Read an excerpt;
Worth the Wait/ June 2000
A Zebra Bouquet Romance
Damian found the small pub in minutes. Maneuvering through the crowded, smoke filled room to the bar took almost as long as the cross campus drive. He only saw one bartender, a woman, and she barely looked old enough to be in a bar, let alone serving drinks.
Her blue jeans hugged her slim body like a second skin. A white, man's style shirt and black bow tie was topped by a brightly colored vest. A long mane of ringlets fell down her back, swaying as she worked. When she raised her head, his stare rested on the most compelling eyes he'd ever seen. Wide, round and dark as coal.
"May I help you, sir?"
Sir? Did he appear so old? "I'm looking for Charlie."
She wiped a towel across the oak counter and returned her attention to him. "You've found her. What can I do for you?"
Damian shook his head in disbelief. Her sheer beauty took his breath away. She had deep set eyes, a delicate nose and a sensual mouth with pink lips just ripe for kissing. The impact sent a live currant of awareness pulsating through him. He could easily see why Eric was never found in his room anymore.
She waved a shot glass in front of his face.
He leaned closer to be heard above the noise. "Sorry. I'm looking for Erik Lawson. His roommate said you might know where I could find him."
"Yeah? Who's looking?"
"His brother."
The shot glass slipped out of Charlie's hand and landed on the counter. Damian Westfield was the last person she expected to find in the local bar. According to Erik, his half-brother never visited. He picked a hell of a time to play the devoted sibling.
"Do you know where he is?" Damian asked.
"Not at this moment," she lied with more calm than she felt. "If you'll have a seat, I'll make a few calls on my break."
She saw Damian glance down the length of the bar. Not one empty seat could be found and most people were doubled up on stools. "You're joking, right?"
She smiled sweetly. "Try the men's room. I think there's a free seat in there."
"Never mind, I think I'll stand."
She hadn't meant for him to take her so literally. He was apparently every inch the square Erik had painted him, although a heck of a lot more sexy than she'd pictured. Tall and muscular, he filled his tailored suit to perfection. He had clean, angular features that made him ruggedly handsome, and a hint of aloofness that she supposed some women found intriguing. She found him disconcerting. Especially the way he stared at her.
"Charlie? I need a refill," someone called out.
"Excuse me," she said and made her way down the bar to her boss. "I have to take a break, Barry."
"You already had a break at nine," he reminded her.
Charlie bit back a caustic retort. She didn't care for her obnoxious boss, but she needed the job. "Please. It's important."
Barry glanced at the man in the three-piece suit who looked so out of place. "All right. But only fifteen minutes. I don't care if he's the Pope."
She slipped into the back office and dialed her apartment. "Come on. Answer," she begged on the fifth ring.
"What?" Erik growled into the phone.
"Sorry. It's me. You have a problem. Damian's in the bar looking for you."
"What's he doing there?"
"I don't know."
"Tell him I'll be right there."
Charlie laughed. "I'm not telling him anything. You should have seen the look on his face when he met me. I don't think I'm the gender he was expecting."
The door opened and Damian walked in the small office without an invitation. "Is that him?" he asked, nodding at the phone.
"Oh, Jeez," Erik moaned, apparently catching the annoyance in Damian's tone. "Put him on."
She held up the receiver. "Please make it quick. My boss will get angry."
He pulled the receiver out of her hand. "I'll be quick. Erik get your butt down here. I have to speak to you." He set the phone back on the cradle. "Quick enough?"
"Yes. And with such touching brotherly love, too". Damian intimidated his brother even when he was fifty miles away. She could picture Erik in the bathroom right then, making himself sick with worry.
Charlie leaned against the wall and folded her arms across her chest. A ribbon of heat uncurled in her but she credited her temper for unsettling feeling. Or perhaps Damian was to blame. The way he looked her over as if she were standing in a cattle call infuriated her and his grin of admiration blew what remained of her very short fuse. "Have you got a problem?"
To her further annoyance, he laughed. "Why is a shark like you hanging around with Erik?"
"I keep the piranhas away from him."
He rested against the desk and smiled. "Should we pass the time trading one liners?"
"Why? Aren't you capable of a paragraph?"
His amusement faded to an annoyed frown. "Are we going to see how long we can keep it up?"
"No. I have to get back to work. It's been a treat, Damian. Let's do it again sometime."
She stormed out of the office and returned to work. Despite her effort to remain annoyed and unaffected, a strange fluttering sensation overtook her when he followed her back to the bar. Not an unpleasant feeling, she decided, but a damned inconvenient one. He stood off in a corner, watching her self-consciously serve the rowdy customers.
Erik arrived in less than ten minutes. He found a vacated table and sat down with his brother. She cringed when they waved her over.
The ever consummate professional, she placed two cocktail napkins down on the table and took the small pad from her vest pocket. "What can I get you gentlemen?
"One Martini, just stir, don't shake it," Damian said.
He must have thought he was James Bond the way he ordered his drink. Although he was handsome enough to play a Bond hero... Stop it, her conscience mocked. She shook off the heated feeling and looked towards Erik.
He glanced up helplessly. "A bouncer?"
"What's a bouncer?" Damian asked.
"Someone to throw you out of the bar," Charlie said. "One Harvey Wallbanger, shaken not stirred, I presume?"
Eric chuckled and relaxed in the chair. "Make it a Zombie. I don't want to feel this."
Damian scowled at their lighthearted banter. "How come you never mentioned that Charlie was such a charming young lady?'
"Because she's not charming," Erik taunted.
Charlie made a clicking sound with her tongue and wrinkled her nose at him. "You blew it pal. You are definitely getting the check. And, I'll include my fifty percent tip." She slid the pad in her pocket and returned to the bar.
Damian watched her leave, then turned his attention back to his brother. "Someone Mother should worry about?"
"We're just friends." Erik fidgeted with the napkin during the strained silence. "Why are you here? I didn't think you had time in your busy schedule to visit me."
"It wouldn't have been necessary to waste all this time if you had bothered to return any of my calls today."
Erik shook his head and groaned. "I'm sorry you were put out, but I never got the messages. I was up in Boston."
"Boston?" Damian thundered. "What's wrong with New Jersey? Did you have nothing better to do with your time than go on a joy ride?"
"I was helping out a friend. Did you come here to lecture me, Damian?"
"No. You didn't forget about Mother's party tomorrow, did you?"
"I'll be there." Eric said sullenly.
"Are family gatherings such a chore?"
"I said I'd be there. Is that it?"
Damian opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut again when Charlie returned with the drinks. The delicate scent of her perfume wafted around him. She placed a glass in front of Erik and gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Actually, I came to invite your friend. Since the two of you seem to be inseparable, Mother thought you might like to bring her to the party."
Charlie nearly spilled the drink on Damian's lap. A splash of liquid trickled over the rim onto the table. She quickly blotted it with a napkin. "I'm sorry. I'll get you another."
"That's not necessary."
She exchanged a panicked glance with Erik.
Damian was intrigued by the nervous response of the two of them. If they were just friends, why did the thought of attending a party cause such a reaction? "Is there a reason you can't attend?"
"I have to...to work," she stammered.
"Surely, you can take off one night?"
"Not if I want to pay my rent. Tell your mother thank you, but I have to pass." Or tell her that I'd rather roll naked through a field of poison ivy than eat in her presence, she silently added.
"Think about it, Damian. What would the Farnsworths think if I showed up with Charlie?" Erik asked.
Damian paused. "Is that the problem? She can go as my date."
In spite of her turmoil, she laughed. That offer tempted the spiteful little brat inside her. Wouldn't Monica Lawson have one heck of a birthday surprise if the daughter of her husband's mistress showed up on the arm of her sexy, oldest son? She got so caught up in her fantasy that she didn't catch the rest of the conversation until it was too late.
"...bet you a hundred dollars she won't go. She can't afford to lose her job," Erik said.
Damian turned towards Charlie. "Is your job the real reason you won't go?"
"Of course. What other reason would I have?"
"Wait here." Damian stood up and walked to the bar to speak to the manager. He exchanged a few words with her scowling boss. Suddenly, Barry broke out in a wide grin and nodded his head. Damian removed some bills from his wallet and handed them to Barry.
He returned to the table, and smiled. "You have tomorrow night off, with pay." He took a sip of the drink and put the glass back on the table. "And you, Erik, owe me one hundred dollars. I'll see you both tomorrow."
He dropped a twenty dollar bill on the table and walked out.
Charlie and Erik exchanged shocked stares. She tried to say something, but Barry called her. "The deal is for tomorrow. Charlie. Get behind the bar."