inch and she already had him halfway to the table. She
blew him a kiss
and his eyes narrowed as he slowly raised his hand, moving their fists back to the center.
The crowd cheered for
Shelby
. She gritted her teeth and her bicep flexed, holding the
ir hands
in place. Beads
of sweat broke out across Sean
’s forehead. It could have been from his fear of being embarrassed in front of the girls, but
Justin
knew how strong
Shelby
was; his crooked nose was proof
of
it.

The vein in her head pulsed and her cheeks were flushed a
n
enticing
pink. Their hands teetered,
Sean
slowly
gaining ground as the crowd counted off the last fifteen seconds.
Shelby
’s fingertips on the table turned white as she braced and held her arm in place.

“Five! Four! Three! Two! One!”

The crowd whooped and hollered as
Shelby
pushed back from the table. Neither had won, but
Shelby
had held her own for
the promised
sixty seconds.

“You owe these folks a round,”
Shelby
said and made her way back to the bar, accepting high fives and pats on the back as she went.

Damn
she’s
sexier than ever.

#

Shelby
wiped her forehead and shook out her
arm
as she wove her way back to the bar.
She’d imagined their first meeting a thousand times, but the strength of his presence still shocked her. When he’d wrapped his arm around her she’d all but come undone.
T
he smell of his cologne lingered, clinging to her like his ghost. It must of have rubbed off on her t-shirt when they’d hugged and now she’d be smelling it all damn night. Of course, there were better ways to guarantee his scent would last all night. She told the voice in her head to shut the hell up and dove in to help the girls serve another round to the crowd
.
By the time they were done, she was
spent
.
Thank God there was only one more hour to closing
. She hadn’t been this tired since
her first night slinging drinks
a little over
a year ago.
Glancing across the room at the already thinning crowd, she couldn’t stop the dart of disappointment at not seeing Justin among them.

“I saw your car outside,” Nate Samuels said
,
snapping
her revere
. “You’re breaking my heart,
Shelby
.” He clutched his chest with one hand and slid his
credit card across the bar with
the
other.

“Hey, I to
ld you to stop three beers back,” she said, deliberately misunderstanding his reference to her car. “
It’s not my fault you choose to drink your paycheck every weekend.”

“I don’t give a shit about my bar
tab
.
I’m talking about the
Mustang
. Come on, when are you gonna make me a deal on that thing? You know I’m good for it.”

“The day you’ve got a spare eighty grand in your pocket, you give me a call.”
Not that she’d ever let go of the classic Mustang, especially not to a drunk like Nate, regardless of how charming he was.

“Don’t get your hopes up,”
Leah
said, grabbing a beer from the fridge below the bar. “She’ll never sell her dad’s car. Hell, she was named after the damn thing.”

“Exactly!” Nate slammed his hand down on the bar. “Why would you want to keep that thing around? There’s gotta be a jealousy factor there. I mean, that was the first
Shelby
in your dad’s life. He named you after a fucking car.”

“I know, Nate. A very rare and beautiful car.”
Shelby
laughed
to cover
the
ache in her chest. Losing her dad still hurt every day, but it was bad for business to let the customers see her cry
. “Cassie,” she said to his girlfriend
who’d just walked up behind him
, “take your man home.”

“Come on, baby,” Cassie said. “We’ll see you next weekend, Shelby.”

Shelby
leaned against the bar and watched them walk out. There
were
only a few groups left
at the tables and the band was already breaking down their equipment.
She’d owe the cleaning crew an apology in the morning, but she didn’t have the energy to do a thorough job tonight.

“You look like you could use a drink.” A balding man sat alone at the end of the bar, a shot of whiskey sitting on a napkin in front of him. She didn’t remember serving him, but she was the only one left behind the bar and it had been
a hell of an hour
.

“I don’t drink on the clock,” she said
,
the answer coming out automatically as she
wip
ed
down the bar
.

“One shot never hurt anyone.” He smiled
and she swore she saw a sparkle in his eye. It had been a lon
g night and a shot sounded like a pretty damn perfect way
to take the edge off seeing
Justin
again.

“All right.”

He nodded and reached over the bar, grabbing a glass from the stack across from him. It was one of the etched
tumblers
with a pistol and an arrow forming an “X” on the side of the glass with “Shooters”
stamped
beneath it.