She quickly came back with our drinks. I could tell she was concentrating on the tray so she didn’t spill them. As soon as the frosted mugs were out of her hands, I grabbed her wrist, pulling her onto my lap. It was instinct. Need. Drive to touch her that overtook me.
Her eyes widened with alarm. “W-what are you doing?”
I wrapped my arms around her waist. She smelled like fucking heaven. Everything about her was subtle and intoxicating.
“Seriously, I can't afford to get fired. Please let me get back to work.” She wrestled my arm away from her hips and took a step back.
“Just a moment, darlin’,” I replied. I wanted to pull her back into my lap. Inhale her. Kiss her.
“If it’s about the order, then tell me.” She set her eyes on me. I saw the resolve there. The strength to stand up for herself.
“Damn,” I muttered to myself, but I wasn’t entirely sure she didn’t hear me. Another vice of mine—I said whatever was on my mind. And right now it was this girl.
“No, the beers are fine.” I picked mine up and took a swallow to prove a point. It wasn’t the beer I wanted. It was her.
“Ok, then I’ll check back with you soon.” She turned to go.
“Wait, you have a name?”
She swiveled on her heels, then pinched her lips together as if she were deciding what name to give me. “Julie.”
“Nice to meet you Julie.” I held out my hand to touch hers. “Kane. And this is my buddy Joe.”
Joe grimaced. “Don’t buy his lines, darlin’. We call him Hawk for a reason.”
I gritted my teeth. “You call me Hawk because my last name is Hawkins.”
“Oh, ok, so which is it? Kane or Hawk?” she asked.
I grinned. “I’ll let you choose.”
Her eyes fell to the floor again. “I’ll be back to check on your beers.”
Before I could keep her at the table for another round of sparring she wedged herself between an oncoming party and disappeared.
“Fuck,” I whispered. There was a certain thump under my ribs. Women were my vice. And for a quick second I thought that one had the potential to kill me.
“Looks like we’re going to be here all night ordering drinks.” Joe laughed, watching her retreat into the darkness of the bar.
I touched the glass to my lips, seeking the poison to fill my veins with the kind of speed and power I needed.
I placed the empty glass on the table. “I'm trying to behave for Savannah. She's always busting my balls for drinking too much and being seen with too many different women.”
“Tonight’s not going to help your case.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not.” I searched the few tables for any signs of Julie.
Joe kept talking. “Kenny is the same way. Always trying to be my daddy. What’s the deal with these damn agents?”
I shrugged. My attention was somewhere else tonight.
I spotted a familiar face coming from the bar and I smiled. I stood, meeting him at the table with a warm hug. He slapped me on the back a few times before pulling up a chair.
“It’s good to see you, Pops.”
“You too, son.”
Pops was my neighbor growing up. He taught me all about women and was the epitome of what a ladies’ man should be. I probably shouldn’t have taken his lessons so literally, but as a young kid without a dad, he was like a god, especially with women.