“How can I help you, sir?” I asked, holding my tablet at the ready.
“We want another round,” he barked at me. Their table wasn’t in my section, so I didn’t know what they’d all had. But it would be easy to find out, so I nodded and turned to do his bidding.
A slap to my ass made me stumble forward. My cheek stung from the harsh treatment, and tears shot to my eyes. I really needed to grow a thicker skin. I refused to look back at what I was sure would be a smirk on the guy’s face, daring me to tell him off. That was how it usually worked, and I was over it.
There was a loud crash, and I turned after all. Sebastian was dragging the guy off his chair and to the exit. He threw him outside like he wasn’t a middle-aged, overweight guy but a sack of potatoes.
The whole room watched in awe, and I knew it would take about three seconds for Smitty to show up. There were cameras all around the main area, and he always knew what was going on.
“You are a death sentence to my business,” Smitty cried right on cue, stalking up to Sebastian.
I shuffled closer like everyone else, not wanting to miss a word.
“You mean the club’s business,” Sebastian corrected him, looking like he was dealing with an annoying bug he wanted to brush off his sleeve.
“Stop throwing customers out the door. You could handle this shit more discreetly.”
Sebastian raised a brow, looking down at Smitty, who was at least two heads shorter than him. “I want them to know they aren’t allowed to touch the girls.”
Smitty threw his hands up. “You mean they’re not allowed to touch one particular girl. Never seen you handle someone like that when it was one of the other girls.”
He stalked off with as much drama as he’d arrived. Sebastian glanced in my direction and only turned away when I gave him a tentative smile.
Everyone behaved for the rest of the night and Sebastian met me at the back door when it was time to go home. He opened the door for me to walk through, but I stopped in front of him and tilted my head back. “Thank you.”
“You don’t ever have to thank me for putting those assholes in their place. He had no right to touch you.”
I put my hands on his chest and stepped closer. He was still holding the door with one hand, his other fisted at his side. “You always seem to come to my rescue.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re important to me,” he said, his voice raspy.
I took another step forward, putting us closer together so we were almost touching. “You’re important to me too.”
His eyes flicked over my face, and I tipped my head back, leaning in. He didn’t miss the invitation and lowered his lips to mine, the contact whisper soft but no less impactful.
I sighed into his mouth, and he deepened the kiss.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you chose the worst spot to do this,” Elle said, and I jerked back. She was standing behind us with a smirk on her face. “I let you go for as long as I could take it, but that kiss nearly took my pants off.”
I flushed in embarrassment, and Sebastian shook his head at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Sorry, Elle. Come on through.”
She walked past him, giving him a wink, then turning to me, waggling her eyebrows.
Sebastian put his arm around my shoulders and walked us to his bike. He waited until Elle was in her car and pulling out of the parking lot before starting the engine.
I leaned my head against his back and enjoyed the ride, feeling lighter than I had in a while.
When we pulled back up to the house, I was reluctant to get off the bike. It was the one place we could just be. No misunderstandings, no hurt feelings. Just us.
Instead of walking up to the front door, Sebastian pulled me around the side. I followed, curious what he was up to.
We stopped at the foot of the playhouse, ushering me inside.
“Are we having a tea party?” I asked, crawling inside. I still hadn’t found out who put it there but had my suspicions it had something to do with my roommate.
He followed me, shrinking the space to about a quarter of its size.
“The last thing I have on my mind when I’m with you is a tea party,” he said and leaned his back against one of the walls, pulling me into his side. I relaxed into him, my arm snaking under his shirt, caressing the soft skin of his abs.
“I want to talk to you without distractions,” he said, placing a kiss on my hair. “That’s why we’re hiding out here.”
I chuckled, my body vibrating with mirth. “You know Stella is going to show up out here in a few minutes. She’d have undoubtedly heard the bike pull up and seen us walk around to the backyard.”
“I know. But I didn’t want to wait a second longer to make this right. I want you—no, I need you to hear me out. If you still don’t want to give me another chance, then I understand.”
I sighed, the seriousness of his words sinking like a warm blanket around me. He took my silence as assent to continue.
“The initial plan was if Jim thought you’d shacked up with one of us, he’d do something stupid in response and come out of hiding. But only because that happened to be part of the plan doesn’t mean my feelings for you are any less real.”
I buried my head in his chest, breathing him in, reminding myself that he wasn’t pursuing any agenda right now. He didn’t have to
