Chapter 13
Wesley
I walked into work with a little pep in my step. I had woken up and salivated over how Olivia’s body felt underneath my fingertips. But my cock raged to life when I could smell her still permeating the lower half of my home as I ate breakfast. Every time I looked over at that couch, my mind began to whirl with the events of yesterday. I was already looking forward to tomorrow evening and hoped our dinner would bring more fun adventures.
Maybe on the edge of the water, underneath the moonlight.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Chad asked.
“What the fuck do you mean?” I asked. “I’m smiling, dude!”
“I know,” Chad said. “That shit never happens. What’s going on?”
“You remember that woman who came looking for me the other day?” I asked.
“Silk dress? Long brown hair? Wanting to buy that property or some shit?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Get this. I went to high school with her.”
Chad nodded. “No shit, dude. Really? She seemed pretty intent on finding you. What happened?”
“Well, I took her to see the property, like she asked,” I said. “She’s interested in buying it, and in the meantime, we’re having a bit of delayed fun.”
“What the hell does delayed fun mean?” Chad asked.
“I tried for months in high school to get in that woman’s pants,” I said. “I licked her pussy, and she sucked my cock. I tried all that romantic shit. But nothing. Now? She’s all over me. She’s fucking intoxicating.”
“I can see that,” Chad said. “You aware you’ve got bite marks all along your neck?”
“Oh, shit,” I said, my hand flying to my neck. “Are they bad?”
“Yeah, they’re pretty glaring,” he said. “If you’re gonna keep up that shit with her, you might wanna ask her how concealer works. This is still a place of business.”
“It’s a cabana on the beach, Chad.”
“Yeah, and I own it,” he said. “No obvious love marks while at work. Part of the reason I do so much damn business is because you flirt with all the lonely, middle-aged women. They come here and spend hundreds of dollars a day just to hang out with you. Cover that shit up and put on that game face, dude. It’s time to make some money.”
“But seriously,” I said as I clocked in. “She’s amazing. Wild as hell in the sack. Has multiple orgasms. Easy to please. And that pussy tastes divine.”
“I haven’t heard you be this descriptive since that one woman last year. The one with the red hair and the body full of freckles?”
“Oh, and I sank my tongue into every last one of them,” I said, grinning.
“Now, is she just buying your building and screwing you on the side? Or are you two actually dating?”
That stopped me for a second, and I had to consider my answer. “Not really sure. She’s supposed to be processing the paperwork today and then coming over tomorrow night for dinner. Business won’t be available for us to talk about because it’ll all be wrapped up, so we might just see what kind of mischief we can get up to on the beach.”
“Remind me not to walk anywhere near that way tomorrow night,” Chad said.
I began to wipe down my edge of the bar before I started placing syrups next to me. I polished a few glasses and cut up a few wedges of lime, and by the time I was done setting up my station, I was ready for action. The sooner I could get off work today, the sooner I could grocery shopping for all the ingredients I would need for tomorrow. If I was lucky, Chad would let me off just before midnight, and I could hit the grocery store in town just as they were closing.
Chad tapped me on the shoulder. “Wesley, to your right. That older woman you hit on last week’s back.”
I turned my head and saw the woman approach the bar. She waved lightly at me, her smile gleaming white. I remembered her, the one with the supple skin and the body that hadn’t been marred yet by plastic surgery. But suddenly, I wasn’t all that interested. Her laugh lines I’d found endearing just indented her skin, detracting from the smoothness I could be running my hands down. Her breasts, hanging a little lower than normal, simply reminded me of the beautiful, perky tits I’d had in my mouth yesterday.
She waved some money in my direction before she nodded to a colorful drink someone was having, so I took my time making it for her. I made sure everything was just right to give myself some time to figure out how to let her down easily. There was only one woman occupying my mind right now, and I still wasn’t too sure her scent wasn’t following me around. The ocean breeze kicked up off the ocean, rustling the older woman’s hair around her face, but the moment I turned to take her the drink I’d created, all I could do was think about how her hair reminded me of Olivia’s.
“A cranberry martini for the lovely lady,” I said, smiling.
“I see you’ve been getting a bit of sun,” the lady said. “That tan looks very nice on you.”
“I try the best I can when it comes to what the ladies love.”
“I was wondering when you’d be back around here,” she said. “Figured you might’ve quit on me or something.”
“A beautiful woman like you could never chase me off,” I said.
“I was wondering what time you got off tonight,” she asked.
“I actually just clocked in,” I said. “I won’t be off until closer to midnight tonight.”
“How would you feel if a certain someone came back to see you later on?”
My eyes danced over to the woman’s, and I couldn’t help but feel a tug of guilt. She had a beautiful set of brown eyes, with hair she’d had recently highlighted, but I couldn’t rid my mind of Olivia. Everything about this woman that I once enjoyed was now simply compared to Olivia, and this woman didn’t measure up. The woman’s eyes didn’t quite shine like Olivia’s, and her skin wasn’t quite as smooth. Her lips weren’t as plump, and her tits weren’t quite as perky. I thought she was a beautiful woman, just like I had last week, but there just wasn’t that spark I’d felt then.
“Would you like to accompany me to a table?” I asked.
“I would love the private audience,” she said, grinning.
I threw my rag over my shoulder before I escorted the woman over to a table in the corner. I pulled out her chair for her before I sat across the way, and her hand slowly slid over to mine before my eyes flickered up to meet hers.
“I want to start off by apologizing,” I said.
“For what?” the woman asked, grinning. “This smooth skin? I quite like it.”
“No,” I said, snickering. “I want to apologize because something has changed.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“Between our wonderfully romantic encounter and now, I’ve met someone,” I said.
“Ah,” she said, pulling her hand back.
“I wanted to tell you in person, when I caught you, that was. You’re a beautiful woman. A vibrant woman who hasn’t yet been pulled into the volatile scene of Malibu’s plastic surgery group. And you shouldn’t allow yourself to fall prey to it.”
“Uh huh,” she said.
“You’re no less beautiful than when I met you last week,” I said. “I just…”
The woman panned her gaze back over to me while I stared off over her shoulder. A goofy smile slowly spread over my face, and that was when the woman began to soften toward me. I was trying to let her down easy. To make sure Chad’s paying clientele still came by to visit me. Breaking a woman’s heart or pissing her off by thinking she was played was not a way to get people into my bar.
But the woman interrupted my thoughts with a much softer tone to her voice.
“It sounds like she’s wonderful.”
“She is,” I said, grinning. “She’s full of life and absolutely intoxicating. I can’t really explain it, I guess.”
“It sounds like you’re in love,” the woman said as she wiggled her eyebrows.
“Not even in the slightest,” I said firmly. “But she’s wonderful to be around, and I’ll take that for now.”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “You were just daydreaming about her! You’re probably sitting here, running your eyes over me, and thinking about all the things I possess that remind you of her. Right?”
I was stunned that she could even pinpoint such a thing, and I watched as she threw her head back in laughter.
“When love strikes, it’s all the same,” she said.
“But I’m not in love with her,” I insisted.
“Whether you want to believe it or not, that doesn’t matter. What matters is what your heart has already decided. And I’ll tell you one thing. She’s a lucky woman. You’re very handsome, and I’m sure she’s running those fingertips of hers all over your back.”
I shuddered at the memory before the woman patted my hand again. She slipped me the twenty-dollar bill she’d been waving at me earlier, and the feeling underneath the palm of my hand ripped me from my memories.
“Keep the change,” she said. “You’ll need it to take her out on all those dates she deserves for putting up with you.”
With a wink, the woman slid off her chair and meandered back into the crowd. I couldn’t be in love with Olivia. That shit didn’t happen to me. I chuckled and sat back in my chair, crossing my arms across my chest. I wasn’t fucking in love with anyone. Women were absolute bullshit, and my mother had proven that to me. My father was a piece of shit who’d left the two of us high and dry, and she drank herself into oblivion instead of stepping up and raising her son like she should have.
Instead of throwing her excess love into her son, she’d thrown that shit into booze. Women were absolutely fuck ups, and just because they had a nice set of tits or a tight-ass pussy didn’t make them any different from one another.
Still, I sat there for fifteen minutes, reminiscing on my meet-ups with Olivia. How her body writhed for me. How her sounds felt against my ears. How our banter back and forth showed her strong mind and her sharp wit. I thought about her curves and the way she confidently held herself, having no mercy and taking no prisoners in her wake, while she gobbled down what she wanted.
Olivia was very different from the girl I enjoyed in high school, but I still enjoyed her all the same.
“I’m not fucking in love,” I said.
“Well, I’m glad you got that shit figured out. Now, get back to work.”
I jumped off my chair and stumbled to my feet. Chad was behind me, gathering up glasses, but the smirk on my face told me I’d been sitting there a hell of a lot longer than he would’ve enjoyed. Chad shook his head before he headed back to the bar, and I was hot on his heels.
Silent but following close.
I continued to sling drinks all night, flirting with the older women while they continued to sip their expensive, fruity cocktails. Number after number was slid my way, but all I did was toss them in the trash can. I had absolutely no desire to call any of these women. The only thing I wanted to do was get off my shift, take my tip money, and go get the shit I needed to prepare for my dinner with Olivia tomorrow.
When a lull in the crowd finally happened, I pulled my phone from my pocket. I sat along the edge of the bar and pulled up a text message to Olivia, asking her if we were still on for tomorrow night. If shit got caught up with the paperwork, I needed to know so I didn’t spend all that fucking money on food.
If shit got caught up with the paperwork, I wanted a chance to convince her to come anyway.
Still on for tomorrow night?
I sent the message just as someone came up to order a drink, so I set my phone behind the counter and got to work. Before I knew it, another hour had passed, and Chad was tapping me on the shoulder.
“Go home,” he said. “It’s eleven-thirty, and you need to prepare for whatever dinner or shit you’ve got going on. You’ve got tomorrow off, but I’ll need you through the weekend.”
“You got it,” I said. “Thanks, dude.”
“I want details!”
“You always do!”
I grabbed my phone and clocked out before I checked my text messages. I saw a pending message from Olivia, and at first, I froze. For whatever reason, my mind began to whirl with all the things this message could possibly entail. Maybe she was turning me down, or maybe she was simply no longer interested. Maybe she was playing me, fucking around with me just to get me to lower the price of the property. Maybe I would open this message, and it would tell me the deal was off, or the deal was too much, or she’d reported me to whatever the fuck she could in order to rip me off even more than she already was.
With a trembling hand, I swiped across my screen and furrowed my brow at the two words Olivia had sent back nearly an hour ago.
I guess.
She guessed? What was she guessing about? That didn’t really sound like a woman who was amped and ready for a man to cook her dinner. “I guess” wasn’t what you told someone if you were excited to see them.
I tossed my phone in the car before I flopped down into my seat. I felt anger beginning to course through my system. There were plenty of women in Malibu, like the one I’d just turned down, who would be more than ecstatic to spend an evening with me. Women who wouldn’t even require dinner to spread their legs for me. There were so many fucking women tonight I could’ve picked up and staked on my fat-ass cock that Olivia soon would’ve been the smallest blip on my radar in my crusade to show the women of this world what happened when you screwed men over.
When you screwed me over.
I cranked my car and decided to head home. I wasn’t sure what to think of the message, nor did I understand why it made me so angry. I wanted to sleep on it. To give myself time to think and piece it all together. If she didn’t wanna come to dinner, that was her fucking loss.
What I didn’t understand was why the idea of her not being excited to see me angered me so badly.
“I’m not fucking in love!” I roared.
But then again, maybe I was.