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.”