Houston, we have a problem.
Fuckhead Ju-Ju has eyes on Sierra and watches her all damn night while I watch him and keep her close, “accidentally” creating opportunities to join her in her personal space. She steps toward me to grab a bottle of booze, and I move in her direction. The minute we gently collide, I have an excuse to touch her. I catch her arm and turn her into me, making sure we look all kinds of intimate. Making sure Ju-Ju thinks she’s mine, when she’s not. Yet.
“Sorry, sweetheart. You okay?”
“My name is Sierra,” she says, but she doesn’t push my hand away.
“Sierra,” I say. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but since you’re holding yourself up with my arm, are you? How delicate are you?”
I laugh. Fuck. When was the last time a woman put me in my place and made me laugh? Right. Never. “Sweetheart, as long as it’s you I’m bumping into, I’m on top of the fucking world.”
“Sierra. Not sweetheart.”
“If we’re ever naked together, I’ll call you Sierra, and make damn sure you know I’m with you, just you, and one hundred percent me. Until that time, you’re sweetheart. That’s just how it is.”
I turn away and help my customer. She does the same. We get a small break and she yells, “Hey, you!”
I frown and look her direction. “You talking to me?”
“Yes. Because you’re ‘hey you’ until otherwise notified.” She walks toward me and stops a wide lean from touching me. “Until we’re naked, at which time I’ll call you Asher and let you know I’m with you, and just you, one hundred percent. And since that’s not going to happen, because amongst other things, ‘sweetheart’ irritates me so damn much, you stay ‘hey you’ for as long as I endure this hellhole.” She whirls around and gives me her back and a sweet view of her heart-shaped ass. Apparently, ‘sweetheart’ hits a nerve. ‘Hey you’ works for me, as long as she’s talking to me and not Ju-Ju or really, any other fucking guy, because yeah. I want her. I want her in a bad way.
I pour a shot for the hot chick next in line, while she offers up a view of her breasts hanging out of a low-cut shirt. They’re impressive enough to get the guy right next to her to gawking, but these college kids in this bar don’t get me off. I like a grown ass woman like Sierra, and apparently, Ju-Ju agrees, considering he’s staring at her with a heightened fierceness. The blonde moves on and I turn to Sierra at the same moment that she catches Ju-Ju staring at her. Discomfort radiates off her, and she turns away and walks to the back bar. Good move, sweetheart, I think, but Ju-Ju doesn’t like it. He’s now challenged. He gets up and heads in her direction.
I walk to the back of the bar and join Sierra. “The creep coming your way is trouble. I am too, for him, not you. Stay close to me and don’t smash me in the head with a cup or bottle.”
“Are you going to make me want to smash you in the head with something?”
“Perhaps, but in the process, I’m going to either back him off by being nice to you, or break a bottle over his head for you.”
“Men like him prey on weakness, which means let me handle him myself. Back off.”
“He’s not that drunk asshole who grabbed you earlier. He’s a drug dealer and that’s the nicest thing anyone can say about him.”
“Asher, man,” Ju-Ju says, stepping to the bar. “Who’s the babe?”
Sierra turns away from me and walks straight to Ju-Ju. “He doesn’t like when you call him babe and it might blow your cover with those girls if you do it that loudly. What do you want to drink?”
I laugh. I can’t help myself and I don’t try either. I bark it right out and just go with it. I follow that purposeful cackle by joining the two of them and leaning an arm on the bar, arching a brow at Ju-Ju. “Something you want to tell me? Because, man, if you’re gay, that’s cool and all. I support gay rights and to each their own. But for the record, I don’t do cock. I’m a straight tits and ass man.”
“Then you and I should talk tits and ass later tonight because I can show you plenty.” He glances at Sierra. “Bring her. I like my women hard to get.”
“I don’t share,” I say. “And you’d be smart to remember that.”
He smirks. “Sounds like we need to talk quid pro quo. You keep her and I get you.” He looks at Sierra and slides a hundred on the bar like he did to me. “There’s a whole lot more where that came from,” he promises and turns away.
She looks at me. “I am not touching that. I’m not even picking it up and putting it in the tip jar.”
“Good decision,” I say, snatching it up and placing it in the jar before I step to her, close without touching her, when all I’d like to do is tunnel my hands in her hair and kiss the fuck out of her. “You’re tough. I like that.”
“What the hell was that? He’ll trade me for you?”
“I got this, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”
She studies me for several intense beats. “I need this job,” she says, and there is a hint of desperation to her voice.
“And you have it,” I say. And she has me, even if she doesn’t want me.
Yet.
I’ve already decided that I’m going to do my damn best to make her want me. What I’m not going to let her know is just how badly Ju-Ju’s attention means she needs me.