Believing Lies Read Free

similar fashion as the bartender’s. I could see tattoos peeking out of his shirt collar and his right shirtsleeve. I couldn’t see much of them other than obscure black lines. Probably a tribal tattoo of sorts, if I had to guess.
    I found tattoos to be extremely sexy. Trenton didn’t have any, but I didn’t mind. He was more than handsome without any ink. It was just that he was a more refined, borderline-preppy-style of hot. He hated tattoos, claiming they were for morons who wanted to ruin their skin. I didn’t have any tattoos myself, but only because I’d never felt strongly enough about a particular image to permanently put it on my body. I had always figured I’d get one in the future, but with Trenton’s strong opinion about tattoos, I probably never would.
    Since Barstool Guy’s back was to us, Sophie must have been talking about the bartender. “Bartender?” I asked, turning back to her.
    “Oh yeah. The guy talking to him is a little sexier, but the bartender is the one my eye is on. He looks like a hot boy-next-door who is secretly naughty. I like to bring out a boy’s naughty side.”
    “The other guy has his back to us, so how do you know that he’s sexier than Cute Bartender Guy?” Does she have X-ray vision now?
    “His back was to us when you looked, but I got a good eyeful before that,” she replied with a smirk.
    I was curious about Barstool Guy, but only because if she found him to be sexier than Cute Bartender Guy, he must be really sexy. “Glad you got to see the full show, but back to the bartender. How the hell do you know he’s naughty? Since you’ve never even met him, am I to believe that you can figure this out by just looking at him?” I leaned back in the booth and crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t buy it.”
    “I have a naughty radar that has never been wrong,” she answered, wiggling her eyebrows.
    I laughed. “If you’re so sure of your radar, I dare you to go tell Cute Bartender Guy your theory and see just how ‘naughty’ he is.” I put my fingers up in mock quotation marks.
    “You’re on. One naughty bartender coming up.” She began to scoot from the booth just as our waitress returned with our drinks. Sophie seized the opportunity. I saw her glance at the waitress’s name tag before asking, “Hey, Lorna, you don’t happen to know if the hottie bartender is single, do you?”
    Lorna smiled. “You mean Conner? Yes, he’s totally available. He’s a super nice guy too. I’m surprised that he’s still on the market. You should really go talk to him.” This girl seemed to think highly of him. Wonder why she doesn’t go after him herself? Whatever the reason, she wouldn’t encourage Sophie if she had any interest in him.
    Lorna left us, and Sophie asked me, “Are you going to be okay if I go talk to him?” I could tell she was giddy with excitement to go meet the mystery bartender.
    “Of course. If I recall correctly, I was the one who dared you in the first place. I’ll just check Facebook on my phone until you come back.” I pointed my finger at her. “You have to swear that you’ll come back when the food comes.” I gave her my sternest look. “You know I hate to eat alone.”
    “Gotcha. Wish me luck.”
    “You don’t need luck. You have a naughty radar. Remember?”
    She rolled her eyes at me and stepped out of our booth. After she walked away, I quickly moved to her side of the booth to get a good view. I watched as she strutted to the bar with a little extra swing to her hips. When she reached the two guys, she instantly struck up a conversation. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Sophie began to laugh. This was like a little personal reality TV show for me to enjoy—except it was on mute. Wish I at least had closed captioning .
    Suddenly, all three of them looked my way, and I was busted eavesdropping. I quickly turned my gaze away and rummaged through my purse until I found my phone. I started to bring up Facebook