BreakMeIn by Sara Brookes

demanding, she flirted with abandon. Sam
certainly knew his business, and his clientele, when he’d hired Anne to give
him a hand on the weekends. The sports bar had already been doing brisk
business during the summer months. With the second pair of hands—very
attractive ones—added, business during the winter months had skyrocketed.
    Seeing the long column of her throat exposed, her creamy
white skin seemed to taunt Alex. He shook his head, beating back the edges of
another daydream threatening to take hold.
    “Why don’t you go for it?”
    “My track record isn’t exactly shining.”
    “Ohbullfuckingshit.” Dade’s glass thudded against the bar
top. “You’re just caught up in your own head. You’re a free man. Have a little
fun with your life, you ass.”
    The harsh tone was enough to make him snort. “Funny. Coming
from a man who just bolted from an engagement party where he could have easily
slaughtered the entire room with just his eyes. What the hell was all that
about anyway?”
    “Told you to mind your own business, man.” Dade scowled as
he downed a shot, then another. “Besides, my situation is different.”
    “What situation ?”
    “No.” Dade grinned, shaking his head as he refilled his shot
glass then Alex’s. “We ain’t talking about me. You. You need to get laid. Hard.
And you need to nail her equally as hard.” He pointed to where Anne was
wiggling her ass to the beat of the country song pouring from the speakers
mounted on either side of the bar. “Best thing a man with your kind of problems
can do sometimes is bury himself in a woman and forget the rest of the world
exists. And she is certainly someone worth testing the theory out on.”
    The way she shimmied certainly made his mouth water. As
exciting as the prospect sounded things were just too damn complicated for him
to worry about sex right now. Especially considering what he wanted to mix with
his sex.
    Except he knew he wouldn’t mind if Elena was part of the
complication. In fact he knew if he could convince her, sex was a complication
he wouldn’t mind in the least. Right now he would welcome it. Maybe it would
take his mind off the fact the rest of his life was nothing more than a
shitstorm.
    “What I need is to get drunk.”
    “Drunk first.” He pointed to Anne. “Then laid.”
    “Hard. I know.” Alex clapped Dade on the shoulder. “You, my
friend, have sex on the brain too much. You need a woman. Or a man. Or both.
What the fuck is all that about anyway? Can’t make up your mind? Or do you suck
dick and eat pussy with the same enthusiasm?”
    Dade glared at him. “Elena can use you as her watchdog all
she wants. It ain’t gonna work. So just leave it alone, Conners.”
    “Had to try.” Not as though he’d thought it work in the
first place.
    “Yeah.” Dade poured the last of the tequila into their shot
glasses, gesturing to Anne with the empty bottle. “Yeah, I know. Fucking mother
hen sending other people to do her dirty work. Don’t know who is worse, her or
your brother.”
    Alex knew the answer. “My brother, definitely.”
    “I think you may be right.”
    * * * * *
    Elena brushed a strand of hair from her face, her lower back
aching from moving some of the lighter furniture out of the storage area
discretely hidden away on the far wall of the warehouse. Damn Ryan for whisking
Beth away for a six-month honeymoon.
    She hoped their boat sank.
    Doubtful. Ryan Flynn was one of the finest handcrafted boat
builders in the world. A category-five hurricane couldn’t sink one of his
creations. He put so much of his heart and soul in every single sailboat and
people paid a premium for them without batting an eyelash.
    Anything more than the basic floor plan of Sanctuary would
just have to wait until Patrick returned and she could get some muscle to help
her since Dade seemed to have vanished into the night.
    Alex too.
    So much for pulling the damsel-in-distress card. Not as
though she ever would. Most of