Three months later
That stranger with the nice eyes and sexy smile… he wasn’t joking when he said he was persistent.
It took a month to wear me down and agree to a coffee with him. Dinner never happened, mainly because dinners can be misconstrued as dates, and I’m definitely not in the headspace to date. I wasn’t then and I’m still not now. That’s not to say I wasn’t ready for something of the no-strings, hot, sweaty, and naked variety.
And Drew? He took my suggestion like a champ—unsurprisingly so—and now, well now, he knows the alarm code to my house and where I hide my spare front door key.
Hours like mine don’t mesh well with hours like his, as a hospitality and catering supplies manager. Yep, he may have been in the bar that night for a drink, but he admitted he was also there to get the lay of the land with an eye to approaching the manager about his company’s products.
It just so happens he’s now sleeping with the manager. Conflict of interest be damned. Sex is sex, and my personal life is exactly that—personal.
I’m not naïve. I see the way Drew looks at me, the way he touches me, the way he works hard to spend time with me beyond the horizontal arrangement. The thing is, that thing that I felt with Millen—that spark, that zing, that stomach-fluttering giddiness—is just not there with Drew. Maybe if I’d met him beforehand, things might be different. No, they would be different.
But sometimes Fate can be a spiteful bitch and Destiny can join in on the party to add to the inevitable heartache.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. Putting down my clipboard, I reach in and pull it out.
Drew—I’m in the area and thought I’d call in to say hi. If there’s no one around, it could even be more than that if you want ;) Be there in five.
Me—We’ve just opened for lunch. There’s no chance in hell of you getting more, but you’re welcome to swing by anyway.
Not so much unexpected, but my feelings for Drew are still as platonic as they were when I first met him in this very bar.
I return to the stock take, finishing it up, grateful for the menial task to distract me from thoughts of impending doom. It’s not so much a dark cloud hanging over me, but more like suppressed resignation that maybe this is how my life was meant to be. I’m definitely counting down the three days of work left before my ‘weekend’ of Sunday and Monday off.
The front door opens and because I expect it to be Drew, I don’t look up straight away, not wanting to lose count of how many bottles are currently in the liquor rack.
As if a switch has been triggered, the atmosphere in the room goes weird. Almost wired. It’s palpable, the air buzzing with some unknown feeling that I have no way of explaining short of the fact that I have tingles.
Not the kind that feel great in all the right places. The ones I’m feeling right now are the hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck, someone-walking-over-your-grave kind of feelings that you get when something bad is about to happen.
Unable to ignore them any longer, I turn around from my stock take sheet and come face to face with my worst nightmare.
Lana fucking Mason, childhood best friend turned high school nemesis and arch enemy, and. . .
A man stands beside her, his eyes as wide as mine and—if I’m not mistaken—he looks kind of pissed off. At me.
And just like that, this moment has just gone from bad to worse.
Hold on! I’m the one who should be annoyed, with him. It wasn’t me who did a disappearing act three months ago, and now he’s here, standing with her. Of all the fish in the sea, he had to go for the smelliest, rottenest one.
“Kenzie,” she says, all saccharine sweet, like she wouldn’t choke on the first dick that came close to her perfectly-made-up lips. “Long time no see.”
Forever wouldn’t have been long enough, Lana.
“We were in town running errands and thought we’d stop by. I wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to.” Without preamble, he holds out her hand as if she’s the Queen of Sheba and I’m a lowly minion at her bidding. But that’s the last thing I care about, given that I’m being blinded by a huge, shiny rock on her wedding finger.
What in the ever-loving fuck?
I don’t get a chance to hide my surprise, or the fact that my eyes dart to Millen, his jaw twitching like crazy, his grey eyes that I remember turning molten with lust now blazing with some unreadable emotion.
Why is he angry at me when he must’ve known that I’d be here?
Lana turns her head and beams at him all doe-eyed and vomit-inducing, reaching out her arm to Millen before returning her attention to me, positioning herself to deliver the final death blow.
Then she says them. The words I don’t want to hear—let alone believe.
“I have amazing news. First, my daddy just bought this place. And second, meet Millen, my fiancé…”
Yep. Dead. Done. The see-ya-later, don’t-let-the-door-hit-your-ass-on-the-way-out kind of done.
Then Drew walks through the front door. Finally, a friendly face.
However, one look at Lana’s expression and I know this moment has just gone from bad to plain awkward. It’s like the universe is making a joke at my expense.
Drew’s already big smile grows impossibly larger when he spots the two people standing in front of me.
“Mills!” he says, pulling Millen into a man-hug the likes of which I’ve never seen Drew hand out before. He turns to the she-bitch and wraps his arms around her too. “Lans.”
Lans?
“What are you guys doing here?”
“You know them?” I blurt out, my brain unable to engage quick enough to care about putting a filter in place.
Millen’s eyes snap to Drew then back to me. “You know Drew?” he asks at the same time Lana juts a hip to the side and asks Drew, “You know Kenzie?”
“Millen is my best friend from college,” Drew happily informs me, and his smile falls at the same time that all of the blood rushes from my face.
Awkward, meet Mortifying. Also, here are Shame, Embarrassment, Anger, Disgust, and over in the corner there is Complete and Utter Confusion and her friend I’m Going to Have to Move States and Join a Women-Only Commune with Cats and Unlimited Batteries.
With nothing else to say—at least, nothing that wouldn’t take a bottle of Jack and a whole lot of time—I decide to just go with the flow and revert to my old trusty auto-pilot because seriously, what else is there for me to do?
“Soooo, would anyone like a drink?”
Millen glares at me for a little too long before Lana places her hand on his forearm. Turning his attention to her and Drew, he plasters a far-too-fake smile on his face. “Let’s do lunch. You want to join us, Drew? We can catch up,” he adds, sliding his gaze toward me again.
“Sounds good. Go grab a table. I’ve just gotta say hi to Kenz quickly since she’s the reason I came here in the first place,” Drew says.
“Oh,” Lana adds, injecting herself into the conversation. “What’s going on here then?” She giggles and looks between Drew and me.
“Let’s go, Lana,” Millen grinds out, sounding more than a little annoyed. Whether it’s at me, Drew, or even his darling wife-to-be, I’m not sure I care right now. I’m too busy over here waiting for the exploding pieces of my brain to smoosh back together.
Drew walks to the end of the bar. When I reach him, he leans in and kisses my cheek before pulling back. “Hey, are you okay?” he says quietly, his face soft and his eyes full of concern.
Decision time, Kenz. Fake it till you make it or tell Drew at least some semblance of the truth.
I scrunch my face up and shake my head. “I’m fine. There’s just a bit of history there.” Well, that’s definitely true. All except the part where I said I was fine.
“Wanna tell me about it later?” he asks, his gorgeous eyes and heart-on-his-sleeve expression not hiding a thing.
“Sure, Drew,” I say, knowing full well I’ll do no such thing. “But right now I really need to help Dinah with the lunch set-up. I’ll get her to bring the menus over to the table.”
His smile falters but he quickly recovers, standing up straight. “Alright, but remember I’m always here if you wanna talk things out. Okay?”
“Yeah, Drew. I know.”
“It’s not just about the sex for me. We can be friends as well. Don’t ever forget it.”
For the first time in a while, I actually have a genuine smile. “You’re far too nice for the likes of me.”
It’s true. If ever there was a guy who deserves to be happy, have an uncomplicated life, and a woman with an open heart, it’s Drew.
“You say that, but I don’t believe it. One day, I hope I won’t be.” He knocks the bar with his knuckles and walks away, crossing the room to join Millen and Lana at their table which—unfortunately for me—is in my direct line of sight from where I’m standing.
For the next thirty minutes, I try not to look at them. Try being the operative word because I can’t help myself. I hear them talking and laughing, and it’s impossible not to.
Needing fresh air—and to be anywhere but here—I wait till Dinah is back behind the bar and Sadie is on the floor before taking my leave.
“Dinah, I’m just going out back. I’ll be a little while, but come get me if you need me, okay?”
“Sure thing, Kenz. You okay?” she asks, quirking a brow.
“You saw him?”
“Well, duh,” she says with an eye roll.
“Yeah, so no. Not really. But hopefully they’ll be gone when I come back, and all will be well in the world again.”
“You really believe that?”
“Nope,” I say, my voice cracking. “But it’s all I’ve got to go on right now, so let’s run with it.”
“Take all the time you need. Sadie and I will cope.”
“Thanks, Dines.” I turn around and stupidly look over at their table one last time, meeting Millen’s gaze. Forget trying to hold it together—that lump in my throat I’ve been trying to ignore threatens to choke me.
I rush out from behind the bar and through the swinging door. I’m almost at the end of the corridor when the door opens behind me and I freeze. My chest tightens, because if it’s either of the two men I think it could be, there’s no way this will end well.
He comes closer, each step like an echo matching the impending doom I feel in my gut.
“I got your message.”
“Good,” I reply, fighting every urge I have to turn toward him.
“And you were right. You do deserve better.”
“I do.”
“I hate the thought of him touching you.”
I gasp, my mouth dropping open at his admission.
“I’ve known him for thirteen years. He’s supposed to be my best man. I love him like a brother but I hate him touching you.”
Oh no he didn’t. I spin around and come face to face with Millen, his face tight, his arms crossed over his chest. “What?” I spit out.
“It’s not right. I love him like a brother and I want him happy. Just not happy with you. Especially not happy touching you.”
“How dare you?” I grind out, my jaw so rigid my face hurts.
“I hate seeing you with anyone that’s not me.”
My eyes bug out, completely dumbfounded. He’s crazy if he thinks he has any say in who I see.
“You’re a joke,” I spit out, the blood simmering in my veins now boiling over. Lifting my hand up, I poke my finger hard into his chest. “You’re the one with the problem. It’s was you who came up to me. You that lied and said you were single.” My voice threatens to break but I power through it. “You made me become the one thing I never wanted to be—the other woman. And to her. You’re such a fucking ass—”
The rest of the word gets stuck in my throat when he wraps his hand around my neck and crashes his mouth into mine. His body crushes me into the wall as he kisses the shit out of me. And—dammit—it’s a good kiss—a scorching-hot, never-to-be-the-same-again kiss.
I tear my lips free and shove him back. I step forward, and my hand darts up. With a resounding crack, I slap him across the face. I try again but before I can make contact he catches me, swings my arm behind my back, pins me in place and kisses me again. I fight him off for a second before giving in. My anger melts away as he tastes me, his tongue plundering my mouth. I grip his hair with my free hand, pulling the strands tight, his guttural groan vibrating through me, setting my entire body on fire.
His hips grind against mine and all of the memories from three months ago come flooding back. The way he took control, the way he played my body as if he’d known me years not hours, and how I thought that night might have been the start of something different, something life-changing.
I match his kiss stroke for stroke, the air sparking with the sheer heat between us. I know in the back of my mind that this will be the last time I kiss him, and I want to take my fill.
A throat clearing breaks our lust-fueled haze, snapping us back into reality.
Millen steps back like a caught schoolboy, both of us turning to find Drew at the entry to the hall, his eyes blazing. We stand there in silence, our labored breathing audible over the quiet hum of the music in the bar.
“Drew,” I whisper.
He cuts his narrowed glare from his best friend to me. “Dinah asked me to come get you.” His voice cuts through me, his tone cold as ice.
“Drew, I—”
“A big group just came in and the girls are getting slammed,” he says, his jaw set tight.
I move toward him. “It’s not—”
He shakes his head, opening his mouth to say something, but he slices his gaze through Millen and stops on me. “I’m going, but you,” he says, pinning Millen with a cold stare, “you should get back to your fiancée. You know, the woman you should be kissing.” With that, he turns and slaps his palm against the door, swinging it open and stalking out without another word.
I push past Millen to go after Drew but Millen’s hand grips my arm, stopping me. “Let me go,” I snap.
“We’ve gotta talk, Kenz. I’m going to be around a lot because of Harris, Lana’s father.” Yes, good ol’ Harris. The mysterious new owner, and now I find out—my new boss. But that’s neither here nor there at the moment. I’ve got the same amount of time for Harris Mason as I do for his daughter… and now his future son-in-law. That being none.
“There’s nothing to talk about. That ring on her finger tells me everything I need to know. You played me; I fell for it. My friends even fell for it. More the fool fucking me.”
“That kiss says there’s more to this,” he shoots back, and I stop mid-breath because that kiss was everything I needed and didn’t need in one single moment.
“That was a mistake. It won’t ever happen again. Go back to Lana.” My voice is close to a snarl when I say her name. Just the idea of that woman being involved in any aspect of my life makes me feel physically sick. Wrenching free from his grasp, I move into the office, locking the door behind me.
I lean my back against the wood, knowing my escape is temporary, but any reprieve is a welcome one right now. Bending down, I rest my hands on my knees and try to clear my head and calm my breathing.
Why does he do this to me? Why come back into my life now? He fucking knew I worked here—new bar name be damned—and he knew that walking in here would cause a cataclysmic shit storm.
The problem is that despite everything he’s done, everything I now know, and all the things he says he needs to explain, I’m pretty sure I still left a rather large part of me back there in the hall with him.
Universe, it’s me, Kenzie. Can you stop fucking with me now?