A huge grin spread across his face when his eyes dropped to take in my boobs and he realized what my shirt said. “Hell yeah! I want a piece of ass if that’s what you’re offering. You certainly look like a hot one, darlin’,” he drawled.

I played along. “Well who am I to turn a paying customer down?”

“Hot damn!” he crowed, leaning towards me over the bar.

“Ah, ah, ah. Down, boy. Just give me a second,” I said as I gathered the ingredients for his drink. I batted my eyelashes at him as I chilled the shot in the ice shaker. I gave him a flirty grin as I poured into the shot glass and nudged it towards him. “Here you go.”

“A drink before we head out?” he asked.

“Head out where?” I played dumb, as though I had no idea he thought he was going to get lucky with me.

“You know,” he said as he gestured at my shirt.

“But that’s what that is,” I said.

“That’s what what is?” he asked, not getting the point.

“What you asked for a piece of ass. And it’ll be five bucks please.”

He just looked down at the drink and back up at me again. Either the alcohol was slowing his brain down or he wasn’t the brightest guy in the world. To make sure he got it, I turned around so he could read the back of my shirt. And finally the light bulb went off.

“Well, shit. That hardly seems fair to name a drink like that and get a guy’s hopes up and all,” he complained.

“But just think, you could buy a round for your friends and brag about getting them all a piece of ass tonight. How often can you do that?”

Luckily, he took it in stride and bought a round for his friends. He tried his hand at chatting me up while I was busy preparing his order. I had everything finished up and was grabbing a tray when he got quiet all of the sudden.

When I turned back around, Jackson was sitting next to him. He looked amazing in a bright blue t-shirt and dark jeans, but the look on his face and the tattoo peeking out of his sleeve made him look dangerous. And he was shooting daggers at country boy. Daggers that were then aimed at me as soon as he realized what my shirt said.

“Here’s your round,” I said. “That will be twenty-five dollars in all. The first one’s on the house for being such a good sport.”

He glanced at Jackson before handing me some cash. “Keep the change. It’s just a damn shame that all the hot bartenders around here are taken,” he said as he walked away.

“Jackson,” I greeted him. “What can I get you?”

“Do you sell shirts?” he growled.

I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but we sold the shit out of the novelty shirts the staff wore. “We do,” I said cautiously as I pointed to the display that was pinned to the ceiling above the bar.

His gaze skimmed over the selection and landed on one that just said The Roost with a picture of a rooster on it. “How about that one in a size small?” he asked.

“Sure. We don’t sell many of those. It’ll be twenty bucks.”

He slammed a twenty onto the bar and just stared at me. I grabbed a shirt for him from the stash in the storage room, but he just shook his head at me when I tried to give it to him. “I asked for a small. That would be a little tight on me, don’t you think?”

“I figured it was for your sister or something.”

His gaze dropped back down to my shirt for a moment. “It’s for you, Kaylie. I’d hate to have to start a brawl over what you’re wearing right now.”

“Wait, what?” I asked, stunned that he’d seriously just bought me a different shirt because he wanted me to change.

“You heard me. I want you to change out of the shirt you have on into one that won’t make every guy here think that he might have a chance to take you home tonight. Unless you really are into picking guys up in bars even though you said you weren’t just this morning.”

“And I would do this because why exactly?”

“Because you don’t want me to get into a fight where you work. Or you feel sorry for these schmucks who seriously think you’d offer them a piece of your ass after your shift,” he murmured. “Or how about because you want to make me happy? Do any of those reasons work for you, Kaylie? If not, I am sure I can come up with more.”

Char walked up, looked at the shirt between us on the bar, and took in the expression on Jackson’s face. She gave him a quick nod before turning to me. “I can cover for you down here if you need to take a quick break,” she offered.