Stirred: A Love Story Read Free Page B

know—” Sage set the coffee down, pushed her boobs together, and made an exaggerated pouty face.
    Kenna shook her head, laughing.
    “What? Too much?”
    “Nothing. You’re pretty cute, you know. I’m glad you’re my friend.”
    Sage exhaled. “Thanks. Me too.”
    “Hey, what about hot-guy-from-the-plane? Maybe you could try out some of your moves on him.”
    “He hasn’t called. I may have blown that one with my weirdness. See, if I’d had the steps down I could have tried out Chapter Five—‘Tease Me, Please Me’ or Chapter Six—‘Talk Dirty to Me’ on him while we were stuck on the plane.”
    Both of them laughed.
    “Those titles are. . . something else.” Kenna said, stacking the rolled silverware into the three empty baskets.
    “I know.” Sage shook her head and went behind the bar to turn on some music.
    “Well, if you need me to cinch anything in for you or troll the aisles of Walgreens for condoms, let me know.” Kenna took out her laptop.
    Sage was confused. “I don’t think I’ll be needing condoms.”
    “Honey, I’ve known you for almost three years and unless you’ve been holding out on me, you haven’t had any in all that time.”
    “What about that guy with the huge fish tank that I went out with a couple of times before we ended our online dating nightmare? That got pretty intense.”
    “Uh huh, until you found out he had a wife and three kids. Besides, close may count in a lot of things, Sage, but sex is one of those where you either have it or you don’t.”
    “Said the woman clearly having it.”
    Kenna blushed, which made Sage tease her more. Kenna and Travis were engaged and although it took them a while to figure things out, Sage had never seen two people more right. Kenna was a fantastic, sassy woman all by herself, but she was better with Travis. And Travis looked almost lit from within now that he had Kenna and her daughter Paige. Sage wanted that someday, but it appeared her prince charming was on a turtle instead of a horse. Which was fine. She didn’t need a prince. What she needed were experiences and to keep growing. Naughty might be a fun part of that process. And even if it wasn’t, no way was she letting Hollis gloat that her nice sister was simply a fake goody-goody bartender. Challenge accepted, big sister.

    By the end of the day, Garrett knew more than he ever wanted to know about produce bands, he’d had to fire a guy who kept showing up to work in flip-flops insisting they couldn’t make him wear closed shoes, and he was starving. Logan wanted more Japanese eggplants, so Garrett agreed to hand deliver them if his brother made him dinner. When Garrett pulled into The Yard’s parking lot, it was packed. He parked in the back lot by the onsite garden and walked around through the front door. Summer, the receptionist, waved and led a large party back to the private dining room. Garrett made his way to the only empty table in the bar. Servers were buzzing by in a controlled frenzy as he spotted Sage pouring some frilly drink into a very tall glass with what looked like a piece of pineapple.
    Garrett liked his brother’s place. Even with the noise and the craziness, the energy at The Yard was special. He’d often tried to figure it out: Was it the food or the location? Were the servers’ personalities or the music that was playing important? Looking at the menu, he was pretty sure it had a lot to do with the food, but the other stuff was vital, too. His stomach growled, and not wanting to be another demanding diner, he waved off the tall blonde server who gestured she’d be with him in a minute and approached the bar to put in his order.
    “The thing is, I’ve never understood why Taxi Driver was such a big hit,” some guy in a shirt that looked too tight said to Sage as she finished making his drink and carefully moved it across the bar to him.
    “Seriously, Brett? It’s a classic. ‘Are you lookin’ at me, cause if you’re lookin’ at