Isobel smiled warmly. “Not too late at all.” She handed his money back to him and breathed a sigh of relief. “I haven’t seen you in here before.” She made sure that she didn’t sound too interested and that she was just making idle conversation.
“It’s my first time here. I’m trying to make sure that I don’t go anywhere that a certain someone goes to.” He took a swig of his drink. “It’s easier that way.”
Isobel’s curiosity peaked again. She had a feeling that he could be talking about a woman, but he didn’t wear a wedding band, and he sure as hell wasn’t happy with whoever it may be or he wouldn’t be trying to avoid her, so in Isobel’s book it was all good.
“It sounds like you’ve had a bad day.” She took his glass off him when he wiggled it in front of her, charging him for the alcohol this time.
He laughed sardonically. “Lady, if you had to live with what I have to live with, your day would pretty much suck too.” He took a sip of his drink and gave an appreciative sigh.
Oh Lord. Was he going to be a complete whiner? The one thing Isobel couldn’t stand was a man who winged and complained at just about everything. “Well hopefully you’ll feel a lot better about your day by the time you leave here.” She smiled again and turned to serve another patron.
Over the next hour, the man sat there quietly, not saying much of anything and obviously lost in his thoughts. Isobel served him when he asked, but was too busy to engage him in any real conversation, much to her frustration.
She’d just finished serving a very loud, very annoying regular who had done his level best, and failed, to get her to agree to meet him after work, when the quiet hunk asked her for another drink. “Why don’t you have one yourself?” he asked, as he handed her the money. “I promise I won’t tell the boss.”
Isobel laughed and checked the time, nodding her head when she saw that it was time for her to take a break anyway. “That sounds like a great idea. Thank you.” It would also be the perfect opportunity to try and get him to open up a little.
She poured herself a very weak vodka and tonic and then walked around to the other side of the bar, hopping up onto the barstool next to him with a grateful sigh. She held her glass up to him in a silent ‘cheers’ salute, and then took a long pull of the clear liquid.
She turned sideways in her seat so that she was facing the man. “I’m Isobel, by the way, and I’ll be your bartender this evening.”
He took the hand that she’d held out, giving a gentle shake before answering. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Isobel. My name’s Tyler James and I’ll be your grumpy customer this evening.”
They both laughed softly, the air well and truly cleared between them. “Trust me,” Isobel spoke softly. “I get a lot of grumpy customers. It’s all part of the job. Personally, I’d prefer a grumpy one to one that makes lewd, suggestive comments all night long.”
Tyler took a swig of his drink and raised an eyebrow at her over the top of his glass. “Well that’s a shame.” For the first time, Isobel noticed that his words were slightly slurred. Perfect. “I was going to throw a few suggestive comments at you myself.”
She laughed again. “Feel free to. Off you I think I could handle it.” She winked back suggestively, her inner flirt coming to the fore and loving the attention. “So what made the handsome Tyler’s day so crappy?”
He grinned at her choice of words, and she felt her stomach do a little hiccup of reaction at the sexiness of it. “Nothing major, I suppose. Not compared to a lot of people anyway. It’s just having to deal with a magnitude of so-called qualified people who have no damn clue how to do their jobs properly.” Isobel hid her smile at his slurred misuse of the word. “I mean, I know it’s a huge company and that there’slot to do, but c’mon, gimme a break.”
“Receptionist problems?” Isobel’s ears had pricked up when he’d mentioned that it was a huge company. Was he the boss, or just one in a long chain of managers, she wondered.