by Alexis Angel
“Something? Something besides his huge —”
“Oh, come on!” I hush her, slapping her arm as she snorts loudly, a teasing grin on her face. God, I almost regret telling her all about what Kirk and I did. If I knew she’d give me hell for it, I would've kept my mouth shut. But, then again, maybe not; after being with Kirk, I had to tell someone!
“Don’t tell me he’s some kind of weirdo. That’d be a shame, such a good looking guy…” she muses wistfully, and I have to snap my fingers in front of her face to grab her attention.
“He’s not a weirdo,” I protest then, biting on my lower lip as I try to put my thoughts into words. “It’s just that… Kirk doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that’s willing to commit,” I say. Even though I agreed with him to take things casually, I can’t stop thinking about it.
“And why is that a problem? Last time I checked you weren’t looking for a commitment,” she says, slightly surprised. Then, her eyes widen and her jaw hangs open. God, I can almost see the gears turning inside her head as she decodes what I just told her. “Oh. My. God. Are you falling for him? Is Emily, the queen of all commitment-phobes, actually looking for a relationship?”
“No, no… It’s not like that,” I try to shoot back at her, but I know that I just dug myself into a hole. “I’m just keeping my options open, you know? Maybe I’d like a relationship sometime, but I’m not saying it’s with him.”
“Actually,” Lana chuckles, taking the clothes she picked out of her bag and handing them to the cashier, “that’s exactly what you’re saying.”
“You’re really enjoying torturing me, aren’t you?” I sigh as I follow her out of the store, merging with the crowd ambling up and down the shopping mall corridor.
“Just a lil’ bit,” she admits with a shrug. “I knew you’d want to settle down sooner or later, Em. It’s just fun watching you go through all these growing pains.” Then, turning to me, she places both her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look straight into her eyes. She has that motherly expression on her face, and I know that she’s ready to hand down some much appreciated Lana wisdom.
“Okay, listen,” she starts, “you might be thinking of commitment, but that’s not a reason to limit yourself. Just like you said, WineBar doesn’t seem to want to commit, and you have a date lined up with that Freeway guy… Just do what you always told me to do: play the field, Em. Just play the field.”
“That I can do,” I reply, a confident smile dawning on my lips. “I was born to play the field.”
Chapter 10
Kirk
“You know, boss, you don’t need to be here tonight… We can handle it,” Susan tells me as he she lines up bottles of red on the shelves behind the counter.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” I reply off-handedly without even bothering to look at her. Right now my eyes are busy with the scenery on the other side of the main room, where a group of three woman have been sitting for the past hour.
Yeah, if you’re wondering, Emily is part of that group. I recognize her friend, Lana, and there’s a petite brunette with them. They’re already on their second bottle of wine, which means that they’re enjoying themselves. Even though the place is completely packed, as it always seem to be, I can still hear them laugh even though they’re on the far side of the room.
“Hey,” Susan cries out, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “Are you listening to me?”
“What? Of course I was,” I lie. She just laughs at me, running one hand through her hair as she allows her gaze to drift to the table where Emily is sitting.
“Yeah, right… Now I see why you’ve been helping so much during this past week,” she whispers, hitting me in the ribs with her elbow. “She’s pretty,” she continues, pointing with her chin at Emily.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say, waving her down while I do my best not to smile. Of course, my body doesn’t listen to me and a stupid little smile creeps up on my lips.
“Will do,” she laughs, ducking under the counter and emerging on the other side with two bottles of red. She waltzes from table to table, pouring wine as if that’s what she was born to do. Susan’s been with me ever since I opened my first bar in the city, and I doubt I’d have gotten this far if I didn’t have her help. Too lanky to be called attractive, she has one disarming smile that lights up her face with uncharacteristic beauty, which of course, makes her one fine saleswoman. I’m more than proud to call her my right arm.
I look around, trying to spot a table that still hasn’t been serviced, but Susan seems to have the whole room under control. Reaching inside the fridge I keep under the counter, I take out one cold beer and pour it into a curved glass. I lean against the counter, enjoying my beer as I let my mind roam. And, of course, as my mind roams… so do my eyes.
Before I even know it, I’m looking at Emily again, waiting for her to notice me. Even though I’m pretty sure she came into my bar so that I wouldn’t forget about her, she still hasn’t looked at me once. Is that her way of teasing me, or did I assume wrong? Maybe she just came here because my bar is across the street from her apartment?
I don’t know why but, whenever I start thinking about Emily, I can’t help but feel all insecure and shit. Just imagine it, uh? A grown-ass man going all weak in the knees because of a girl he barely knows.
“Looks like there are some eyeballs on your girl, Kirk,” Susan tells me as she comes back behind the counter to put some order through the cashier.
“Huh?”
“Table seven,” she says and my eyes dart there as fast as lightning. There are three guys sitting there, and they’re all looking at Emily’s table. “They’ve been talking about them as well… It seems like the tall one has a thing for your blonde friend.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I sigh, finally peeling my eyes off table seven and looking at Susan.
“Always,” she shrugs sheepishly, and then she’s gone once more, carrying a tray full of wine glasses to our demanding customers. By the time I return my gaze to table seven, all three seats are already vacant.
“What the —?” I mutter, and my heart sinks as I realize what’s happening; those three guys are walking toward Emily’s table. The three women are sitting on the couches against the wall, a center table right in front of them, and they’re smiling at the three men coming for her. Oh, seriously? Is Emily going to flirt with some random dude in my fucking bar? Oh, come the fuck on!
Worst thing is, there’s nothing I can do about it. I was the one telling Emily I wanted things to be casual between us, so it’s none of my business who she talks to, except I can’t help but feel a stab of jealousy deep in my heart, which is a new thing for me. I don’t remember ever feeling jealous over a woman. Well, I guess it’s never too late in life to learn new things.
“Alright, let’s get to work,” I whisper to myself, clapping my hands together. Sulking won’t help matters, so I better busy my mind with something else. I start turning on my heels, ready to head back into the warehouse, when I see something out of the corner of my eye.
The tall guy, the one Susan told me was eyeballing Emily, has just sat next to her — and, worse than that, he has already placed a hand on her knee. I look straight at Emily and, despite the distance between us, I can see that she isn’t that comfortable with his approach. As a matter of fact, she has just grabbed his hand and pushed it back.
There’s a problem though: the guy seems to be too drunk too care. He has placed his hand back on Emily’s knee, and now he’s sliding it straight to the hemline of her dress.
Oh, no, motherfucker, not under my watch.
Pushing my half-finished beer to the side, I duck under the counter and start making my way toward Emily.
“Leave the lady alone,” I growl the moment I close in on her table. Giving my newly-made drunk friend a death stare, I fold my arms over my chest and wait for him to acknowledge me. When he looks up at me, his bloodshot eyes tell me one thing only: there’s going to be fucking
trouble.
Trouble for him, that is.
Chapter 11
Emily
Maybe I shouldn’t have come here.
I glance down at my glass, swirling the wine as I meditate on what the hell I’m doing. Lana and Anne (a friend of ours from college) decided to head out for drinks tonight and, before I could even think twice about it, I talked them into going down to the wine bar across the street.
Yeah, that wine bar. The one where WineBar works. Even though I want to keep things casual with Kirk, there’s just something that draws me in… It’s almost as if his bar has some kind of magnetism. The kind of magnetism that makes me wet, if you know what I mean (oh, what am I saying? Of course you know what I mean!)
“Hey, are you listenin’?” Lana asks me with a smile on her face, snapping her fingers right in front of my face.
“Yeah, yeah… I am, of course,” I lie, and the frown on her face lets me know right away that she isn’t buying it.
“These guys over there…” she whispers, casually pointing with her chin to a table on the far end of the room.
“What about them?” I ask her, looking back over my shoulder at them. There’s three of them, and they’re hunched over their table as if they’re going over some battle plan.
“They’re checking us out… They’ve been doing it all night,” she says, nodding sagely, and I can tell that she’s a little bit proud. Even though she’s a married woman, I guess that she enjoys knowing that other men still find her attractive.
“Of course they’ve been checking us out,” I laugh, taking a sip out of my wine. “We’re goddesses!”
“Really humble,” she laughs right back, and we touch glasses.
“Em’s right… We’re goddesses!” Anne whispers, agreeing with me as she eyes one of the guys. Just like me, she’s a true huntress, and she never lets a good chance go to waste. And that’s why she’s already offering the guys at the other end of the bar a nice, inviting smile.
“Oh, crap,” I mutter as I watch all three of them get up. They start walking toward us, moving as if they owned the place, and I sink down into my seat. I can’t believe these guys are going to try and hit on us right where Kirk can watch me. Oh God, what is he going to think?
Who cares what he thinks?, a little voice inside my head whispers, and I purse my lips and try to regain my confidence. That’s right, who cares what Kirk thinks? We’re taking things casually! That’s what he wanted, right?
“Hello, ladieeees!” One of the men, a tall guy with dark hair and high cheekbones, chirps happily. Without even asking, he sits right next to Anne and drapes one arm over her shoulders. One of his friends sits next to Lana, and the last one remains facing me.
“Hey,” I tell him meekly, something in his gaze making me very uncomfortable. He’s tracing the contour of my body in a hungry way, and not the good kind of hungry.
I have to fight against the urge to hug myself tightly and try to hide my body from him.
“Hey there, babe,” he whispers, rocking back and forth on his heels, his eyes never leaving my body. “Nice meeting ya…”
“Likewise,” I tell him, looking at his hand as he offers it. Hesitantly, I take it in mine and shake it.
“What d’ya say we go somewhere else?” He continues, sitting right next to me and placing one of his hands on my knee. “I know a place and —”
“No, thank you. I just came here to be with my friends,” I say, my brain suddenly going into overdrive as I smell the alcohol in his breath. This guy is completely wasted. So much for enjoying the benefits of flirting with a trio of hot guys, you know?
“Your friends seem to want more than that,” he says, lowering his voice into a drunken growl as he slides his hands up from my knee to the hemline of my dress. Reacting fast, I grab him by his wrist and stop him. He narrows his eyes, clearly not enjoying the way I’m halting his advances.
“Please, leave,” I tell him, charging my voice with as much confidence as I can.
“No, I don’t think so… I know you want it, babe,” he insists, releasing his hand from my hold and once again laying it on top of my knee. “I can see it in your eyes…”
Oh, fuck, this isn’t good. Not at all.
“I think I can smell it from your puss too, can’t I?” he says with a drunken growl.
Fuck. This cannot be happening.
“Leave the lady alone,” I hear a deep voice say, and I raise my eyes to see Kirk towering over my drunken suitor. There’s a hard edge to his stare, and I know that he means business. Ah, my knight in shining armor, at last!
“What the —?” The guy starts, turning around to meet Kirk’s gaze. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m the guy who’s going to kick your ass if you don’t leave this fucking bar. Right fucking now,” Kirk says, his threat already implicit in the way he’s growling out each and every one of his words.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” The man shouts, jumping up to his feet and taking one step toward Kirk. I can see him balling his hands into fists but, before he can do anything, Kirk moves; stepping to the side, Kirk grabs him by the arm and twists, bending him over. “Fuck!” he groans drunkenly, and that’s when Kirk gives him a push, sending him tumbling onto the floor.
“I’m the fuckin’ owner of this bar, motherfucker. Inside these walls, you’re my bitch,” Kirk says and, just a second later, three bouncers hurry onto the scene. One of them grabs the drunk asshole by the collar of his shirt and starts dragging him out, and the other two simply stare down at the men sitting next to Anne and Lana; judging by the relieved looks on their faces, I’d say they were having as much fun as I was.
“You never told me you… owned the bar,” I find myself saying, looking at Kirk with my jaw hanging open. Oh, God, I can’t believe I spent all this time thinking that WineBar was just a hot bartender.
“Yeah,” he tells me, shrugging casually as he grabs my hand and pulls me up to my feet. “You okay?”
“I am now…” I whisper, a shiver of anticipation going down my spine as I find myself just a few inches away from his body, his long fingers softly pressing against the palm of my hand. “You own the bar?”
“This one sure,” he says nonchalantly in a way that’s like not even bragging at all but an afterthought. Then he goes further. “And a few others.”
Fuck.
Do me now.
“You sure you’re okay?” WineBar asks.
I nod my head.
“I want to be sure,” he replies, a devious grin taking over his lips. “Let me take you to my office.”
“Your office?”
“My office.”
Uhm, what do I say to such an invitation? It’s kinda obvious, isn’t it?
“Lead the way,” I say, repeating the reply he gave me when I invited him back to my apartment.
“Oh, I will.”
Chapter 12
Emily
“Kirk! Here you go!” a bartender calls as we go to make our way to the back toward his office. He’s handing him a manila folder just like the first time I left the bar with him. What is up with him always being needed so much?
Well, I guess it makes a bit of sense because he said he owns this bar, although I’m not sure whether I should believe him. Men who own places are usually quick to let you know what they own, and it annoys the hell out of me.
It would be really cool if he does actually own this place, because I love when people are low key about things as big as this. Other men would have fed their ego by putting me in a VIP room just to show their power, but he doesn’t need to do that because he knows just how and where he can dominate me, and Lord knows his sexual prowess is more than impressive to me.
“Do you do this on purpose?” I tilt my head to ask him as he waits for a bartender to return with something.
“Do what?” he smirks, and I’m sure he already knows what I’m talking about.
“Make me wait like this. I’m dying of anticipatio
n,” I admit, hoping I sound amused and sarcastic although I’m actually quite serious. I’m so horny and I want him so badly. I don’t want him to think I’m being whiney.
I’ve been thinking of our night together nonstop since he left. I wasn’t even sure if we’d see each other again, and if I’m honest, it was the main reason I told Lana I would go out tonight. I was hoping to run into him again and see how he reacted. After having a few drinks, I thought he wasn’t there tonight, maybe getting the day off.
When he approached the group, it was perfect timing, as he rescued me from that creep. Looking up at him, a smile spreads across my face. There is so much more to us than the sex, although I can’t put my finger on what exactly that means yet.
I wonder if he feels it too, or if it’s all in my head. But when he looks back at me, and his lips instantly reciprocate my smile, I know he does feel the same way. What that means, I’m still unsure of, but for now, I just want to feel him inside of me. We can work out the particulars later.
“Come on, Kirk,” I say, pulling at his arm.
“You’ll be calling me ‘Daddy’ soon enough, don’t worry,” he smiles, leaning down to kiss my neck gently.
His touch is electric, and the sensations begin coursing through my body as desire pools between my legs. He's so sexy I can’t even stand it. Looking over to him, he winks at me and I bite my bottom lip to stop the grin from spreading across my face.
“If you hurry, we can be at my apartment before this guy gets back,” I motion toward the bartender and Kirk leans down to take my lip between his teeth before tugging gently.
“We’re not going to your apartment, baby,” he whispers on my lips.
We are so close, smiles on both of our faces, as we look into each other’s eyes without a drop of awkwardness between us. I can’t really wrap my head around how this works or what’s going on in this weird dynamic, but I know I like it. I enjoy his company, even if he is apprehensive about commitment. I’m happy to be flexible with him as long as I get some parts of him, preferably the part that hangs between his legs and makes me melt from the inside out.
