Strictly Business

Chapter 1

"What's your poison?"

Blinking up at the familiar voice that had sounded aloud all of a sudden, I lifted my eyes and stared back at the bartender who was now looking at me expectantly. The smile was quick to slip off his face as he noted the dark, sullen expression on my face.

"Sorry, can I get you something to drink?" He repeated but this time, there was no light humour or teasing in his tone.

"Dolce Red. Light on the ice." The order rolled off my tongue without me even needing to think about it; Dolce Red being my drink of choice on any and every occasion.

"You have expensive taste." He chuckled and took a step back. Although, the sound fell on deaf ears as I couldn't bring myself to offer him a polite smile, not even out of courtesy. "Dolce Red, coming right up."

As I patiently waited for the bartender to return with my beverage of choice, I couldn't help but sigh and lift my head to glance around the bar.

It wasn't very packed. A few groups of people loitering around the tables but that was to be expected on a Wednesday evening. With blue-tinted windows that reflected beautifully when the light shone through, the vintage jukebox at the back which was mostly swarmed by college students teetering on the edge of drunk and somewhat decent music gently blaring from it, I was starting to see the appeal of the place. However, I would have to withhold any judgements as I had yet to see what it was like on a thriving Friday or Saturday night.

The only reason that I had ended up in this foreign bar was because my usual place was currently inaccessible. Like for the next couple of months or until Christmas at the very latest due to necessary renovations.

"One tall glass of Dolce Red, light on the ice." The bartender returned with a polite smile, placing the drink down on a coaster in front of me. "I had to crack open a new bottle just for you."

"I feel honoured." My lips pulled up into a teasing smirk as I glanced back at while reaching out for my drink, raising it to tip in the air in silent cheers. "Thank you..." My voice trailed off as I glanced at him expectantly.

"Wayne."

"Thank you, Wayne."

"Well, you'll feel even more honoured to hear that the kind gentleman at the end of the bar has very nicely instructed me to put that drink on his tab," Wayne informed me, the teasing grin back on his face.

My eyebrows rose at his comment in surprise, having not expected that, especially since I had only been here for a few minutes at the most.

"Which kind gentleman?" I asked quietly while staring toward the end of the bar but struggling to notice someone who looked either kind or even somewhat of a gentleman. The only one that did tick all those boxes seemed to be a little too old for my taste.

"Oh, he must have moved." Wayne hummed as he lifted his head and glanced back at the end of the bar while in the midst of mixing up a drink for someone else.

"To where?" I couldn't help but question as I craned my neck to glance around the bar for this mysterious stranger that had very kindly gifted me a glass of Dolce, my wine of choice. However, there was a very good chance that I was biased given the long history.

"To right behind you." He smirked before taking a step back and tend to a patron flagging him down for another drink.

"Behind me?" The question was all I could muster up before I swivelled around in my seat only to find that Wayne had been correct in his observations.

The first thing that struck me was the deep chocolate brown of his eyes that stared back at me with such intensity that I almost forgot where I was. The next thing I realised was that I had been staring for a lengthy amount of time and to further my embarrassment, my eyes honed in on the way his eyes lips twitched higher at the corners at my perplexed reaction.