Naughty and Nice

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “It’s boring.” Katie shrugged. “All I do is work and go to school … oh, and um,” she paused as she bit her lip. “Remember that teacher I was telling you about?” she wiggled her eyebrows.

  When I’d been feeling guilty about kissing Dean, my boss, Katie had comforted me by telling me I wasn’t the only one to kiss people I shouldn’t—she’d kissed her teacher.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, it turns out I might actually have a date with him on the weekend.”

  “What?” I stared at her with wide eyes. “How? When? How did this happen?” I stared at my best friend completely forgetting about the hot chocolate mix in front of me.

  “It’s not a big deal.” She shrugged. “It turns out he knows my parents. I went over there last night to drop some stuff off to my mom, and he was there. Today, in class, he mentioned it; well, after class thankfully.” She paused. “Anyways, he ended out asking if I had plans. Turns out he has some sorta thing he needs help with. I wasn’t really paying attention. I just said yes.”

  “Some sorta thing?” I raised my eyebrow. “You don’t even know what it could be.”

  Katie shrugged. “I have no clue, but I’m sure it’s going to be finnne.”

  I rolled my eyes at my best friend, but the truth is, I was totally jealous of how trusting she could be. I bit my lip as I worked on the hot chocolate, adding a little flour to keep the powdering feeling that everyone was used to in hot chocolate, and a little bit of dried vanilla. See, the thing about wanting to open a hot chocolate shop is that I was going to have to figure out how to keep it from melting when they carried it home. It was Las Vegas, and I needed to make sure people could pack it in the back of a trunk with the sun beating down on it and drive however many hours and not have the hot chocolate melt. That’s why powdered chocolate and coco powder were the best ways to go, but I liked added a little bit of real chocolate to the mix. It was a marketing tool, and I honestly felt like it just made the mix better.

  Even though I wasn’t in college for it yet, I was studying. I picked up marketing books from thrift shops when I could, and I read them when I could. Of course, finding the time to actually read was the hard part, but up until a week and a half ago I hadn’t been working, so it had been hella easy.

  I took a serving of the mix and poured it into a mug we had waiting. As I measured out the next serving and poured it into another mug, Katie jumped to her feet and grabbed the kettle.

  “I’m so excited for this, and when we are done we can work on the vanilla stuff, right?”

  “Yes.” I rolled my eyes a little. Then we need to work on something … more …” Katie raised her eyebrows as she looked at me.

  “Meaning?”

  “I’m thinking something with a kick. Something that is going to stand out.”

  If I could get six or seven flavors before being in college, I could have lots of time to perfect them, and I would have something to work with when I was out of school and could start trying to find a building to rent.

  “You know, you should sell this online.”

  I bit my lip. “That’s a good idea …” If I could get an online shop set up before college started, I could actually use the money to help pay for school. “I’ll have to. Once I get a few of these down pat.”

  Katie poured boiling water into the mugs, and we waited for it to steep.

  I tapped my fingers waiting as I stared down at the mugs.

  Knock. Knock.

  My head snapped towards the door as Katie looked at me.

  “Expecting someone?”

  “No.”

  I crossed over to the door and opened it.

  He had short blond hair and big brown eyes. Looking me up and down, he said, “Hi. I’m sorry.” He pointed to an open door across the hall. “I’m pretty new, still moving in and well, I don’t have any … well, food.” He laughed softly. “I was just wondering if I could borrow two eggs.”

  “You don’t have any food.” Raising an eyebrow, I looked him over. He wasn’t wearing shoes, and he wore a pair of black skinny jeans with a band shirt.

  “Yea.” He laughed softly. “I forgot that part of the moving process.”

  I stepped out of the way. “Come on inside, we have left over Chinese food.”

  “Really?” His eyes widened, and I was sure I heard his stomach grumble.

  “Yea, I’m not going to eat it all anyways.” I turned on my heel and left him in the doorway. “Do you like hot chocolate?”

  “Love it.”

  I heard the door close. “Hi.”

  I caught Katie’s eye seconds before she turned to look him up and down.

  “Hi, I’m Katie.” She jumped up to shake his hand as I measured out a serving of hot chocolate and grabbed a fresh mug. I poured the hot chocolate and boiling water into the mug then pointed towards mine.

  “You’re welcome to that one; it should be cool-ish by now.”

  “Are you sure.” He reached for it and took a deep breath. “It smells great.”

  “Thanks.” I blushed a little as I watched him take a sip.

  “Tastes great too.”

  “Becca made it.” Katie sounded so proud as she said it.

  The poor guy looked confused. “Rebecca.” I held my hand out to shake his. “Friends call me Becca.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Jake.”

  “Nice to meet you, Jake. You said you were new?”

  “Yea … my um, ex-girlfriend … well, she’s my ex because I caught her sleeping with my … ex-best friend.” He smiled weakly.

  “Ouch.” I wrinkled my nose. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s fine.” He shrugged. “I went to crash with a buddy of mine that night and found this place … when I went to her place to grab my stuff I didn’t manage to get it all, so I’m slowly working on doing that, but I was staying at that friend’s, I didn’t want to take his food and totally forgot to buy some on my way here.”

  “Well, like I said, we’ve got lots of leftovers.” I put my mug down and grabbed him a plate, a fork, and a knife. “Dig in,” I said handing them over to him.

  “Thank you so much; I’m going to owe you.” He grinned as he dug into the leftover Chinese.

  “So, are you from around here?” Katie went right to the questions.

  “Not really, a few hours away, but my friend lives down the block; it’s how I found out about this place.” Katie nodded. I could tell she was trying to get his life story from him. I was just interested to see how that went.

  As it turns out, it went pretty well. Between myself and Katie we knew just how to ask the right questions, and I think Jake was eager to open up about what he’d been through these past couple years. He hadn’t minded showing us the cuts on his arm from three years ago or telling us all about his dysfunctional relationship that he’d just gotten out of—and he wasn’t ashamed to admit he was getting help for everything he was going through.

  He stayed for three hours until finally calling it quits. He thanked us again for the food and promised pizza would be on him sometime—once he actually got settled in.

  After he left, so did Katie, she had early classes, and I had to be up at a reasonable time, so I was more than happy to see them both off.

  Right before bed, I checked my phone. My brow furrowed. How hadn’t I seen it go off?

  How is your night going?

  It was sent two hours ago. The next one was only an hour ago.

  Hope your night was good, and you & Katie had lots of fun. See you tomorrow. Miss you babe.

  My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. How hadn’t I heard my phone go off?

  I lay in bed feeling guilty and depressed that I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him—but I didn’t dare text back in case he was already asleep.

  Chapter Two

  “How was your night?” I asked as I stepped into his office.

  “It was good. How was your night?”

  “Not too bad.”

  I lo
oked around. Melina wasn’t here yet, which meant it was just me and Dean. “So, are we still on for tonight?”

  “Of course. I checked your schedule. You get off at 5:00 tonight, which means you have a little time to get things going before I get there. Whatever special things you have planned.”

  I laughed softly. “Don’t get your hopes up. I may not be in college yet, but I’m still pretty much that broke.” I winked.

  “Oh, is that a hint?” He raised his eyebrows. “I can always give you my black credit card.”

  I had to control my reaction. “I’ll pass.” I smiled. “I wouldn’t want you to think I was just dating you for your money.”

  I made it sound like a joke, but it was the truth. I was willing to bet he’d had lots of girls try to date him for his money, and I never wanted him to feel that way about me.

  “Trust me; I’ve never thought that about you.”

  “Good.”

  “You’re not the type. I know that type, and you’ve never given me the impression that you’ve ever been interested in my money.”

  I smiled softly. “It’s because I’m not interested in you for your money. I actually think personality wise you’re kinda cool.”

  Dean grinned, but I saw his cheeks turn a shade darker. “I’m glad you think so. What did you get up to last night?”

  “Nothing really.” I pulled out a small baggy with white powder in it and handed it to Dean. “We’ve been working on white chocolate and lavender.” He raised an eyebrow. “So far this is our best batch; I might even keep the recipe. Oh, and we had some guy move in down the hall … He didn’t have any food, so we just let him have some of our leftovers, and he stayed for a couple hours.”

  I saw his body stiffen. I shouldn’t have liked seeing it, but I really did honestly. I bit my lip. Glad to know he cares

  “Really?”

  “You’re not jealous, are you?”

  I mean, I liked seeing the reaction out of him, but I didn’t want him going all crazy jealous boyfriend on me. That was not cute.

  “That another guy got to spend time with you? Of course, I am. But I’m also jealous that Katie gets to spend time with you. I’m not jealous that you were hanging out with another guy, just jealous of people who get to see you when I don’t.”

  “Kinda like how Melina gets to spend more time with you than I do.” I didn’t think before saying it. The second it came out, I knew I probably shouldn’t have said it, but it was out there now. They’d both told me several times that they were just friends, but I mean come on, he’d flown her out here from New York. Of course, I questioned it. And, of course, it made me jealous that she seemed to be the only person he would talk to about something. I wanted to be that person; I didn’t want it to be another girl, a pretty girl at that, and one he’d clearly known for a long time.

  “Are you jealous?” Dean stared at me.

  “Only a little,” I admitted. I wasn’t totally ashamed to admit it. As long as I kept it under control. “I mean, I like her. She’s nice. I just … wish you saw me the way you saw her.”

  “Trust me. I see you in a much better way.” He stood up and crossed over to me.

  “I mean in terms of talking. It’s like you can talk to her about anything.” His arms wrapped around me, and he pulled me close. “Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s great you have such a good friend in her … I just …”

  “Wish you could be that friend?” He stared into my eyes.

  “Yes.”

  “Just like I could be like Katie is to you.” He smiled. “We all have someone who helps us with our goals. And normally that someone is a person we have a long-standing connection with. It will come with time. In time, I’ll be able to talk to you like I do Melina, and you’ll be able to get my help with your business.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him I already did, but the truth was I didn’t really care about his opinion unless it was a strong one. If he said the hot chocolate was dreadful, I’d care … but if he said it could use less of something and Katie disagreed, I’d probably believe her.

  Dean pulled away from me and gave me a smile. “Just because Melina is that friend to me doesn’t mean you’re not important. You’re just important to me in another way.”

  I smiled, and for the first time today it was because I was actually happy. “I know, but still.”

  Dean put a finger to my lips. His eyes locked on mine, and I felt my heart skip a beat. I licked my dry lips. It was amazing how this man could make me feel.

  His lips touched mine for a fraction of a second before he pulled away from me. “It’s almost opening time; we should probably behave ourselves.”

  “Alright, fine.”

  I didn’t want to. Oh God, I really didn’t want to, but I was going to. Slipping out of his office, I made my way to the change room to get changed into a pair of black slacks and the uniform shit.

  I spent a couple seconds looking myself over. My black hair was tied up in a bun, and the black and red striped uniform shirt looked cute actually, or, at least, I thought it did. I was more than willing to bet it had been Melina who came up with the idea of the four aces stitched on the back of it. I bit my lip thinking about her.

  I liked her; I really did. She’d been the one to train me when I came here, but I couldn’t help being a little jealous of the relationship she had with Dean—one I was sure I would never have with him, and that sucked.

  I wanted to be everything he needed. I wanted him to feel like he could bounce ideas off me if he needed to; I wanted him to feel like I could help him come up with ideas. Then you’re just going to have to prove to him that you can, I told myself.

  My big eyes stared back at me in the mirror as I took a deep breath and gave myself a nod. Yup, I’d have to prove to him that he could do things like bounce ideas off me. But how was I going to get on the topic of work with him? That was going to be the main issue.

  “Hey,” Natalie said as she opened the door and stepped in.

  I grabbed my purse and pulled out my lip gloss. “How’s it going?”

  “Not bad, you? How is it you’re always here before anyone else?”

  “Dean and Melina are here before me.” Sometimes. Melina wasn’t always here before me, but Natalie didn’t need to know that.

  “Okay, how is it you’re always almost here before anyone else?”

  I shrugged. “I like being early. It was … something I picked up at another job.” How to date a boss without anyone realizing. Great skill to have. I should be sure to put it on all my resumes. I applied a quick coat of lip gloss and let my hair out of my bun.

  “Well, I’m sure Dean loves it.”

  “I’m surprised you don’t do it.” I gave her a wink. “Would give you two some time alone.”

  Jealousy tugged at me as I said it, but I didn’t want to make it look like I was trying to get the time alone with him.

  Natalie laughed as she slipped into her uniform. “Actually, I’m going to play hard to get for a little while.”

  “Really?”

  “Yea, I met this guy, he’s super cute, and he asked me out at the weekend, so I’m going to see how that goes.”

  “Lucky guy.”

  “Well, he’s definitely not as rich as Dean, but he is almost as hot as him.” Natalie grinned. “Anyways, money never really mattered that much to me.”

  I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue talking. She caught my eye and smiled but didn’t say anything for a couple more seconds.

  “When you grow up without much, you either let the idea of becoming rich control you when you’re grown up, or you learn when you’re little that money can’t buy happiness and that all that matters is finding inner happiness.”

  It was the smartest thing I’d ever heard her say. Actually, I’d never really heard her talk about anything except getting at Dean.”

  “You’re right. Just gotta be thankful if you’re one of the ones who were smart enough to figure out money can’t bu
y happiness.”

  She gave me a soft smile before heading to the changing room door. “I was.”

  *

  I plastered on a fake smile as I strode towards the slot machine with three beers.

  “Here you are.” I handed one man his beer. The sober ones tended not to give out any tips, but once you got them drunk, they tended to get a little bit gentle with their wallet. I made my way to the guy a few seats down. He held a $20 out to me. “Thank you so much, sir.” I handed him his beer before taking the money.

  I froze, staring at the man who had just come in here.

  Jake tilted his head to the left as he looked me up and down. “Hey.”

  “Hi! How are you doing? Coming to gamble away your sorrows?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Meeting a friend.”

  “You’ve already got a new girlfriend?” I grinned, letting him know it was a joke. Jake chuckled.

  “No. Just had a friend promise to get me drunk, so figured I’d take him up on it.”

  “Well, let me get you a beer.” I smiled, turning on my heel and heading back to the bar. It felt odd seeing Jake here, not because I’d just met him, but because he knew me from outside of work. I always hated having people I knew outside of work find me at work. I took a deep breath heading back to the bar.

  “Hey,” Melina caught my eye. “Beer me?”

  “Sure thing.” She grabbed a couple of beers and handed them to me. I placed then on the tray and nodded my thanks. Since we’re a casino, we give out free booze, you know as a way to get people drunk, so they spend more money—which meant that often times my job was pretty much just to walk around with a tray of beer.

  I headed to the table I saw Jake sitting at. Another guy looked me over as I came over and handed them each a beer.

  “So, how are you settling into the new place?”

  “Fine thanks. I got some of my own food so you won’t have to worry about me trying to bum more off you.” He grinned as he took a sip of beer.

  “I really didn’t mind.”

  “Still. I’m sure it would have gotten annoying. I didn’t know you worked at a casino.”