by Audrey North
“What happened?” she asked worriedly.
“It’s over,” Maisie told her through her tears.
Claire came over to the couch and told Maisie to scoot over. Like a lost puppy, she obeyed. “Ok, this is worse than the Ben breakup. What happened?”
Maisie sat there, tears pouring down her cheeks, as she recapped everything, from him showing up at her doorstep to the night of pure passion they’d had together. Then the heartbreaking realization that he was gone in the morning and the way she’d told him goodbye.
By the end of her story, Claire was up off the couch and pacing.
“I knew it, I knew this was going to happen. I should never have put you on that site. This is all my fault. You were so not ready for that.”
Maisie sat up and wiped her tears away. “This isn’t your fault. It’s mine. The moment I realized that Luke was Easton I should have just kept walking down the sidewalk. I even told him that myself.”
“I know, but you were too vulnerable. Too much on the rebound and he so easily sucked you into it all.”
Maisie played with a stray string on the couch pillow. “It wasn’t like that,” she mumbled.
Claire stopped pacing and looked at her friend. As much as she seemed to live in the moment and be spontaneous without a care in the world, she wasn’t like that at all. She was thoughtful, scrutinizing every fact and situation. “So what was it like then? You still believe that he made you feel so...different?”
Maisie nodded. “Especially after last night.”
“Couldn’t it have just been really hot sex?”
The memory of his body against hers made her cheeks burn. It had been really hot sex, all night long. But that wasn’t it.
“It wasn’t just about the sex. It was something different. Passion, emotion, something I’ve definitely never felt before. Something that I could probably go another fifty years and never feel again. It was electric, it sizzled, it was…indescribable.”
“Wow,” Claire breathed. “I want that.”
Maisie laughed a little. “Trust me, I never wanted to give it up. But what choice did I have? I can’t live like this. It’s like he’s two different people. He’s Easton, the sweet, attentive, caring, sexy man that I can’t get enough of. And then he’s Easton, prince of the mafia. I can’t be with two people like that, especially when the second one I can’t stand.”
“So, what now?”
Maisie shook her head. “There isn’t anything now. It’s over. I ended it and I blocked him. That’s that.”
Skeptically her friend looked at her. “So, you’re just going to forget all of this? Forget him?”
“What choice do I have?” she shrugged.
“I guess you have to do what you have to do. You’re a tough girl though, that’s for sure.”
“Why is that?”
It was Claire’s turn to shrug. “What you and Easton have, it sounds like something that every girl dreams of. It’s far more than you ever made it sound with Ben and I know I’ve never felt like this before. It can’t be easy to walk away from it all.”
Maisie looked up at her friend as it was her turn to analyze the situation. “Would you walk away?”
There was silence as Claire turned to walk to the bathroom to shower and get dressed for her shift. “Honestly, I’d like to say I’d be as strong as you, but I really don’t know if I could hold out.” She turned and looked at her friend as the tears started spilling down her cheeks again. “Did you call in today?”
“No. I can’t sit here and cry all day. I’ve got to get out of here.”
“We’ve got the same shift today so when I’m ready we’ll head in together ok?”
Maisie nodded and got up off the couch. She needed to start getting herself pulled together, get dressed and make herself feel at least halfway human, even if she felt like she may never feel human again.
***
For an afternoon shift, the restaurant was pretty busy when both Maisie and Claire came in which Maisie had to admit she was thankful for. The moment she tied on her apron she was thrown to tables that were eagerly waiting for their waitress. There were tables full of kids and parents, women who were looking to start day drinking on a Saturday afternoon and men who were watching sporting events on the big screen TVs.
Maisie kept her smile on full-blast as she went from table to table, making herself even perkier and upbeat than usual. She felt if she could fake it hard enough, maybe the smile would stop feeling like it was about to shatter her face like glass, and maybe if she stayed perky and happy then her heart would stop feeling as if any second it would stop beating. The only thing that was still reminding her that she wasn’t as ok as she was pretending to be was Claire’s constantly worried expression every time she went to grab her tables’ drinks at the bar.
“Holding up ok?” she asked her.
“Best as I can. I’m glad I’m here though instead of at home, which is odd because I didn’t think those words would ever come out of my mouth.”
Claire laughed at the joke and nodded. “Yea, I was starting to worry that you were feeling far too happy here. Good to know that you still have your moods in check,” she teased.
The door to the restaurant opened and Maisie felt a slight breeze trickle in at the same time she heard a small hush wave through the patrons. It was the same type of hush that had settled over the guests the last time that Easton had walked in. With that thought, Maisie turned to see Easton, his tall, strong, unforgettable build being seated at a table alone.
“What is he doing here?” Claire whispered, anger tingeing her voice. “Has he got no tact? No decency?”
The hostess, oblivious to the fact that Maisie’s face had just paled as if she’d seen a ghost, informed her that he was her table.
“Can’t someone else take it? I can’t,” she pleaded.
“Sorry, everyone else’s sections are packed. You’re the only one that has an open table,” she told her. Swinging her ponytail as she turned, she let Maisie know that it was a done deal.
“What are you going to do? Throw food on him? How about tossing a drink in his face?”
Shaking her head, she smoothed down her hair and straightened her uniform, which at the moment she was wishing was far more attractive than it was. “No, I’m not going to do either.”
“Why not?” the disbelief evident in her voice.
“Because I’m the one who broke up with him remember? Technically speaking, he didn’t do anything to have a drink thrown in his face.”
“I’m here if you need me,” she offered.
Taking a breath Maisie walked over to the table, gripping onto her notepad with all her might so that it wouldn’t be so obvious that her hands were shaking. As soon as she was a few steps away, even over the smell of fried foods, she could smell his cologne and it made her heart flutter at the memory of being in his arms.
“Hey,” she greeted.
Easton looked up at her from his table and a small, half smile, played at his lips. They locked eyes and already she could feel that she was falling into the pool of them and she had to look away.
“What can I get you?” she asked clearing her throat of the emotion that was building inside.
“A second chance.”
Maisie’s heart began to pound harder as she looked at his lips, the ones that not even twenty-four hours ago had been all over her body. Goosebumps rose as she remembered how searingly hot his lips had been on every inch of her body as he devoured her as if she was his last meal. But she couldn’t let herself get confused, let her mind and heart start fighting again.
“I can’t do this,” she told him and turned to walk away. Find someone else to take the table, find someone else to fall for him.
But as she turned she felt his hand wrap around her arm again, just as it had that first night he had stopped her on the sidewalk. She had turned back around that first time, fallen into his eyes and his body, but she shouldn’t have, and she knew that now. T
his time she had to keep walking away from him. But maybe this time she should run as fast as she could, before her feelings could catch up to her.
Maisie tried to pull her arm away but he gripped tighter, refusing to let her go.
“Please.” She could hear the begging in his voice but she did everything she could to block it out. “I just need to talk to you. If you won’t take me back I understand but I just need to tell you something.”
Closing her eyes she tried to block it all out. Her heart was too fragile, too shattered, and there wasn’t anything left to give. She ripped her arm away from him suddenly, catching him off-guard enough that he let go.
“I’m sorry, but nothing has changed from this morning. I can’t do this with you anymore.”
She wanted to get out of there as fast as she could, briefly, she thought to go running to the door. Forget her tables and her shift and her job, none of it mattered. She just wanted to get as far away as she could. But as she moved through the busy restaurant she could feel Easton following on her heels.
“Please, Maisie, just listen to me for one minute. Everything has changed. You have to believe me, just let me explain.”
He grabbed for her one more time and this time she turned around, looking right in his face.
“Easton, there is nothing that could have changed from a few hours ago to now!” She knew she was raising her voice and she knew that people were starting to watch the little show unfold, but she couldn’t help it. It was hurting enough that she had to walk away from him and be strong, she couldn’t keep going around and around with him. “I told you that I can’t live your lifestyle with you. It’s too much for me and I can’t stay with you and fall for you anymore knowing that it will never work out, that I’ll never really be with you!”
Easton stepped closer to her and Maisie felt her cheeks flame from the heat of frustration that was building inside her and the heat of emotion that was also building in her again.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” His voice was low, a sweet slow syrup of words dripping from his lips. “That’s not my lifestyle anymore. I’m out.”
“You’re what? What do you mean you’re ‘out’?”
“I mean,” he took her hand and she tentatively let him, “that my father asked me to do something today, something that made me leave you. And I didn’t want to do what he asked and even more…I didn’t want to leave you. So, I told him that I’m out. I’m done with that part of my life.”
Maisie could barely believe what she was hearing. Was he really out? Instead of Easton being those two mixed up people, was he now one person, the one that she had completely fallen for?
“Do you really mean that?”
Taking another step closer he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him where she felt the warmth of him spreading throughout her body.
“I mean it. I don’t care about any of that stuff anymore, and I don’t want that life. What I do want, is a chance with you.”
Maisie looked deep into those dark eyes that looked as warm as melted chocolate. And she could feel it in her soul that he was telling her the truth, that he was really done living a life like that.
“So, what do we do next?” she asked.
Easton moved his hands up her sides and lightly grasped her face, pulling her up toward him as he bent down and showed her exactly what they were going to do next.
15
The moment Easton felt his lips touch hers he felt his entire body go on high alert of excitement yet felt his soul relax into her. He couldn’t explain it in words how she made him feel, but he did know that he didn’t even have a second thought or a tiny question of if he had made the right decision. When her arms went around his neck, he felt nothing but perfection in his life. He needed to get her out of there, he needed to touch her, to taste her again. In a swift move, he swept her up, cradling her in his arms and headed for the door,
“Wait! I can’t just leave,” she giggled. “I’m right in the middle of my shift!”
He bent his head and kissed her again. “Anyone who takes the rest of my girl’s tables tonight gets an extra $500 from me!” he called out as he kept walking her through the door.
Her laugh was musical as it bubbled up from inside of her. Easton had his driver still waiting outside because he knew that one of two things would have happened, either he was going to leave with her or need a get-away car to hide from his embarrassment of being shut down. But thankfully, there she was, in his arms, nuzzling into his neck. His driver, seeing them coming down the sidewalk, hurried out of the car to open the door to the back of the car where Easton slid her inside.
He shut the door and laid her down across the bench seat. Checking that the partition was up, he unbuttoned her jeans and wiggled them down her hips to reveal red silky underwear that nearly made his mouth water. After a moment of staring, he pulled those down too and tossed everything aside where he began to place kisses on the inside of her thighs, working his way up to the spot that he knew was already aching for him. The moment his tongue licked against her most sensitive spot, he could hear the sharp intake of her breath. Her hips moved underneath him and he could feel his own body responding to her.
Around his lips, he could feel her body start to shake and he knew that he had her right at her breaking point, but instead of letting her fall over the edge with pleasure, he quickly pulled down his pants and slid inside of her, easily as if she was made for him.
Easton and Maisie moaned in sync with each other as they started to move together, quickly and needy. Clawing at each other, unable to get close enough to, to feel enough of each other’s bodies. It didn’t matter that they were in the back of his car, or that his driver was just on the other side of the partition, the only thing that mattered was that he was with her and Easton knew he would take being with her no matter what the cost.
Suddenly Maisie’s body started to quake around him again and he knew he didn’t want to make her wait anymore. Slowing down he let her body savor every bit of her ecstasy and watched her face. The way the pleasure was written across it, and the smile that danced across her lips after the waves of satisfaction subsided.
When her eyes opened again they were burning with more passion than Easton had ever seen.
“Your turn,” she purred.
She pushed him back and got her knees in front of him, taking him in and tasting the mixture of both their bodies. Easton watched her as she pushed him, giving him satisfaction, felt her tongue swirling around him and bringing out every sensitive piece of him. The pressure was building inside of him and while he wanted it to last as long as he could, he also couldn’t wait to feel the release she gave him,
“Now,” he growled, fully expecting her to move away from him. But instead of moving away, she stayed right with him, taking in every moment that he let his body go.
Easton didn’t know about Maisie, but he knew he felt equal parts spent and exhilarated from the day. As much as he wanted to take her to his bed and wrap her up in his arms, falling asleep tangled together again, he also wanted to go everywhere and do everything with her, both private and not.
The partition rolled down slightly, still affording their half-naked bodies some privacy. “Sir, we’re here.”
Easton looked out the window and saw that they were at his home. Next to him, Maisie started to dress again and slowly, Easton got dressed as well. As they dressed he looked out the window at his home and realized that that was probably going to change now that he had left his father. There were many things in his life that were going to change and his mind started to reel at the thought of it all. But then he looked at Maisie next to him, her eyes bright and excited, and without a doubt, he knew that any change in his life was completely worth it if she was by his side.
*****
THE END
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xo,
Audrey North
