His stomach lurched in anticipation of seeing Annika again. He walked in to find the place as busy as it had been the last time he’d been in. It was almost five, afternoon was giving way to evening, and the bar bustled with happy-hour energy. In no time, Daniel scanned the room and found the ponytail he’d been looking for. She caught his eye, and at her smile, nerves that had been on edge since his last visit settled. He walked up to the bar and sat down.

“You’ll have to move over two seats.” Bobby was looking at him, eyebrows raised.

“What?”

“Move over two seats—” he indicated the desired stool “—and you’ll be in Annika’s section.”

Daniel flushed. “Oh, I didn’t come here for... I mean...the soup the other night was so good. I thought I’d—”

Bobby stared him down and waited patiently for him to finish rambling. Sensing defeat, Daniel stood and moved down two seats into Annika’s section. Bobby’s expression did not change, but he bellowed out, “Annika, someone in your section.”

As Bobby walked back to the register, he looked Daniel in the eye. “You’re welcome.”

Before Daniel could answer, Annika was in front of him. “Didn’t have enough stare time with your bourbon?”

He chuckled. “Actually, I will have another. And whatever your next recommendation is on the menu.”

“Today, Mrs. P. is making Cubans. Hence the crowd. You may have to wait.”

“I’ll take the bourbon while I wait.”

She made a face like he was crazy and rolled her eyes, but she went to get the drink.

She placed his glass down in front of him, making eye contact. “Don’t go all wild on me and take a sip.”

Her lips pursed and those brown eyes taunted, and it was all Daniel could do to not reach out and touch her. When was the last time he’d felt like touching a woman? Not that he hadn’t touched a woman in five years, but those women were forgotten before morning. Right now, he wanted to simply touch her face, see if her skin was as soft as it appeared.

Not that he would want to stop at that.

“Don’t you work? Or is it just the helicopter thing?”

He swiveled his glass around, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth at her tone. “I do. Just not right now.” Two could play this game.

Bobby sidled up behind Annika and leaned toward Daniel. “She’s only asking because she works two jobs.”

Annika shook her head at Bobby. “That’s not why. Just making conversation.”

Something inside Daniel flipped, excited that Annika wanted to make conversation with him. “Yeah? What’s the other job?”