by Mia Kayla
I hadn’t had my sights on a guy in a long time. My pain was too great and it was easier to hide behind men who wanted nothing more than a quick lay. But now, I was done hiding my pain in one-night stands. I’d been looking for certain qualities in my forever male, and Dr. Klein possessed them all.
The truth was, he made me nervous. I wanted him so bad that the confident Kendy transformed into a school girl with a big crush when I was anywhere in his vicinity.
I’d been sitting here for so long, the ice in my Long Island ice tea had already melted. The only thing that was keeping my mind occupied were the three attractive males eyeing me from across the bar. A couple of them had offered to buy me drinks, but I didn’t want to do small talk, so I’d been upfront and told them I was waiting for someone.
When my phone vibrated in my pocket, I knew before I took a glance that it was Sarah. Suddenly, my smile vanished and worry seeped into my skin. She hadn’t responded to my last four texts, and I hoped she was okay.
My face fell as I saw the text.
Sarah: Sorry, babe. I’m not feeling well. I have this major stomach virus and everything I put in is coming out.
I lowered my head, hunching over to type her back, and released a heavy sigh of disappointment.
Me: It’s okay. I hope you feel better.
I leaned against the bar as my excited mood from earlier quickly faded. Why hadn’t she messaged sooner, preferably before I’d left the house?
My selfish side wanted to tell her to take some medicine and get her ass over to Bartlett’s ASAP. How the hell would I do this without my partner in crime?
We had rehearsed our lines and everything, and now my wing woman was unavailable. This blew.
I felt my full-on Kendy pout coming to the surface. I looked around, but I didn’t see the entourage of doctors that Dr. Klein was usually with, so I knew they hadn’t shown up yet. I didn’t even have a game plan, because Sarah was supposed to start the night cracking her random corny jokes. My job was to sit back and relax until he noticed me. I gritted my teeth as a shadow of disappointment crossed my face.
Now, what was I going to do?
I bit my pinky nail and tried to formulate a plan. Maybe a, “Fancy seeing you here”?
I shook my head and cursed at my lame, cliché line. Maybe I should just go home.
All talk . . . no action. I realized my bravado only surfaced when Sarah was around, especially when it came to Dr. Klein.
Before I could let my negativity take over, I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“Well, well, well. Look who I found.”
I cringed. My night had just turned from bad to worse. Slowly, I spun around and locked eyes with the blue-eyed culprit staring back at me, sporting a cocky smirk.
Brian.
I didn’t even try to hide my scowl. “Great, just great. I hate my life.”
He sighed dramatically, resting against the bar right next to me. “We’re running into each other way too much lately. It must be a sign,” he said, his voice tinged with humor.
I shot him a look and he laughed, which only piqued my annoyance. “Not a sign—luck,” I said, angling toward him. “Bad luck,” I quipped, using the line he’d used at the hospital.
His eyes raked my body, landed back on my face, and then he beamed with approval, which shifted my mood.
With a small sly smile, I rested my hand on his bicep and noted the well-defined muscles straining against his fitted white button down. My eyes focused on his face, pretending I wasn’t even remotely affected as I squeezed his arm, not noticeably hard, but just so I could feel how firm his muscles were.
Any woman had to admire a man who took care of his body and it looked like Brian did that well. I came closer until we were inches apart. Suddenly, his smile faltered and his look started changing. His eyes raked me in with a lust I was all too familiar with.
My chest was almost touching his, and I knew I had his undivided attention. It was as if he wanted to eat me for dinner, and then for dessert, too. Heat rushed my insides at our closeness. My breath caught in my throat as electricity zinged between us. The air shifted and there was an unexpected and abrupt attraction so strong that I forced my eyes shut and pulled back to find my bearings and give myself room to breathe.
I blinked a couple of times, still admiring the view in front of me. I wasn’t totally immune. No doubt, he was one attractive male. Just not the one I’d come for, I silently reminded myself.
I threw him a seductive smile. “Listen, I’m saving you the trouble. I’m too much woman for a good boy like you to handle.” I waved my hand to motion him to the other side of the room.
After a beat, he composed himself. “I think you have me pegged all wrong, Kendy. Who says I’m a good boy?” A mischievous grin crept up his face, the kind of smile little boys used when they were hiding something.
I laughed, because only good boys would say that sort of thing. “Because I’ve done boys like you. I know your kind. Plus, I certainly don’t take second servings.” I scrunched my nose as soon as the words left my mouth, my face flushing pink. I had no filter. I should come with a muzzle to keep me from saying things I shouldn’t be saying.
He just laughed, but I bit my lip. I hadn’t meant to sound so crude, or for it to come out like that. I knew he’d been heartbroken when Beth had chosen Kent.
I softened and tried to recover. “I’m sorry.”
“No big deal.” He shrugged, seeming unaffected. Maybe he was over her.
But what I said had been rude—honest, but still rude.
He seemed like a good catch. He just needed some coaching.
I straightened on the stool, ready to do him a favor. “Listen, Brian. Let me give you a word of advice. Quit being so nice.” I shifted so my leg brushed against his side, shooting a tingling sensation up my thigh. “Most women want either a bad boy or a rich boy, neither of which you are.”
There was a glint of amusement in his eyes as I spoke, which urged me to continue. “You can’t change the rich thing, but you most definitely can change the good thing. So if you want to find a good girl, be a bad boy, because women want to change that bad boy and will stay put. We get bored too easily with the good ones. It’s not that much fun. Trust me on this.”
I flipped my hair to the side, exposing my neck. His eyes flickered to my bare skin and I smirked, loving how I’d grabbed his attention. “I know how to play the game, so you’d be good to take my advice.” I patted his arm and nodded twice.
He gave me a disarming smile and my breath caught. I couldn’t help but smile back, the reaction automatic.
He angled into me, so close I could smell his aftershave, which was intoxicating. I could pretty much recognize all the colognes at the department store, but the one he was wearing, I didn’t. “You think I’m a good boy, and maybe I am.” He inched toward me, his warm breath on my face, making my nipples pebble. “But let me tell you, this good boy,” he smirked, pulling at his shirt, “can be,” he angled in even closer, “a very bad boy. In bed.”
I gulped, and my insides turned to liquid. I wondered if there was some truth to his words. I shook my head to get his perfectly sculpted, naked body out of my head.
Peering up into his baby blues, I pushed out my chest, being the tease I truly was. His eyes fell to my bust before landing back on my face.
Ah ha! The tables had turned. “It’s too bad . . .” I breathed as my eyes flickered to his lips. “That I’m never going to find out about this bad boy.” I ran a fingernail lightly down the inside of his arm, angling toward me. “I screw you . . .”
He licked his lips, his eyes focusing on my mouth.
“ . . . and you won’t be able to help yourself,” I said, breathlessly.
His eyes went half-mast as he leaned into me, so close I could smell the mint on his breath, could taste him, quite possibly kiss him.
It took all my self-control to push at his chest with my pointer finger. “You’ll fall in love with me,
and that’s something I cannot have on my conscience.”
Then I swallowed hard, averting my gaze, and pretended his proximity did not affect me, while my heartbeat raced in overdrive.
Before he garnered a response, I recognized one of the attendees I worked with. Dan or Sam or something like that. Dr. Hot Pants would be making an appearance shortly. I knew it.
I straightened my skirt and pressed my lips together, evening out my gloss. “You need to leave. My date is coming any minute.” I practically tugged on Brian’s arm and motioned with my head for him to make an exit.
“Isn’t your date supposed to pick you up, not meet you at the bar?” he asked, with a shake of his head. “Seems like you’ve got a real keeper there.” His curious eyes followed my line of sight.
“Well, he doesn’t know he’s my date, just yet.”
Brian lifted an eyebrow and, as I fixed my gaze back at the door, my stomach dropped to the floor. Dr. Klein strolled in . . . with a tall, skinny blonde on his arm. The skin-tight black tube dress and four-inch heels made her mile-long legs look even longer.
No . . .
An onset of nausea spread throughout my body, and my lips pulled downward as the realization that all the effort I’d put into tonight had turned to crap. I closed my eyes, took a big deep breath, and forced myself to shake it off. Shake it to make it. I had to, or it would break my mood for the whole evening and into the morning.
I smirked and sat straighter on the stool, again dusting off this hopeless feeling. Maybe she was his sister. Or maybe not. But either way, she was a tad bit skinnier and taller, but I knew I had all the right curves in all the right places, and the difference was my shit was real.
I pulled at my dress and adjusted my ta-tas. It was time to step up my game.
Brian watched as I fixed myself then his eyes flickered back to the bar. I had to give him credit, though. He was trying to be discrete about it.
I paused as a bright idea came to me. Narrowing my eyes, I pulled him by the collar and wrapped my arms around his neck. He didn’t resist and, like a puppet master controlling their puppet, he molded against me and wrapped his hands along my lower back. A small smile played on his lips as though he was wondering what this psycho girl was up to.
I threw him my winning smile as I said, “I’m going to make you a deal, blue-eyed boy. You help me out tonight, and I’ll help you out in return.” My lips smacked together once more. “You can thank me later.”
FOUR
BRIAN
This woman had me pegged all wrong. I wondered if she thought I was a virginal good boy. I silently laughed at the thought, but I decided to humor her. If anything, I enjoyed her misconception about me.
“Go ahead,” I said, wondering what her plan entailed. My hand rested against her back. The silkiness of her top brushed against my fingers.
“See that man with the blonde on his arm.” With a tip of her head, she motioned toward someone who looked very familiar. “That’s my date.”
It took all my self-control not to laugh out loud. Her so-called date was Stiff, the doctor from the hospital. “So you’re into threesomes? I’ll join, but we have to lose the dude.”
“No!” She laughed, and there was something about the way she laughed that got to me. It lightened my insides.
“That’s the guy I’m going to marry,” she said with all the confidence in the world. There was this glint in her eye when she uttered the word ‘marry’, and my curiosity spiked.
How well did she really know this guy? Judging by the fact he was here with another woman, a sexy but fake-looking one at that, I’d say not so well.
And where had the sex kitten from a minute ago gone? Now she was bouncing on the bar stool, her arms still wrapped around my neck like we were at the high school prom.
“Are you sure he isn’t already married?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
Not only was Dr. Stiff with another girl, but he was trying way too hard. His shirt was undone, showing off a bit too much chest. His dark hair was gelled to perfection. He was a player for sure, but he was terrible at not showing it.
Amateur.
I shook my head then glanced back at Kendy. Being a doctor must’ve been his only appeal.
“No, he’s not married.” Kendy jutted out her pouty lip. I had a sudden urge to bite it. “He can’t be.”
I’d hit a nerve; I could tell. That uncrackable confidence was suddenly breaking beneath her gorgeous surface. I wanted to say more, add that maybe he had children she didn’t know about so she could push out that lip in my direction and I could run my tongue along the seam, but I thought better of it.
I set my beer on the bar as her eyes zoned in on the group of guys congregated by Stiff. “Let me give you the four-one-one. That is one of the ER doctors I work with. I’ve been stalking him since I got here a month ago. He’s going to be mine. I feel it in my bones.”
I laughed at her comment as she continued, “I’m serious. All I need to do is get him to notice me, give me a chance, and he’ll fall in love. Hello?” She released me when my laughter continued. Her face pinched with annoyance.
“Okay, I want to see how this is done.”
She raised her chin, determination in her eyes. “Okay.” She pointed her manicured finger in his direction and didn’t blink as he talked up the blonde in front of him. “Once he gets to know me, fall in love, and I screw him, he’s going to be mine forever.”
“You’re a hooker?” I teased.
Now it was her turn to laugh as an irresistibly devastating grin emerged on her face. “No, dummy.” She slapped my arm and giggled, her eyes lighting up. But when she focused back on Stiff, she pursed her lips as her mood turned sour again.
He angled toward the woman he walked in with, chatting her up. A part of me wanted to bring Kendy to her senses. If he didn’t notice Kendy and her beautiful spunky self, it was his loss.
As I watched her, it was in that brief moment that I saw the unshielded vulnerability in her eyes. But a second later, the insecurity vanished as a veil of toughness came down. I sensed she didn’t let anyone see that side of her often.
She lifted her index finger and tapped her chin. “This night is not going as planned. My wingman backed out on me. I also wasn’t anticipating any competition so early in the evening.”
My eyebrows pulled together, trying to make sense of her thoughts.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder, the scent of peaches wafting my way. Maybe it was her lotion that smelled like peaches.
“I’ve conditioned myself for my forever man and he’s ‘it’.” She shrugged. “So this little blip is no big deal.” Her words said one thing, but her body language said another.
When her lips turned downward, I knew I had to change the subject. Quick. “Okay, so what’s my part?”
She angled so we were facing directly, knees touching as we sat on the barstools. “Well, you’re going to be my boy toy for tonight. He’s going to get jealous, dump the fake, and get with me. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” She licked her lips as she turned to take another look at Stiff. Her lips were hot and full, and my cock twitched as I wondered if those lips had been conditioned, too.
“And what do I get in return?” My dick jumped to attention, and I tried to think of fairies and sugarplums and people dying to get him to calm the hell down.
“I’ll think of something. I’m just trying to land Dr. Klein so he can put a ring on it, and I can have his babies. One night is all I need.” She said it like she knew it was going to be true, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her ability to tell the future.
My eyebrows jumped into my hairline as I comprehended her last few words. “You’re going to sleep with him on the first date?”
“Well, I’m definitely not against it.” Her eyes flickered back in his direction as she twisted her hands together in her lap. “I know what I want and how to get it.” Her voice softened as she chewed on her bottom lip, her earlier bravado fading. I wondered if
she was as sure as she came off to be, but more than that, my curiosity spiked wondering if she believed that sex was all she was worth.
Somewhere in all this confidence and strange ease with all things sexual, this woman was a small town girl at heart. I knew this, because I had come from a small town, too. Was she putting up a front, but truly rattled with insecurity? Though I didn’t know her, the protective side of me emerged.
“How well do you know this guy?” My eyes followed Stiff at the corner of the room. He definitely had a way with the ladies. Whatever he was spewing was working. Blondie laughed uncontrollably, practically hanging all over him. There was no doubt he was getting laid tonight.
“I’ve been studying him,” Kendy explained. “Besides being a doctor, he’s really sweet. Do you know his grandma calls him all the time? He loves his nana. Just look at him. That wavy dark brown hair, that body.” She swooned and got this girly excitement in her eyes. I wanted to tell her I was looking at him, and I just didn’t see what she saw.
She went on dreamily, “I know this because I’m the one who talks to his grandmother, and she leaves messages.” She held her hand to her heart as a goofy smile crept up her face. “And he’s obviously über intelligent and super loaded.”
My face contorted as I wondered why someone as hot and educated as she was, would be interested in someone like him.
“Sorry, did I offend you?” she asked, concern etched on her face.
Amused, I shrugged.
“I mean, with the whole rich thing and you not being—” She stopped mid-sentence and wrinkled her nose.
I chuckled at her as she dug herself deeper in the hole with every word.
“No, not at all.”
Money didn’t matter to me. Recognition and advancing my career did; money was just an added bonus which came with it. I didn’t mention I made close to six figures at the bank. I didn’t know what Stiff was making, but it wasn’t like I made chump change.
