We had made it through the first semi-busy weekend, and now I was back on Wednesday to a normal dinner crowd. Weekdays would pick up soon, too, but they were always slower than weekends.

"You know, you should probably teach the new guy the basics back here," Ryan suggested.

I glanced over at him. "Why, you planning on bailing on me?" It was a joke, but I really, really hoped that wasn't actually why Ryan suggested it. That would be a nightmare.

I breathed a sigh of relief when he rolled his eyes. "No, of course not," he said. "But there are always those nights that get super busy and one of us isn't here. It would be good to have an extra set of hands."

He had a point. "Alright, fine," I agreed. "Do you want to go on break? It's not busy now, so if we're going to train him, now's the time."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, sure."

He left through the back door and I scanned the bar for Alex. "Hey, Alex!" I called. He was heading toward the back, carrying a bin of dirty dishes. He turned around at my call. "Once you put those in the back, come back here," I told him.

He nodded and disappeared in the back. As soon as he was out of sight, Ella came up to me and leaned against the bar, a grin on her face.

"You want him back there all for yourself, huh?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Safe work environment, Ella," I reminded her. "Safe work environment. And besides, this was Ryan's idea."

Ella held her hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine," she conceded. "But just because you can restrain yourself from looking at him in any other way than a coworker doesn't stop the fact that I've caught him checking you out several times."

I opened my mouth to chastise her as the door swung open behind me and Alex walked through. Ella smirked and walked off.

"What's up?" he asked, his eyes flicking between me and Ella's retreating figure.

"Right." I turned around to face him as I grabbed a drink menu to hand to him. "On occasion, if the night is busy enough and either Ryan or I aren't here, it would be useful for you to be able to help out back here. So I'm going to take you through the basics."

I showed him the general setup that Ryan and I kept and how we kept everything organized. Alex stood directly behind me as I took him through everything, so close I could practically feel the heat coming off his body. I fought to keep myself focused.

"You won't have to worry about the fancy drinks," I told him, gesturing to the menu. "At least not any of them but the simplest. If you ever have to fill in back here, I'll probably just have you stick to beer and wine, maybe shots."

"How often are one of you gone?"

I shrugged and leaned back against the counter. "Well, I'm off Tuesday, but so are you so obviously you won't have to worry about being here then. But you probably wouldn't anyway. Tuesdays rarely get crazy. But Ryan is off Thursdays, so not the craziest day but sometimes we get hit. And then other than that, only if one of us calls off for some reason. I rarely do, but Ryan usually takes a few days off during the summer."

"So, if I'm back here at all, I'll probably be with you?" Alex questioned.

"Most likely."

A very small but legitimate smile crossed his face so quickly that I almost missed it. "Works for me."

And then it happened. So quickly that I thought I imagined it, but it definitely happened. His eyes traveled up and down my body. Just once, but once was enough.

Holy shit. Ella was right. He was checking me out.

I cleared my throat, not feeling offended in the slightest but actually, the tiniest bit turned on. My heart raced as I walked past him to scan the rest of the bar. "You should get back out there," I told him, avoiding his eyes. "There's a couple of dirty tables."

"Whatever you say." He left from behind the counter just as Ryan came back from his break.

"Scare him off already?" Ryan joked.

I rolled my eyes, my heart still beating abnormally fast. "I gave him the basics, that should be enough for him to hold his own on the simple stuff if he needs to. And besides, you and I both know that the best way to learn is while you're panicking in the middle of a rush."

Ryan laughed. "Fair enough." He quieted and stared at me with slightly narrowed eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You seem, almost flustered."

I turned away, pretending to check a bottle of vodka. "Yeah, I'm fine."

The next time I looked up, I smiled as Emilia walked through the door. But then I closed my eyes and suppressed a groan. As she walked up to the bar, Alex passed her on his way to the back.

I hadn't told Emilia about Alex, yet. I knew what she would say. And even if I tried to downplay how attractive I found him, she wouldn't buy it. She knew when I was hiding something from her.

"Who was that?" Emilia asked in a half-whisper when she got up to the bar.

I sighed. "Do you want anything to drink, Emilia?"

"Yeah, sure, vodka soda," she said. "But you didn't answer my question."

I glanced over at Ryan as I made her drink. He was talking to another customer on the other side of the bar. "That was Alex, one of our seasonal hires," I told her. "He started last Friday."

"And you haven't told me about him?" Emilia sipped her drink but kept her eyes trained on me. "That only means one thing."

"It means that I didn't want to have you gushing about how I have a hot coworker all summer." My voice had dropped to a whisper. "Especially since you completely ignore that fact that I have a rule saying I don't date coworkers."

Alex came out from the back and Emilia stared at him as he walked by. "You don't have to date him," she said. "And since you just admitted that you find him hot..." she trailed off, arching her eyebrow.

My mind went back to our beach day where Emilia decided to get very candid about my lack of sex life. "Emilia, shut up," I said through gritted teeth.

And just my luck, Alex looked at me at that very moment, making eye contact with me. I couldn't help the flush that appeared on my cheeks.

Emilia almost choked on her drink. "Holy crap, you think he's really hot, don't you?" she gasped.

"Emilia, shut up," I repeated. Ryan was finishing up with the customer, and I really didn't want anyone else to hear this conversation. "I will tell you everything tomorrow morning, okay?"

Emilia sat back on her stool,apparently satisfied. "You better," she said. "And I know when you're keepingsomething from me. So don't think you can wiggle out of it."