Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Kat
“How about that booth in the corner?” I asked Jamie, pointing to it in case she couldn’t hear me over the music that was blaring around us.
When she’d asked me to go out for a drink, I’d been inclined to say no.
I changed my mind when I saw the disappointed look on her face, and heard that her husband had to work late tonight.
Seven Sins was a popular bar, but it wasn’t my usual scene. I’d much prefer staying at home to read a book and enjoy a glass of wine than to have to yell over the music and fight off frat guys who wanted to gyrate on the dance floor.
She nodded, and I took that as my cue to go grab it before someone else snatched it up. It was busy but not too crowded yet. Most of the people were either lined up at the bar for shots to get the weekend started, or they were already on the dance floor.
I shimmied my way through the crowd, making sure not to let my hands hang low so I didn’t accidentally grope anyone in the process of getting to safety. Safety, I snorted. Why did being twenty-eight feel so similar to being in my eighties?
I was almost to the booth when I felt someone grab my elbow and stop me.
“Dance with me, baby,” a much too young guy said, giving me a lopsided grin and trying to pull me back to the dance floor.
“No thanks, I’m allergic to dancing.” I gave him a fake smile and escaped his grasp as he stood there trying to figure out what I’d said. It didn’t matter whether it made sense or not; I’d gotten away, and that was the goal.
I jumped into the booth and took the side against the wall to people-watch. It was the equivalent of watching reality TV as drunken shenanigans were sure to happen tonight.
A few minutes later, Jamie slid into the other side of the booth and slid a manhattan my way.
“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip.
“No problem.” She lifted the bottle of beer to her lips and took a swig.
“It’s busy already,” she said, turning sideways to people watch with me.
“I’m surprised. I thought more people would be heading out of town for spring break.”
“Yeah, but a lot of them don’t have the money to. With gas prices increasing and flights being outrageously high, I can’t imagine that many people will be traveling anytime soon.”
“True.” I took another drink, knowing that she was right.
While the economy, in general, seemed to be struggling, I was thankful that Ambrosia hadn’t been impacted by it.
We had steady increases in reservations requests and were constantly featured on different social media outlets.
One of the biggest reasons for our success was that Ambrosia was owned and operated by an incredible woman who cared about others and not making a fortune off of them.
Clarissa had been the talk of Seattle and recently had recruiters from other states reaching out to her.
We finished our first round of drinks, and then I headed to the bar for a second.
We could have waited for the cocktail waitress to make her way to us, but it looked like she was the only one on the floor tonight and had two six tops waiting on her, plus an eight top in the corner.
Not wanting to add to her stress tonight, we’d decided we’d take care of getting our own drinks.
I stood to the side, waiting for the bartender to come back. He was busy at the other end of the bar, flirting with a group of girls wearing bride-themed sashes. I rolled my eyes and looked around to see where the other bartender had gone.
The bar continued to fill up, and the thick mass of bodies on the dance floor increased the temperature in the place. I brushed my hair away from my face, regretting that I’d let Jamie talk me into wearing it down tonight. It was short but thick and suddenly felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.
While I waited, I pulled the hair tie off of my wrist and began piling my hair on top of my head before securing it. As I lowered my arm, I felt somebody beside me and accidentally elbowed them.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologized, turning to see Miles beside me.
My face quickly morphed from apologetic to irritated in seconds.
“What are you doing here?” I asked grumpily as he slid in closer, invading my space. His back was facing the other people in line at the bar as he faced me. I could feel the heat from his body radiating off of him, making me hotter than I already was.
“I came with my friend to have a drink.”
A cocky smile pulled at the corners of his lips.
“You sure you’re not following me?”
Even though I hadn’t looked in his direction when we’d left earlier, I’d felt his eyes on me and knew that he was watching us.
“Do you want me to follow you?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? We could turn it into a game. I can be the lost, lonely puppy looking for my owner….”
I looked up and locked eyes with him.
“Are you saying you want me to own you?”
He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he thought about his answer.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”
My cheeks flushed with heat, just in time for the bartender to show up and ask what we wanted.
“Manhattan and a Corona, please.” I fidgeted with the edge of the bar, feeling overly anxious being this close to Miles.
“For you?” the bartender asked Miles, assuming we were together.
“Oh no, his is separate. We’re not together,” I clarified.
“We’re not. But we could be,” he added with a wink. “Please put her drinks on my tab. I’ll take two bourbons, neat.” He pulled his wallet out and laid his credit card in front of us.
“You’re not buying my drinks,” I insisted in a hushed tone as the bartender left to make our drinks.
“Come on, Kat. Why are you so mean to me? Can’t I just buy you a drink?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because then you’ll think I owe you something, and I don’t.”
He pulled back as if my words had inflicted pain.
“Why would I think you owe me something? It’s a drink, Kat. Not a kidney.”
“Trust me, I know how guys operate. You buy my drinks, and that automatically translates to you expecting a blow job—at minimum.”
He shook his head in disbelief and leaned his arm on the counter.
“Is that the kind of guys you’ve met? Because you might need to try different places to meet men. Real men. Not these frat kids walking around, thinking with their cocks.”
I pulled my shoulders back and looked around for the bartender. Why was this taking so long?
“I don’t go out to look for men,” I replied quickly. “But yes, the ones I’ve met have expected something in return. Everyone does, Miles. Even you.”
His hand gently reached out and brushed against my side before settling on my hip. He leaned in close, and the smell of his cologne wafted up around us.
“Trust me, if I buy you a drink, I don’t expect a damn thing in return.
If I buy you a meal, I don’t expect anything other than that you’ll enjoy it.
And if I were ever given a chance to be with you, the only thing that I would want is for you to experience all of the pleasure I could give you—without expecting anything in return. ”
My body froze under his touch, my words lodged in my throat.
“Find yourself someone who wants to give you everything, Kat, and you’d be surprised by how good it can feel.”
He pulled back and dropped his hand as the bartender returned with our drinks. I tried to pull my jaw back up from the floor as I carried our drinks back to our booth with Miles right behind me.
I didn’t get a chance to give Jamie a heads-up that he was there before he slipped into the booth beside me. A few minutes later, his friend Anthony joined us, and I found myself glaring at her as she grinned a shit-eating smile as she watched Miles scoot closer to me.
My body was tense and rigid as my brain argued with it about all of the reasons why we shouldn’t let our guard down and let him in, no matter how good it felt when he touched me a few minutes ago. He was just like Nick, and I needed to remember that.