“All right, you. I don’t want you to wither away on me.” I stand and offer my hand to help him up.
“Next stop, food. I need to stop by the bar to make sure everyone showed up for work, and then we head out for the other plans.” He winks.
“Feed me,” I say instead of whining about not knowing where we’re going.
Glancing over, he smiles and reaches over the console. I offer my hand and he rests our combined fingers on my thigh.
A girl could get used to this.
We had a late lunch at the local steakhouse. The food was good as always, but the company was even better. I could get used to having her here with me all the time. Something I know I can’t have, but I want it anyway.
Just as we’re leaving, Liv texts me and says she has everything at the bar under control and I’m “not to show my face.” After helping Jamie into the truck, I hesitate. It goes against everything I’ve become these last couple of years to not at least stop in and check on things.
“You okay?” Jamie says from beside me.
I look up and find her beautiful green eyes filled with concern. “Yeah, just thinking. Liv says she has the bar under control.” I hold up my phone to show her. “So I guess we can go ahead with our final plans of the day.”
“I don’t care if you want to stop. I know the bar is your baby.”
I think about her words. I’ve put everything I am into Mike’s Tavern since I took over. Six months ago, regardless of what my sister said, I would’ve still stopped in. Hell, I would’ve been there most of the night, if not the entire night. Today, however, that’s not my first reaction. Today, I have a beautiful woman sitting beside me, and the pull to spend more time with her, to make her smile, is stronger than the pull of the bar.
“Nah, Liv knows what she’s doing. I’ve been wanting her to take a more active role, so this is a good way to show her that I stand behind my words.”
“So, next stop?” she asks.
“It’s a surprise.” I reach over and tap the end of her nose with my index finger. Her reply is a huge smile that lights up her face. That’s more than I could ask for. Putting the truck in Drive, I head toward Evan and McKinley’s.
“Are we going to see Whit?” she asks once I turn on the road that leads to both Evan and Aaron’s.
“Yeah. I know you came here for me this weekend, but she’s your best friend and you never get to see her. I’m too damn selfish to give you up the entire night, so I rallied the troops and we’re all hanging out by the bonfire.”
“Where have you been all my life, Michael Wallace?
“Waiting for you.”
A light blush coats her cheeks.
When I pull up to Evan and Kinley’s, Whit and Aaron are already here, the four of them sitting on the front porch. Jamie doesn’t give me a chance to open her door; she’s out of the truck and rounding the front by the time I get the keys out of the ignition. I’m next to her in two long strides, and what happens next surprises the hell out of me. She jumps in my arms, hers going around my neck as she wraps her legs around my waist while I brace my hands on her thighs, holding her to me.
“Thank you, Mike. I don’t know how you knew I was feeling guilty about not spending any time with Whit while I was here. I don’t want to know. All that matters is that you know how amazing you are.”
Then she kisses me. Not just a peck on the lips, no. She slips her tongue past my lips and kisses me like it’s just the two of us. I couldn’t give a fuck who’s watching; I’m taking everything she’s willing to give.
Turning us, I rest her back against the truck and take my time tasting her. She might have started this show, but I’m going to be the one to finish it. I hear hooting and hollering from our friends and I don’t let it faze me, leaning into her and deepening the kiss. It’s not until I feel her grind her hips against me that I decide it’s time to cool this down; we’re both getting too worked up for an audience.
Slowly I pull my lips from hers, and she buries her face in my neck while she tries to cat
ch her breath.
“I guess we gave them a show,” she says with laughter in her voice.
“That we did. You good?”
“Yeah.” She raises her head and I see her face is flushed with embarrassment. She kisses the corner of my mouth, then releases the iron grip her legs have on my waist. I don’t help her because I want her to slide down my body. I want her to see what she does to me, see how bad I want her. It’s literally painful to keep denying what we both want.
Once her feet touch the ground, those big green eyes peer up at me, and what I see has me rethinking my plans to wait until I know she’s on the same page as me. Lust, pure heated lust, is flashing in her eyes. She felt what she does to me, and from the look she’s giving me, she’s on board.
“Ready?” I ask, running my finger down the side of her cheek.