CHAPTER NINE
Jack
“You owe me,” I said under my breath to Tallon.
The two of us were waiting on his date, Meegan, and her friend outside the popular Salazar brothers’ restaurant, Bahia Del Sol.
Tallon had been interested in this woman for a long time, and she’d agreed to a date as long as he brought me along for her roommate.
I didn’t want to be here, but I’d finally caved when Tallon had pressured me.
He’d reminded me that I’d agreed to go on the date weeks ago.
Of course, that had been before I’d become obsessed with Daisy Tiller.
At the time he’d begged me to do this, I’d thought I’d at least get a good fuck out of the deal. Now, I didn’t even want to think about fucking anyone besides Daisy.
I couldn’t wait until our date.
Daisy had gotten under my skin, into my soul.
Instantly. And I couldn’t get her out. I was glad I’d finally made a move and asked her out.
Women as beautiful as Daisy don’t stay single long.
Tallon had said as much on the way over here.
He’d eloquently pointed out that, “A girl that looks like that doesn’t go without dick for long. ”
I’d wanted to punch him. Over the course of our long friendship, we’d hardly ever gotten mad at each other. But I’d been ready to hit him over suggesting that Daisy might be getting fucked by some other guy.
The worst part was that he wasn’t wrong. If I didn’t try to date her, someone else would. And I’d hate to stand by and watch her with another man. It was with a level of relief and satisfaction that I realized by the same time the next night, I’d already be with her.
I couldn’t wait.
“Yeah, I feel like you already owed me a few favors. So, I think we’re even.” He suddenly went still beside me. “There she is. And, day-um. I don’t think I owe you anything man. Look at her friend.”
Two beautiful women were walking towards us.
One was the brunette I’d seen Tallon flirting with for weeks.
The other was a truly gorgeous blonde with a really nice rack.
I couldn’t help but think, though, that it didn’t compare to Daisy’s perfect breasts.
But I wasn’t out with Daisy, and this woman was smiling up at me.
I owed it to Tallon to be a good wingman.
And, much as I wished it was Daisy that I was with, it wasn’t exactly going to be a hardship to eat dinner with the beauty in front of me.
“Hey,” I said, giving her a quick smile. “I’m Jack.”
“I know,” she said, her voice a low, sexy purr. “I’m Sala. Like ‘salad’ without the ‘d’.”
“Oh. Okay.” She put her arm through mine and clutched me with her manicured nails. They were too sharp. It kind of hurt.
We walked inside, and I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head.
It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, I realized Leo Salazar was greeting customers.
Dammit. I knew he’d want to talk to me. Especially after the experience at Cayenne.
I felt like the entire Salazar family had joined Nico in his bid to get me to join his gentleman’s club. I looked around for some place to hide.
“Did you make reservations?” I leaned in and asked Tallon.
He was so smitten with his cute date he barely responded. “Nah. I like sitting up on the rooftop. You know that.”
I sighed as I saw Leo closing in on us.
“Jack Lancaster. Nice to see you again, man. Where do you want to sit? I can boot anyone, you know,” Leo said coming over, staring at my date’s tits, and giving her an unashamed wink when she caught him. She didn’t seem to mind.
“Just the rooftop,” I said, since Tallon was occupied.
“Sure. I’ve got some gorgeous servers up there tonight.” He quickly looked at my date, who was frowning slightly. “Not that they can compete with you, darlin’.”
She perked up.
Leo leaned in where Sala couldn’t hear him and whispered, “They totally can.” Then he grabbed a hostess and directed her to show us up to the rooftop that we’d been to about a hundred times before.
As we stepped out onto the rooftop bar, I took a minute to breathe in the late summer night air.
It was still warm, of course, but there were huge ceiling fans attached to the tall pergola overhead and a misting system that left it feeling about ten degrees cooler than the real outside temperature.
Plus, we were up high enough to really catch the ocean breezes from down below at the bay and beach areas.
It was a pleasant night. The sun had dipped, and the last few streaks of pink, purple, and orange marked the end of a spectacular sunset.
I began to relax as a waitress showed us to a round, high-top table with a magnificent view of the downtown area.
The building was brick, with black wrought-iron railings and accents.
There were replica gas lamps flickering in several places for atmosphere, and ivy weaved its way around some of the lesser-used rooftop areas.
It had a chill, easy vibe that made it my favorite spot in the city to relax, unwind, and sit with a beautiful woman for the night.
It’s just now, when I looked into the face of my gorgeous date, I could only think of two things: Caesar salad and Daisy Tiller. I couldn’t get past Sala comparing her name to salad. It was throwing me off. And I couldn’t help but compare her to Daisy.
And she didn’t come close to being as beautiful, free, and natural as Daisy was.
“I heard,” she murmured, “that you have a condo you enjoy using nearby.” She placed her hand on my thigh and squeezed.
Normally, I would’ve asked for the check and spent the next several hours fucking the hell out of her.
But now? I just wasn’t interested.
As I looked at Sala’s very nice body and pretty face, I started to wonder if Daisy had broken me for all other women.
And I hadn’t even been on a date with her yet.
“Can I take your order?” a sweet, familiar voice asked.
I lurched back and locked eyes with Daisy Tiller.
Her full, thick hair had been pulled back into the severe ponytail all the waitresses wore here.
I’d only seen her without any makeup and knew she was so pretty she didn’t need it.
But with the dramatic makeup the waitresses here wore?
She looked… amazing. And so sexy I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She was wearing the floral bustier and bright, micro mini skirt the waitresses all wore, but it looked like it was made just for her.
My eyes roamed down her perfect body, taking in her breasts—she must be at least a DD—her small waist with a good three inches of svelte, tanned abdomen showing, and the way the micro mini hugged her glorious ass.
Goddamn, I’d love to grip her waist and stare at that ass while I fucked her hard from behind.
I looked back up into her face, her emerald eyes observing me cooly. She glanced at my date and back at me, then smiled brightly. It was the first time I’d seen a fake smile on her perfect lips. I quickly knocked Sala’s hand off my thigh.
Sala gave me a wounded look, but I ignored her.
I realized Daisy wasn’t going to acknowledge knowing us unless we made the first move. Probably smart given we were with other women, and she was completely gorgeous.
“Hey, Daisy,” Tallon said easily. “I didn’t know you worked here. Jack and I come here all the time, and we’ve never seen you.”
I shifted awkwardly as I saw her smile tighten even more.
I didn’t want her to think I was a player.
I mean, I absolutely was. But I didn’t want her to know it or think badly of me.
Or not give me a chance to prove that I could be different.
It didn’t look good that I was out with Sala on the night before I was supposed to take Daisy out.
I wondered if she’d give me a chance to explain.
Hell, not even I had thought I could be different until very recently. But there was something about Daisy that made me trust in myself. I knew I could be different for her. I had no doubts.
“I’m just filling in for some of the regulars. Leo asked me to,” she said casually as someone said hello to her, and she waved over her shoulder.
I had to fight to contain a gasp. Leo asked her to?! What the fuck did that mean? She was on a first name basis with Leo fucking Salazar? I wasn’t happy about that at all. He was a good-looking guy, rich as hell, and known around town as being God’s gift to women in bed.
Had he fucked her? Were they dating? Was he about to propose?
Whoa, Jack. I forced myself to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Anxiety sucks at the best of times, but it can really turn an enjoyable night into a train wreck fast if it gets away from you.
I’d learned that the hard way.
“Leo, huh?” Tallon had caught that, too. He glanced at me quickly before turning his attention back to her.
“Yeah, um… I work at one of the other Salazar clubs and he was shorthanded.” She looked uncomfortable, and her green eyes shot to mine before looking away quickly. “What can I get y’all?”
Everyone placed their orders while I slowly freaked out over her working at one of the ‘other’ Salazar clubs.
Was it one of the gentleman’s clubs? My God.
Was it Cayenne, the infamous sex club? My hands started to sweat in horror over the thought while my dick jumped up and cheered.
My body was giving me wildly different signals.
“Jack?”
I turned to Tallon. “Yeah?” I tried to paste a smile on my face but thought it must’ve looked awkward since he grimaced back at me.
“Why don’t you order?” he asked with an equally fake smile.