Waiting For Nick: the classic story from the queen of romance that you won’t be able to put down

It was nearly seven when Nick came down to the bar. Zack lifted a brow as he mixed a stinger. “Hot date?”

“Lorelie.”

“Oh, yeah.” Now Zack wiggled his brows. “Tall, willowy brunette with rose petals in her voice.”

“That’s the one.” Nick moved behind the bar to help fill orders. “We’re just going to catch some dinner. Then we’ll come back here so I can relieve you.”

“I can cover for you.”

“No, it’s no problem. She likes hanging out here. After I close up, we’ll figure out something else to do.”

“I bet you will. Table six needs two drafts and a bourbon and branch.”

“Got it.”

“Hey, did you hear about Freddie’s apartment.”

Nick’s hand paused on the lever. “What apartment?”

“Found one just a couple blocks from here. She’s already signed the papers.” Zack filled an empty bowl with beer nuts. “You just missed her. She came in to celebrate.”

“Did anybody look over the place for her? Mik?”

“She didn’t say. Kid’s got a good head on her shoulders.”

“Yeah. I guess. She should have gotten Rachel to look over the lease, though.”

Chuckling, Zack laid a hand on Nick’s shoulder as he was finishing preparing the order. “Hey, the little birds have to leave the nest sometime.”

With a shrug, Nick placed the drinks on the end of the bar for the waitress. “So, she went on back to the hotel?”

“Nope. Went out with Ben.”

“Ben.” Nick’s fingers froze on the cloth he’d picked up to wipe the bar. “What do you mean, she went out with Ben?” Now Nick twisted the cloth into a semblance of a noose. His eyes went bright and hard as a dagger. “You introduced Fred to Stipley?”

“Sure.” With a nod to a waitress, Zack began to fill another order. “He asked me who the pretty blonde was, so I introduced them. They hit it off, too.”

“Hit it off,” Nick repeated. “And you just let her walk out of here with a stranger.”

“Come on, Nick, Ben’s no stranger. We’ve known him for years.”

“Yeah,” Nick said grimly, imagining slipping the cloth noose around Zack’s neck. “He hangs around bars.”

Surprised and amused, Zack glanced over. “So do we.”

“That’s not the point, and you know it.” Nick rattled bottles and resisted the urge to pour a stiff shot of whiskey for himself. “You can’t just hook her up with some guy and let her waltz off with him.”

“I didn’t hook them up. I introduced them, they talked for a while and decided to catch a movie.”

“Yeah, right.” Movie, my ass, he thought. What man in his right mind would want to waste time at the movies with a woman with big, liquid gray eyes and a mouth like heaven? Oh, God, he thought, his stomach clenching as he imagined Fred at Ben Stipley’s mercy. “Ben just wanted a little company at this week’s box-office hit. Damn it, Zack, are you crazy?”

“Okay, I’ll give it to you straight. I sold her to him for five hundred and season tickets to the Yankees. He should have her to the opium den by this time.”

Nick managed to get his vivid imagination under control, but didn’t have the same luck with his temper. “That’s real funny, bro. Let’s see how funny you are if he hits on her.”

After setting the drinks aside, Zack turned to study his brother. Fury, he noted, which he’d seen plenty of times before on Nick’s face. Since it seemed so incredibly out of place under the circumstances, he kept his tone mild.

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