4. Adam #3
Martin waves his hand. “I believe that is a power I want to hold on to. I’ll see you later, Mia.” As he turns, he finally sees me. “Oh, I didn’t realize you had someone in here.” He tilts his head back to Mia. “Maybe run new hires through your father for a bit.”
My mouth opens for a response, but Mia swoops in, leading Martin to the door by his arm. “Don’t worry, my father is very much still involved. Hope you have a good day, and don’t be letting any of your other clients get as good of deals as me.”
Martin gives Mia one last slimy smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it, sweetness.”
Mia chuckles softly and shuts the door swiftly with his first step back. She turns around on her heels, and her eyes shoot up to the ceiling as she exhales a breath.
“That was something.” I can’t stop myself… “Sweetness.”
Mia sends me a death stare before her shoulders relax and a sly smile comes to her face.
“You got what you wanted out of him, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did.” Mia walks back behind her desk to take a seat.
“I don’t want their seasonal special. I know every drink that gets made in this bar.
I know of every weird-ass request and that stuff would take ages to leave my shelves.
I may impress a person once a month with it being on our menu at best, but gin, surprisingly, is my most sold liquor.
Especially this time of year. And make it as a specialty seasonal drink—it’ll fly off the shelf. ”
Mia’s phone dings, and she pulls it out with a smile. She sets it down on the table for me to look at the message. “Martin underestimates me, and that’s fine. I don’t need his validation. He’s never spoken to my father. My father actually has zero clue who he is.”
Lifting her phone, I see the contact named “Laughable Salesman” and a text explaining the sale just discussed not even two minutes ago.
“He thinks it’s my dad, but it’s been me the whole time.
He only calls the restaurant if he wants to ‘talk business’ with me, or he randomly pops in.
In his mind, I’m some pretty face who got lucky by having a rich dad and expects the world to fall at my feet.
I let him ogle a bit, then let him have the pleasure of having some power over me.
But, in reality, I’ve been playing him for months.
I’m actually coming in way under budget buying liquor that I’ve upped the hourly for our busboys and hostesses. ”
I set her phone back on the table and she has the most confident smile I’ve ever seen.
You know what? Fuck it.
“Go on a date with me.”
Mia sputters a laugh. “What? Did you just demand a date?”
“Oh, sweetness, you think that laugh would hurt my ego, but it doesn’t. Go on a date with me. Tonight, actually.”
“The sweetness remark isn’t helping. As a matter of fact, no, I won’t go out with you. While Jensen’s comment about you being more of a teddy bear may stand—you’re not my type.”
Mia’s cheeks pinken as she looks anywhere but at me. She’s such a liar; I’m exactly her type, I’m sure of it. She knows it, too.
“Yes, I am. You know, it actually makes sense now why you used to flirt with Beck—you’d chew him up and spit him right back out. I’m willing to bet that the last few guys you’ve dated you’ve been bored with after the first thirty minutes.”
Mia clicks her tongue then scoffs. “That’s—that’s neither here nor there. Beck just seemed fun, but I’m happy for him and Jensen. The rest were—”
“Boring? Spineless? Easily chewable?”
The smirk pulls at the corner of her lips for a millisecond. She’s about to argue with me, and that makes me so fucking happy.
“What makes you think you’re different, huh?
And don’t feed me some bullshit about you being a ‘real man.’ Hate to break it to you, but I have the opposite of daddy issues, Reyer—I don’t need someone to be my daddy, I don’t need a man to take care of me, and I don’t have to go on a date with you because you say so. ”
I hold her glare with a smile on my face.
“I like talking to you, Mia. I want to keep talking to you, and would love for it to be outside of this office discussing my sister’s engagement party.
If you really don’t want to go out with me, then I’ll respect that, but you’re going to have to use a better lie than me not being your type. ”
Her cheeks still hold this blush and she bites back a smirk. I should’ve known she wouldn’t agree so easily, but I’m going to match her confidence and pray it works.
I stand from my seat with a chuckle. “So, tonight, what time should I pick you up?”
Finally releasing her lip, she snaps, “Did you not hear me? I’m not going on a date with you.”
Here’s hoping she’s bluffing.
I shrug, pulling my coat on. “You can text me a time if you’re not sure yet, that’s fine with me. I’ve got practice to get to for now. I don’t mind waiting.”
I mark the rise and fall of her chest. That glint I saw in her eyes earlier has changed, but I can’t tell whether it’s in anger or excitement…it’s probably both.
“Don’t hold your breath on that text.”
“I will, and it’ll be worth it.”