by Shea Balik
CHAPTER 2
“Nick, you promised.” It was the hurt in Theresa’s voice that got to him.
Nicholas Snow hated disappointing his sister more than anything. It had been that way since their parents had died. At twenty, he’d had to drop out of college to keep his eleven-year-old sister out of foster care.
The decision had been an easy one. To this day he never regretted it. Sure, he’d missed the all-night study sessions with his friends, the keg parties, and the carefree lifestyle of just being young with no real responsibility. But the thought of his sister being raised by people they didn’t know would have left Nick with nightmares for the rest of his life.
He glanced at the clock on his laptop and the pile of files on his desk and sighed. There was at least four more hours of work for him, but Theresa had a point. Now that she was in college, they hardly got to see each other. But, once a month, they would meet for dinner.
She must have sensed him wavering since she added, “I can meet you somewhere close to work, so you can work right up until dinner.”
“Fine, brat. Have it your way.” He really wanted a chance to see his sister. “But you’ll have to find someplace close enough that I can come back to work after.” He would most likely have to stay until midnight but it would be worth it for a chance to catch up with Theresa.
Her squeal had him pulling the phone away from his ear or risk his eardrum bursting. “I’ll text you the address when I find a place. I’ll see you at six.”
She was smart enough to hang up before he could change his mind. It had taken him six years of online classes, along with a few classes at their local college, but Nick had finally achieved his dream of working in marketing. Now he had a good job with a marketing firm right there in Charlotte, North Carolina.
There had been a few offers from firms in bigger cities, but he hadn’t wanted to move Theresa when she was almost done with high school. But now, well, he had to admit he was considering moving. It would put him further from Theresa, but his boss was sucking the life out of him. He worked no less then twelve-hour days, six days a week. That didn’t leave him a lot of time for himself.
Plus, if he were honest with himself, his boss was an ass. He often stole his employees’ pitches as his own and when he did come up with his own, they were so bad they usually lost them the business. Nick still had no idea how Howard Givens III ever became account executive in the first place.
The only thing holding him in Charlotte was the thought of selling his parents’ home. He’d lived there his whole life. It would kill him to lose that last reminder of them.
With a shake of his head, Nick forced all thoughts of moving from his mind as he went back to work. There were six accounts they were pitching next week and he needed to get the proposals finished by Monday morning or he wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not he should keep his job, because Howard would take it away from him.
Time flew as he worked and three hours later he almost missed the chime telling him he’d gotten a text. He glared at the annoying device wishing it would magically go away.
Theresa’s name popped up on the top of the text. Damn. He was already five minutes late and he hadn’t even left. She was going to kill him. Grabbing his coat, he headed for the elevator and shot off a text telling her he was on his way.
He clicked on the address she’d sent him of the restaurant and was relieved to see it was only a block away. He couldn’t remember ever seeing a restaurant so close to work, but at this point, he was just glad he wouldn’t be too late, so he wouldn’t worry about the restaurant his sister had picked.
Until he saw it. He rolled his eyes at the cheesy fifty’s themed restaurant. The only good thing he could say about the obnoxious blue and pink booths with black and white checkerboard flooring, was that it appeared to be clean. He just hoped the theme stopped at the décor and the waitresses weren’t wearing poodle skirts with beehive hairdos.
“You’re late,” his sister called out the moment Nick opened the door. But there was no heat behind her words. Only relief, which told Nick he’d cancelled too many times lately.
He grinned at the way her bottom lip stuck out as he made his way to the way too pink booth he knew she’d chosen just to spite him. “Good to see you too, Theresa.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t bother acting as if you’re the wronged party here,” she laughed good-naturedly. “We both know if I hadn’t texted you, you would have stood me up.”
Not having a leg to stand on, Nick laughed too. “Fine,” he held up his hands in surrender. “You win, but in fairness, I blame my boss for refusing to do his job and giving it all to me instead.”
That made his sister laugh harder because she’d met Howard and knew he was an ass of epic proportions. “Okay, fine. I’m willing to lay all the blame at evil King Howard’s feet.”
This time when Nick laughed he actually felt lighter. “Lord, but I’ve missed you, Theresa. You always know how to make things better.”
She wagged a finger at him. “That’s only because I force you out of that stuffy office. I mean, it’s a marketing company. Shouldn’t it be creative with some bold, bright colors instead of drab grays and blacks?”
Nick glanced around at the diner with too much color and said, “You mean like the gaudy pinks and blues of this place?”
“At least we no longer have to wear those stupid pompadour hair pieces and try and deliver food on roller skates,” a soft voice said from next to their table.
Nick glanced at the young man and nearly swallowed his tongue. Gorgeous didn’t even begin to describe him. He wasn’t sure what caught his attention first, the piercing blueish-grey eyes, or the way his lips curved upward in a sweet, yet sexy as sin, smile.
Everything from his slightly too long brown hair, styled in a messy, just rolled out of bed look, to his compact body, pushed every single button Nick had. His sarcastic sense of humor didn’t hurt. The only minus was his job. Nick wasn’t so sure about dating a waiter.
Then again, that didn’t negate a night of fun.
Thin, elegant fingers snapped in front of his face, drawing his attention back to his sister, who had been trying to get his attention. “Earth to Nick, you in there, bro?”
Shit. Had he really just been thinking about sex with his little sister across the table from him? Clearly, it had been too damn long since Nick had been laid.
“Yeah, sorry. I was just picturing food flying everywhere as the wait staff tried to roller skate around.” He was fairly sure his overheated face gave away that lie, but thankfully neither his sister or their waiter called him out on it.
“Anyway,” the cute waiter said with a little too much attitude. “My name is Tim and I’ll be serving you today. Do you need another minute to look at your menus or do you know what you want?”
It was on the tip of Nick’s tongue to answer, “You,” but he managed to stop himself. By his sister’s giggling, Nick was fairly sure he wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Yeah, I’ll have a cheeseburger, medium, with fries and an iced tea,” he said hoping to mitigate either Theresa or Tim from calling him on ogling the pretty waiter.
Once Tim had taken his sister’s order and left, Theresa smacked his arm lightly. “I think somebody’s got a crush,” she teased.
“A crush?” Nick asked. “What are you, like twelve again?”
“Deny it all you want, big brother, but let’s face it, if I weren’t here, you’d have already tried to get into that boy’s pants.”
Nick violently shuddered at that image. Not that he was opposed to doing exactly that, but because it came out of his sister’s mouth. “Gross, Theresa. You’re my sister and there is no way I’m going to talk to you about my sex life.”
There went that damn bottom lip of hers again. He was in for it now. “And why not? We’re adults. You are no longer my guardian and I think it’s about time you stop treating me like a kid.”
She might have a point, but there
was still no way in hell he was going to talk to her about his sex life. Ever. “Point taken, but that doesn’t include sex.” He held up a hand to stop the argument she was obviously about to give. “No. Not now. Not ever. You’re still my sister and there are some things that are too…” he racked his brain to come up with a good word but in the end he went with the one that kept circling in his brain, “icky to discuss with you.”
There went the roll of the eyes again. She was so predictable. “Fine. No sex.” Then she grinned mischievously. “But seriously, if you don’t try and tap that ass, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.”
“Stop.” He used his best authoritative voice with her, but it only made her giggling start up again just as Tim came back with their drinks, and damn if Nick didn’t get hard when he heard the man moan as he approached.
If he didn’t get control of himself, he was going to not care that his sister was sitting across the table from him and drag Tim into the men’s room for a little fun.
CHAPTER 3
“Holy hotness,” Jennifer whispered as Tim filled two glasses with iced tea. “Please tell me he’s straight, because it’s been at least two weeks since I’ve been laid.”
That was the thing Tim liked about Jennifer, she just put it all out there. He never had to worry about her stabbing him in the back like some of the other waiters at Rockin’ Robin’s Diner.
“Sorry, hon,” Tim told her. “But he was definitely checking me out.”
She gave a quick pout before her smile returned. “Maybe he’s bi,” she teased with a wink.
Tim laughed as he made sure he had straws in his apron and placed the drinks on a tray. “With a suit like that, I don’t think he’d slum with the staff even for a quickie.”
Not one to be put off by a challenge, Jennifer said, “A girl can dream, can’t she?”
Since he was already making his way to the table, Tim didn’t respond, which was probably a good thing since his response would probably have made her cry. Dreams weren’t something people like them got to have. If they were lucky, they made enough each month not to go hungry, but the reality was, too often, Tim went without food.
It was why he’d ended up working for a café and a diner. Both places offered free food during his shifts. He also made sure to stagger his days off from each place so he knew he’d always get at least one meal a day.
No. Dreams were for suckers. In the past, Tim might have wished the hot guy at his table would take him into the bathroom for a quickie, or even pray he’d ask Tim out on a date, but his long list of failed attempts at dating had taught him long ago that Prince Charming didn’t exist.
“But seriously, if you don’t try and tap that ass, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought,” the younger girl sitting across from the hot guy teased.
Yep. Hot guy was definitely gay. Since the girl with him was trying to convince him to have sex, Tim was also right that he wouldn’t lower his standards to slum it with a lowly waiter.
“Stop,” hot guy demanded, causing Tim’s dick to twitch and a moan to escape his throat.
Fuck, that was intense. Tim had always been a sucker for a man who knew how to take control.
His entire body shook as he stepped up to the table. Unfortunately, that included his hands. He’d reached over to place both glasses down but he’d been so busy trying to control his cock, which was trying to make itself seen by growing rapidly in his pants, that Tim hadn’t noticed there was a spoon where he was placing hot guy’s drink.
It wasn’t until he let go and watched in horror as the entire glass tipped over that he realized his mistake. It was as if everything happened in slow motion. Ice and tea splashed onto the table, creating a pool that cascaded over the side of the table right onto hot guy’s lap. It felt like minutes as Tim just knew he would end up fired from his second job in the same day.
This couldn’t be happening. He even closed his eyes, stupidly hoping when he opened them this whole thing would have just been some silly nightmare. But when he did open his eyes, it was all still there, in vivid detail. His life going up in flames.
Then, as if by magic, time was moving at its normal speed once more, propelling Tim into action.
“Oh, God.” He grabbed the napkin holder from the table and started pulling out the cheap paper napkins in handfuls. “I’m so sorry.” Without even thinking about it, he started cleaning up hot guy’s lap, dabbing the napkins right over his groin.
It wasn’t until he felt something move and start to thicken under his hand, along with the girl across the table who started to giggle uncontrollably, that Tim even realized what he was doing. This time it was his whole body that heated up in embarrassment. He was sure he was about to combust as he stood there staring in horror as his hand continued to blot at the hot guy’s pants as if it had a will of its own.
This couldn’t be happening. Please, don’t let this be real.
That was when hot guy picked up Tim’s hand and gently pushed him away from the table. “Why don’t you clean the table and I’ll take care of my pants in the bathroom?”
Tim stood there mutely and just nodded. Why was he such an idiot? And why did things like this always have to happen to him? Had he broken a mirror and now had seven years of bad luck? No, that couldn’t be it, because his luck had been awful since birth. Maybe he’d done something horrible in a previous life and was doomed to a terrible existence in this one.
A hand touched his arm, bringing him back to what was happening around him. Tim had been staring forlornly at the bathroom door that hot guy had walked through instead of getting to work cleaning up the mess he’d made.
“Hey,” the girl who had been with hot guy said as she stood next to him. “Nick will be fine. Why don’t I help you get everything cleaned?”
“Fuck,” he breathed out. “I’ve really screwed this up. Do you think Nick will file a complaint, because I just can’t lose two jobs in one day?” Nick. Tim had to admit he really liked the way the name sounded on his tongue.
The girl smiled sweetly at him. “Nah. My brother’s not like that.” Then she stuck out her hand to him. “I’m Theresa, by the way.”
Tim shook her hand, instantly liking her. That she not only offered to help, but actually did, had Tim relaxing somewhat. It helped that she kept up a litany of chatter. What she said, Tim had no clue, but her babbling alleviated some of his nerves.
If Nick’s sister was this nice, maybe he wouldn’t report Tim for basically molesting him. It was stupid to hope, but it was also all Tim had to go on. There was no point in worrying about it now, anyway. All he could do was his job.
With that in mind, Tim got Nick a fresh glass of iced tea and made sure to keep Nick and Theresa’s food warm until the man came out of the bathroom.
The moment he did, Tim grabbed their plates and rushed to the table. “Again.” He waited for Nick to slide into the booth before carefully placing both plates on the table. “I’m very sorry. I’d be more than happy to pay for your dry cleaning.” Not that Tim had the money for that, but it was better than losing his job.
Nick waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. But I don’t have much time, so if you could drop off the check, I would appreciate it.”
Theresa grumbled about Nick working too hard to which Nick reminded her he was still proving himself at his job.
Tim didn’t get to hear the rest of the conversation, nor was he sure he wanted to. Instead of his sister’s friendliness, Nick had been a bit colder, as if he were annoyed. Then again, could Tim really blame him?
The man just had a glass of iced tea dumped in his lap. As if that weren’t bad enough, his waiter basically molested him. It hadn’t been his intent, but the results were still the same. There was no way Nick wouldn’t complain to Tim’s boss. He was going to be fired for sure.
****
It had been a week and so far, Tim’s boss hadn’t mentioned anything about Nick or the fact that Tim had all but felt up one of his customers. He was b
eginning to think he was safe, which was good, because finding a third job to replace his mall job had been harder than he thought.
So far, no one wanted to give him a chance when he had limited availability. They all wanted more flexibility, but he had an interview tomorrow after his shift at the café as one of those people on the sidewalk that spun a sign to advertise for a new toy store.
The last thing he wanted to do was work with kids in a toy store but he figured twirling outside on the sidewalk would keep him far away from those hopeful little faces as they got to pick out a toy. Lucky bastards.
The only time he was allowed play with toys was at school or at a friend’s house. They’d been too poor for his mother to spend money on anything so frivolous as a toy when she needed things like manicures and appointments at the hair salon.
She claimed it was a lesson to Tim and his brother. Nothing was free in life. If they wanted something, they would have to find a way to work for it and get it themselves. Maybe if she had encouraged them in… well, anything they’d ever done, that would have worked. Instead, it only discouraged Tim and Ralph.
In the end, Tim worked three jobs to make ends meet and Ralph, seeing his older brother struggling, ended up joining the Army. At least there he got three meals a day, a bed, and insurance.
It wasn’t a job Tim would have wanted but he also couldn’t blame his brother for finding something with security. The diner had benefits Tim could buy into, but without that third job and a whole lotta luck on tips, he couldn’t afford it.
He knew it was foolish to believe for even an instant his luck might change but Tim found himself wishing for it all the same. He couldn’t pinpoint why, but since that night when he met Nick, Tim found himself hoping for things he never would have in the past.
