Now I’m getting hungry and this iced tea isn’t cutting it. The food still hasn’t arrived yet, and there’s talk about leaving but it’s clear that some other tables have been served. We’re just the unlucky ones that are towards the last in line, I suppose.
“I don’t think next year’s banquet will be held here…” I start to say, but then I stop dead in my tracks as I see the waitress who is finally approaching our table.
Holy fucking shit.
It’s Emily Mason. My high school sweetheart. The relationship I royally fucked up. I haven’t seen her in five years, and here she is literally waiting on me.
She nearly stops in her tracks when she sees me, but then she continues to head to our table with resolute— if not forced— confidence. That’s one thing I always liked about her. Unlike the drama queens that made up most of the rest of our class, she was always cool, calm and collected. Nothing could break her façade.
Because I know her, though, I know she’s flustered.
She still wants me, I think.
And I have to admit the feelings mutual too.
I want her too. In all the ways I already got to have her, and especially in the one way that I didn’t.
She wouldn’t let me pop her cherry back then. And for years I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that. I’ve always wanted to change that outcome. I just never know she’d show up literally right in front of me like this.
Her face is red and she’s obviously hurrying. And man is she hot. Her apron can’t completely hide her nice hourglass figure. And as she turns around to lift a plate off the wheeled cart behind her, I get a glimpse of her curvy ass. She looks even better than she did in high school.
I don’t say a word to my friends at the table. If they knew this was the girl I was so stuck on when I first joined the military, they’d never let me live it down.
I sneak a peek at Jensen to see if he looks suspicious, but he’s so mad about the late food that he doesn’t seem to be paying any attention. Or maybe he’s so caught up in Riley— whom he claims is the love of his life— that he really doesn’t notice when another attractive chic is standing right in front of him.
“Finally!” he mumbles, about the fact that food is at our table.
It’s a whole different kind of “finally” than I have in mind.
“Yeah really,” says Freddy, who is sitting next to Jensen. “Sure took long enough.”
“I’m very sorry,” Emily says, purposefully not looking at me as she places a plate full of steak and vegetables in front of Jensen and then Freddy. “I got held up and…”
“We don’t care,” Freddy says, quite rudely. “We just want to eat.”
“Freddy!” I hiss. “Be polite.”
“I understand,” Emily says, but before she lowers her eyes from Freddy’s, they meet mine.
We lock stares for a brief second and then she picks up more plates to serve around the table.
I want to believe that she still feels the same way I do. But it could have just been in my head. I can’t believe that after all the time, she’s here in front of me again. She looks the same, but even better: voluptuous, with olive skin and dark hair and dark eyes, and banging curves I want to hold onto and never let go.
She isn’t dressed up in thousand dollar dresses like the other girls in here. Instead she’s working her ass off for pay, same as I always had, and still do, even though I no longer need to.
I can’t help but wonder whether there’s any way to salvage the relationship we once had.
Relationship?
Why had that word even crossed my mind? You don’t do relationships, I remind myself. Get a grip.
Plus, she’d never take me back. She didn’t back then, and she certainly wouldn’t now, once she found out everything that’s been going on with me for the past five years since we last saw each other.
Still, I can’t keep my eyes off her as she continues placing plates down in front of my friends, until finally she gets to me.
“Thank you,” I tell her, purposefully grabbing her hands on the edges of the plate.
“Be careful, it’s… hot,” she tells me, her words nearly trailing off as she looks at me.
“I can handle it.”
I wink at her. I can’t help it. And she smiles, as if she can’t help it either. It’s so sexy I can feel my cock getting hard. All I want to do is take her to some back room and rip off her apron and then whatever’s underneath…
But then she’s back to business, again letting me wonder if I’m imagining it all in my head. I hate that she’s doing this to me. No other woman has seemed to have had this effect on me, ever, so why her again? Why now? Damn Jensen and the love potion Riley got him to swallow must be rubbing off on me.
Or else it’s just the fact that Emily is somehow my fate. She seemed perfect for me back then, and still could be now, if only I hadn’t fucked everything up so badly.
A rush of memories floods my mind but I purposefully push them away. I remember my tools and techniques. The whole reason I made my app and started this company. If I can’t control things at a time like this, then everything I’ve built has been a fraud.
“Can I get anyone anything else?” Emily asks.
I take a deep breath, relieved to feel myself returning to a sense of calm.
“No, we’re just happy to finally be able to eat,” Jensen barks.
“Jensen!” I snap at him. “Treat the lady with some respect.”
“Sorry,” Jensen grumbles, and Emily looks at me in a way I can’t decipher.
She doesn’t seem exactly glad that I jumped to her defense. But she also looks like she’s fighting against the same strong tide I am— except with less baggage, less issues.
I hope that life has been a lot kinder to her than it’s been to me since I last talked to her.
“It’s just that with the other guy’s slow and useless service, I’m taking it out on this poor waitress,” Jensen says.
“No, the delay is my fault,” Emily says, and I admire her honesty. “And I do apologize. I had an unforeseen circumstance arise and the other waiter was left to himself for the first part of the dinner. I just don’t want you to blame him, is all. I got here as soon as I could and I’m glad he could fill in for me.”
“I see,” I tell her, and shrug. “Well, stuff happens.”
“I guess,” Jensen mutters under his breath.
I’m glad he’s letting up on her. But mostly I’m wondering if she’ll let me put my hands all over that curvy body of hers…
The thought of getting with Emily again occupies my mind throughout dinner. Unlike Jensen and the other guys at the table, I don’t care that the food is late, or cold for that matter. I just care what Emily is doing once she gets done serving it. I know I should resist the urge but I can’t help but want to be near her, and see what happens between us after all this time.