8
Kelly didn’t come to Kink the next night.
Spencer didn’t know why he’d expected her to or why he couldn’t even look at anyone else without seeing the innocent lust in her eyes when he’d asked her to suck his cock. The memory of her opening herself up to him in front of everyone had blazed itself into his mind. That wasn’t her. He’d known that from the get-go, but she’d trusted him enough to relax and see where it led.
He didn’t deserve her trust. He was a bastard. And tonight, he was alone.
“Looking for some action, stud?”
Nina. Again. “Since when do you hang out here every night?”
“Maybe I thought we’d rekindle some of the flames between us.”
At his silence, she let out a tinkling laugh. “Strike one.”
“Look, Nina—”
“Don’t worry about it. Lots of pricks in the ocean.” Grinning, she slipped her arm through his and picked up his drink, a gin and tonic. She took a sip and made a face. “No whiskey?”
“I have work to do.”
“And one’s never enough.”
Instead of the drink, he thought of Kelly. Once, twice, half a dozen times hadn’t begun to take the edge off his need for her. “No.”
“So where’s your pretty little brunette?”
“Little?” He swallowed a laugh. “She’s almost as tall as me.”
“Yes, but she’s hardly in our league, now is she?” Nina ran her fingertip around the edge of his glass. “She might as well be a virgin.”
“I wasn’t in your league once, if you’ll remember.”
“Oh I do.” Her rich, smoky laugh smoothed some of the hard edges inside him. When he was with her, being the Spencer he’d been before wasn’t like wearing a suit he’d outgrown. “But you were a quick study. That one’s got stars in her eyes, Spence. Mixed in with the stars are hearts.”
First Marcia had called Kelly starry-eyed. Now Nina. Was he that blind? “You misread her.”
Nina cocked one scarlet eyebrow. “You think? Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She pushed off the stool. “Good luck,” she murmured before disappearing into the scantily dressed crowd.
He didn’t leave right away. That would’ve looked pathetic. But then again, staying for another hour only to brush off anyone who even glanced his way didn’t exactly make him seem less desperate.
By the time he left the club it was nearly eleven and going home seemed like the least appealing option he’d ever contemplated.
So he went to The Book Nook.
For years, the store had been everything to him. His wife, his most faithful lover, his family. For a man who’d never before found all-consuming passion in work, The Book Nook and what he’d found there had been a revelation.
But for the last couple of months, he’d been fighting itchy feet. Things were changing in the bookstore game. More stores were failing than succeeding. And his pushing for suggestions hadn’t been welcomed from the higher-ups. The owners, Diana’s parents, weren’t interested in fixing something they didn’t see as broken. To their eyes, this new digital craze would pass—was already passing depending on what news source you chose to focus on—and they could go on as they always had.
The Book Nook had a loyal customer base. Now they could coast.
As far as Spencer was concerned, they were fooling themselves. He only hoped there would still be time to right the ship once they realized their folly.
Kelly saw the handwriting on the wall. Even if he was resistant to admitting what that meant, he had to acknowledge her legwork. She was bright and forward-thinking, exactly the sort of ally a business needed during these challenging times. But a phone call this morning had proved the Sinclairs weren’t interested in her ideas.
Andhewas too interested in the rest of her.
They’d passed each other a couple times in the break room that afternoon but she hadn’t said so much as hello. She refrained from sending him any suggestive looks and she definitely didn’t bend over to show him her thong. If she’d ever been cooler to him, he didn’t remember it. They might as well not have been lovers at all.