Page 43 of Armed ’N’ Ready

Matt, Jaime, and Eric began clapping. Kade, Markus, and Dayne did a three-way fist bump. There was no time to dwell on what they were so happy about.

The din inside the DPC rose until she could barely hear herself think. Worry had her twisting a towel in her hands. She was a savvy businesswoman. Surely, she could come up with something.

A free round of drinks for everyone?

No, one drink could never make up for the cover charge, and she couldn’t afford the loss in revenue.

A dance contest? Trivia?

All lousy ideas. She had to come up with something else, and fast.

She looked nervously over her shoulder. Where is Nick? The drink orders were backing up, and both Mark and Tess had their hands full. Looking back at Matt’s friends, she caught Matt and Eric grinning expectantly.

“What did he mean by, ‘I’ve got this’?” she shouted at them, looking from one man to the other.

“You’ll see,” Matt replied with a full-blown grin.

“See what?” When he didn’t respond, she looked at Eric, but Eric now had his eyes glued to something behind her.

She followed his gaze to where Tess was shaking a martini. After she poured the drink and set it on the bar in front of a customer, Tess looked up and smiled shyly at Eric.

Oh, boy. Tess didn’t know Eric was a cop—a federal agent. Not yet. But that was a conversation for another time. When she didn’t have a restaurant full of people waiting for live entertainment that wasn’t going to materialize.

The kitchen door banged shut, and a moment later, Nick strode in. Without stopping, he wound his way to the front of the room where she’d set up a stool and a microphone next to the piano.

She stared, not really comprehending the meaning of what she’d seen him carrying—a guitar case. She continued watching, dumbfounded, as he proceeded to unpack a gleaming wood guitar. After stowing the case behind him on the floor, he sat on the stool and began strumming the strings lightly, twisting the pegheads as he tuned the instrument. Then he turned on the microphone, and the crowd hushed.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” His clear baritone was more pronounced with the mic. “Unfortunately, the person you came to hear tonight was unable to make it. So you’ll have to settle for me. I’m Nick. Your bartender.”

As a unit, his friends started whooping, hollering, and clapping, which got the entire crowd clapping and cheering with them.

“You go, Nicky-boy!” Matt shouted.

Eric, Jaime, and Kade whistled, as did many women. Even Markus, whom Andi had noticed didn’t say much, wore a slight smile.

Nick began strumming the Troggs’ “Wild Thing,” and when he started to sing, her eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped. Nick’s voice was…mesmerizing.

“Oh my God.” Tess squeezed her shoulder. “Did you have any idea he could sing? Like that?”

Numbly, she shook her head. When they exchanged looks, she saw the same shocked expression on Tess’s face that she knew was reflected on her own.

“Yeah,” Andi mumbled. “Who knew?” That her state-trooper–bartender could not only play the guitar, but sing as well as anyone she’d heard on the radio. There really were two totally different people wrapped up in that gorgeous, hunky body.

As the song went on, people waved their arms in the air, swaying to the music and singing along. By the time Nick got to the last line—“shake it, shake it, wild thing”—most of the women were on their feet, shaking and gyrating their hips. Even Kara and Zoe had stopped serving and were dancing alongside everyone else.

When Nick finished, the crowd roared and clapped, and Andi found herself applauding right along with them.

“That man has hidden talents.” Tess leaned closer. “Didn’t you say he wasn’t your type? That you need a man with common interests, like books and music? Can you say, ‘check mark’?” She snickered before going back to mixing and pouring drinks.

“Hidden talents,” Andi repeated. The man was amazing. His voice was incredible, and the way he got the crowd going within seconds was nothing short of a miracle. He’d saved her ass tonight.

And where did he learn to sing and play the guitar like that?

Next, he launched into a set that included, among others, “Brown-Eyed Girl,” “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy,” culminating in Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” She stayed behind the bar, helping Tess and Mark keep up with orders. Kara, Zoe, and the extra waitresses she’d hired for the night buzzed around the tables.

After thirty minutes, Nick took a break, and the applause was deafening. He laid down his guitar then headed to the bar where his friends were still clapping.

She grinned, still in disbelief as she moved closer to where Nick’s friends were now clapping him on the back. Leaning over, she shouted, “Buy you a beer?”