by Sara Hazel
“You’re coming home with me tonight,” he growls. “I need you now, and I need you to say yes.”
I don’t answer his question, though I have a big smile on my face. That’s my answer.
“Zack, we’re gonna get caught. Francesca was watching us as we walked away this time.”
“Oh, Francesca will get over it,” he replies. “Maybe I should fire Francesca and make you my sous chef. Or just give her something else to do.”
“That’s terrible, and I’ll have no part in that,” I reply.
He kisses my neck again, insistent that we stop talking and get back to the business of passion. I push him gently off me.
“Come on. Take it back. You’re not gonna fire Francesca for me, ok? She has the experience and you’ve been working together for a long time. She’s out there right now making sure everyone gets their dessert, while we’re in here making out.”
“Yes, we are. Making out with you is what I want to do right now. You are all that I can think of. I promise you, Jules, I’m not gonna fire Francesca. It was a flippant comment. Stupid of me to say. Now let me kiss you.”
“For real, Zack. If you ever do something like that I promise you I’ll just walk out of here. I want to earn my place here.”
“We’re a great team, Jules.”
“We’re not a team. I’m your student. But sometimes I think we’ve both forgotten that.”
He takes a long look at me. “Trust me. I didn’t plan on this happening, but then I saw you. I thought I was just going to train you and then send you out into the world to find a job somewhere else. I figured you’d make me proud wherever you went. But now I’m thinking about how I can keep you here forever.”
I take a deep breath and stand on the tops of my toes. He leans in and presses his lips against mine. We just stay like that for a moment, and then we head back out to work.
Francesca stares at me for the rest of the night as if I’ve become a soggy biscuit, and she’s wondering whether to eat me or throw me out.
“I think you and I need another girl's night out,” she says. “Tonight.”
“Francesca, I am really tired. Tonight is not a good night.”
“You’re not making friends here, Jules. What’s up with that? I went out with Paige and Hannah last week and we think you are kind of stuck up, to be honest.”
I look around the kitchen. Everyone is hard at work, except Zack who stands beside Donovan arguing about their planned second restaurant again.
I return my focus to the dough I’ve been kneading, and just let Francesca’s words hit me hard. I want to cry, but I’m not going to. But maybe she’s right and I do need to try to make friends here with someone other than Zack.
“Tomorrow night, Francesca. We’ll go out, I promise.”
“Whatever,” she mutters.
I wonder if she’s jealous of me and Zack. Maybe the other girls here are too. After all, he was theirs before he was ever mine. Is he mine now? I’m not even sure, to be honest.
Later, I take my break and go outside. Michael is smoking a cigarette. I just lean up against the wall and breathe heavily. Maybe I want him to notice that I’m in some kind of distress. After a few minutes of my overwrought breathing, he speaks.
“Tell Francesca I think she’s hot,” he says.
“Excuse me?”
“You two are close,” he says. “Tell her I think she’s hot. I’ll give you twenty dollars.”
“Michael, I don’t —”
“Please?”
He seems genuinely in need of my assistance. But I’m guessing that telling Francesca that Michael thinks she’s hot is not going to endear me to her. But he just stares at me almost unblinking as he waits for my answer.
The poor man is not unattractive. He just has no social skills whatsoever. And now I’m just wondering if he’s painfully shy, and that’s his whole problem. I used to be that way too.
“Ok, Michael. Fine. I will tell Francesca that you like her.”
He pulls his wallet out and counts twenty dollars out in singles.
“Michael, please. I don’t need your money.”
“You’re gonna do it for free?” He asks.
“Yes, free. I’m going back in and I’ll do it right now.”
“Awesome.” He puts his money away. “I love your accent, by the way.”
“Thanks…”
Just when I wondered if this day could get any weirder. First everything that happened between me and Zack, then Francesca’s nastiness, and now Michael recruiting me for his plot to seduce her.
I take a deep breath and go over to Francesca. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she replies. She picks up her phone and starts typing.
“I know you don’t like me, but I have a message from someone for you. I promised him I would do it. I know it’s ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m doing it, but he seemed so sincere…”
“What the heck are you talking about, Juliann? Just get to the point.”
Get to the point? It’s funny hearing that from Francesca. She’s the queen of avoiding the point.
“Michael just told me to tell you that he thinks you’re sexy. So, yeah. That’s exactly how he worded it. He likes you.”
Francesca’s jaw drops. She slams her phone down on the countertop.
“You are a little bitch.”
“I—” I’m frozen now, just staring at her, and feeling like she’s about to take a swing at me or something.
“You’re a horrible person. Why would you say this to me?”
“He seemed very serious about it, Francesca. You don’t have to go out with him or anything. I just delivered his message. I did my part, and now you don’t have to do anything.”
“You’re a little slut,” she hisses. She grabs her phone, and storms off.
Nina, one of our waitstaff, comes into the kitchen. “Hey Jules, I need two brownies.”
I want to burst into tears, but I just sniffle lightly. “Ok. I’ll get it right now.”
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“I’m great,” I reply as I plate the brownie for her.
*
Finally, the end of our night has arrived, and everything is cleaned up. Francesca never returned, and when Zack asked me where she went I just lied and said I think she got really sick all of a sudden and went to lie down in the break room. He never went in there to look as far as I know, so I hope my answer satisfied him.
I walk past Michael, and he gives me a hopeful thumbs up. I shake my head “no”, and he lowers his head looking like he’s about to cry. I would tell him there are plenty of other girls out there for him, but I don’t think it will help right now. He has his heart set on one and only one. I can just tell.
Zack and I go outside for our usual after work hang out. “Francesca just sent me a text apologizing for storming out of work,” he says.
“Oh, she stormed out?” I pretend as if I had no idea.
“She says you got into a fight with her. She wants to talk to me about it tomorrow. So I’ll just ask you now what it was about. Come on, Jules. I know you probably don’t want to tell me, but you got to.”
“Michael wanted me to tell her that he thought she was hot.”
Zack explodes into laughter — so hard that he doubles over with his hand across his stomach.
“You’re kidding me? My cousin, Michael? That one?”
“The only one who works here.”
“Yeah, he’s told me about it before, and I told him not to do it. So he made you do it. That’s great.”
“It’s not great, because she was really upset. She even called me a slut.”
Zack straightens out. “The kitchen is a high-pressure environment, sweetie pie. People sometimes say things they don’t mean. I’m sure Francesca was just angry that you were doing Michael’s dirty work for him.” He chuckles again.
I cross my arms over my chest. “Well, I’ll tell Francesca tomorrow that I’m sorry. You tell her I’m sorry too
. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
He holds his arms out as if he wants me to walk right into them. I shake my head.
“Come on. We’ve got a date tonight, don’t we?”
“I think we better do that on a different night,” I reply.
“Ok, beautiful. I understand. You’ve had a rough night. Anyway, now I’ve gotta think of a way to tell Michael that Francesca is never gonna go out with him.”
I walk into Zack’s arms, and he wraps me up in his warm embrace. Tonight has been such a mix of emotions that I just start crying and burrowing my face into his shirt. He hugs me extra tight in return.
“You can still come home with me,” he offers. “I can hold you like this. All night.”
“Just hold me all night, huh?”
“You don’t sound like you believe me.”
“I can already feel you growing against me, boy. I know you probably have some plan already to seduce me.”
“You’re right. I do. But I’m gonna save it for another night. Promise.”
“Ok. You win. I surrender.”
Maybe this is a huge mistake, but I’m going home with Zack tonight after all…
Chapter Five
Zack
*
She’s right. I’ve got a plan to seduce her, and it’s happening tonight.
I probably should save it for another time, but how could I? Not when the pressure has been building all day.
We get inside my condo and she heads straight for the kitchen. It’s the largest and most impressive part of the unit. I knew she was going to judge me for it, so I’ve made sure to keep it sparkling clean and ready for her examination. I knew she’d be seeing it soon.
She opens my large top of the line stainless steel oven and sticks her head inside.
“Oh my God, this thing is amazing. But why the heck is it so clean? It looks like you’ve never used it. How long have you lived here?”
The excitement in her voice makes my heart leap up. I love to see Juliann get passionate about something, and I’m lucky that I get to see it often. She’s just that kind of girl.
“I use it all the time. But I know how to clean up after myself.”
“Well, if I had an oven like this I’d use it twenty-four hours a day and you’d be able to tell by looking at it how much I loved it. There would be crumbs everywhere.”
She laughs. I move in behind her and pull her out of the oven.
“Sweetie pie, wait till you see the rest of the place.”
“I’m sleeping in the kitchen tonight. Enjoy the bed,” she says with a giggle.
I turn her towards me. She looks me up at me and gives me a big smile.
“I’m only teasing, of course. I want that all night long cuddle you promised me.”
I close the oven with my foot and then lift Juliann up and toss her over my shoulder. She shrieks as I carry her to my bedroom where my king-sized bed awaits us.
I turn the bedroom lights on and set her down on the bed. I go straight to work removing my clothes,and I don’t stop at my underwear.
She gasps. “Oh, so it’s that kind of cuddle, huh? A naked cuddle.”
“That was the plan all along. Now lift your arms up,” I say in my most serious tone.
She holds them up, and I pull her white chef shirt over her head. I love watching her skin slowly being revealed to me as I lift her shirt up.
Her bra is the next to go, and even though it’s been a long time since I’ve unhooked one of these things it comes easy for me. My cock throbs as Juliann reaches up and grabs it tight.
“How old are you?” she asks.
“I’m only thirty-five.”
“I’m surprised you can get this hard after having two orgasms in one day. I thought older men took days to recover.”
“You’re a funny girl, sweetie pie. But you’re going to get punished for the old man comment.”
“Punished?” Her voice goes up an octave. She removes her hand from my aching shaft.
“Just a little though,” I reply.
I pull her bra all the way off now and take a moment to take in the sight of her large beautiful breasts. Her nipples are swollen and begging to have my lips around them.
“You’re staring at me again,” she says.
“Hush. You love it.”
She lies back, and I yank her bottoms off. She playfully kicks me backwards and makes me watch her as she shimmies out of her panties.
“Ok. I’m ready to cuddle now,” she says. “But that’s it. I mean it, and you’d better get over here soon because I’m cold now.”
She crawls under the covers, and bats her eyelashes at me like the southern belle she is.
“You are the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” I say as I crawl into bed beside her. I slide one arm under her and nudge her onto her side so that we’re eye to eye now. My other arm is draped around her soft body.
“I think you’re fun too. Now get up and turn the lights off, ok?”
“You’re making me work for this tonight, aren’t you?”
“I’m a southern girl. We’re not easy, mister Elliot. You have to impress me.”
I slide away from her and go turn the lights off. I crawl right back into bed and resume our previous position.
“Well, alright, sweetie pie. Goodnight,” I say. I kiss her forehead.
“That’s it? Really?”
“That’s it. Goodnight.”
I close my eyes, and Juliann makes a “Hmmmph” sound that tells me she’s expecting me to break my promise just to hold her all night.
Well, sweetie pie, of course, I’m going to break that promise. Because it’s about time that I finally made you my girl. There’s just one problem though, and it’s that I don’t want to end up hurting you even if it’s an accident.
Juliann
*
I lie there and listen to him breathe. I close my eyes and wonder if I should go to sleep. I think he has to be teasing me. Yes, I said I only wanted to cuddle tonight but did I really mean it?
No. Of course not. I went home with Zack Elliot tonight. I’ve never gone home with a man in my entire life. I’ve never even been on a real date, and I’m not sure that this counts as one. But it’s the closest I’ve ever come.
Eventually, I do go to sleep and dream about having my own restaurant with Zack someday. In my dream, we have eight kids that clearly belong to us, and those as yet imaginary children staff our restaurant. It’s hilarious, sweet, and very much against child labor laws. Thank God it’s only in my weird head.
I am urged out of sleep by a soft trail of kisses down the back of my neck. My eyes flutter open and I make a “mmmm” sound as the heat of his breath ripples across my skin. This is what I’ve been waiting for.
He presses himself into me. His warm cock seems to throb against my skin.
“You’re awake, huh?” I whisper.
“I’ve been awake the whole time,” he replies before planting another kiss on the back of my head.
“Liar. I heard you snoring.”
“You heard yourself snoring, baby girl,” he says with a chuckle.
His hands wander up to my breasts, and he cups his palms over them. My nipples swell up and I scoot myself backwards to be even closer to him. The heat coming off him — damn.
“You’re like an oven,” I say.
“We’ll save on heating costs when we’re married. You can just stay close to me whenever we’re at home.”
“Married?” The shock of the word makes me shudder. Not out of fear, but from longing. Hearing him say that word just makes me feel like I can’t be close enough to him. “Hold me tighter,” I whisper.
Zack gives me the squeeze I’m looking for. Is this what it’s like to be with your soulmate, I wonder? Soulmate. Hmmm…Oh, Jules. You can’t let yourself do that. Soulmate is a dangerous word that’s loaded with expectations that you can’t be sure Zack can live up to yet.
He seems to become even harder. I want to beg him t
o put it inside of me, but that seems like something I’m going to have to learn how to do a different day. For now, Zack is in charge, and I need to let him guide me.
He nibbles lightly on the back of my shoulder, and another shudder works its way through me.
“Are you alright, sweetie pie?” he asks.
“Yes—Yes—I’m fine,” I stutter. “I just need you.”
I can’t believe I said it. I was trying hard to hold it in. But I’ve failed, and maybe it’s okay. He seems to want to take good care of me. I feel safe here in his arms with his mouth traveling across my skin. Too safe. But I can’t do anything to chase that feeling of security away and come to my senses. I should be jumping out of his bed, putting my clothes back on, and going home. Zack is still my boss, and we’ve already taken things too far.
But it’s time to surrender.
Zack chuckles at my confession. “I need you too, and not just a little. No, I need you so much that if you turned me down right now, I think I’d go live on a mountain somewhere and never come back down. I don’t want anyone else, so I wouldn’t even try.”
“But now I’m tempted to say no, because I think you’d look sexy with a mountain man beard.”
He grinds his cock against me to prove his intense desire for me. I can’t help but reach down and feel my pussy. I am soaking already, just from this — what feels like the true beginning of our love story.
“I’m not going to wait anymore, sweetie pie. You’re mine,” he growls.
He lets go of me for only a moment. Just long enough to roll me onto my back, and then just like that he’s on top of me and pinning my wrists down.
He presses his forehead to mine. “I’d promise you that I’ll be gentle, but that would be a lie,” he says.
Yep. This confession elicits another tremble from my body. I suck in a deep breath and slowly let it out. I can’t even respond to him. I don’t know what to say anymore. I feel as if I’m no longer living on the same plane of existence I was even just a few minutes ago. Everything feels more heightened — explosive even.
