Taz
Taz was fucking miserable. It had been four days since he had sex with Kai, and he couldn’t get her out of his damn head. He tried too. Taz picked up a bar fly hanging around after his shift last night and he asked her to go back to his place. She agreed, but he couldn’t follow through with it. By the time he got her out to the parking lot, he saw Kai’s car and told the willing woman wrapped around him that he had to change their plans and that he was sorry. She pouted and put on an act about really being put out by him not following through, but he knew women like her. She’d go back into the Smokey Bandits and find another poor sap to buy her a beer and convince to take her home.
Every time he thought about Kai, usually her naked and panting out his name, he wanted to pick up his cell phone and call her. He had his number. He had all of the bar’s employee’s numbers but calling her wasn’t part of his plan. He had told her that them sleeping together was one night and one night only—and he didn’t even last the night. He hauled ass out of her place like he was on fire, and that made him feel like a first-class jerk. He used her for sex and then when Kai was good about everything, he got pissed off. He was too in his feelings, and he knew that wouldn’t end well for him, so he left like a coward.
The way that he had treated Kai in the four days that followed wasn’t much better. She had off on Monday, same as him, but for the most part, she worked every damn night that he worked. He thought about changing shifts, but he had promised her that everything would be normal between them—he lied. Nothing felt normal when all he wanted to do was pull her into his kitchen, strip her naked and make her scream out his name again. He fantasized about tugging up that short little jean mini skirt she wore every night to work in and sinking into her body. But none of that would help him to keep his promise to her. They were supposed to be friends, and only friends, and he wasn’t even giving her that.
Kai had been trying too. She’d come into the kitchen during a lull, to get him to give her a quick cooking lesson, just as he had promised, and he turned her away every time. He came up with excuse after excuse to basically tell her to get lost, and that always left him feeling like an asshole. The look on her beautiful face didn’t help matter much either. She always looked so confused and disappointed; she was really tearing his heart out.
He was getting the kitchen ready for tonight; prepping food and making sure that everything was clean and ready to go when Kai walked in through the kitchen’s back door. “Hey, Taz,” she called.
“You’re here early,” he said.
“I am?” she asked, checking her cell phone for the time. “Oh yeah, I guess I am. Is Harlow around?” she asked. “I really need to talk to her.”
He wanted to ask her what she planned on talking to Harlow about, but that was none of his business, and she’d probably let him know as much. “I think she’s back in Ryker’s office,” he said. “I’d knock before going in there though.”
“Oh,” she breathed. “I don’t want to interrupt them if they’re—” She didn’t finish what she was about to say, and he couldn’t help his smile as he did it for her.
“Having sex,” he said.
“Um, yeah,” she said. “I’d hate to interrupt. I’ll just talk to her later.”
“Is it important?” he asked. “Maybe I can help.”
“Well, I’m not sure that you can, unless you’ve started handling when the waitress takes breaks.”
“No,” he said. “I’d never get tangled up in that mess. You all get vicious when you don’t get your breaks on time.”
“Exactly, so that’s why I’ve come in early. I need to make sure that I’m first in line to sign up for my break tonight. What’s on the menu?” she asked, changing the subject.
“The usual, and I’m making a chicken dish as the special,” he said. “Why do you need to be first in line for your break?” he asked. Taz had a feeling that he didn’t really want to know, yet he couldn’t stop himself from asking the question.
“I have a date coming in at seven and I want to be able to take my half hour to have dinner with him.” Fuck—yeah, he didn’t want to know any of that.
“A date?” he asked, trying for casual, and sounding anything but.
“Yep, a guy I met at college and he’s going to meet me here at seven for dinner. I can’t wait to try your special.” He suddenly found himself secretly hoping that her date would choke on his chicken. How could she have moved on from him so easily? Taz was expecting a bit more of a fight from her, but Kai seemed fine with everything that had happened between them. She was good with his rules of no attachment and that really chapped his ass.
“You have a date?” he repeated. He wanted to be able to say something else, but it was all he could think to say. He sounded like an idiot—a jealous idiot, and that was because he was.
“Yep—I thought that we already covered that, Taz,” she said. “He’ll be here at seven. Gabe is a great guy, and I’m looking forward to our dinner.”
“Really?” he asked. He took a step closer, and she took one back from him—smart girl.
“Yeah,” she said, sounding a bit more nervous, “he asked me out and I told him that I work just about every night except Monday. He said that he didn’t want to wait until Monday to go out with me and told me that he’d meet me here. How sweet is that?” she asked. There was something about the way that she told the story that made her seem unsure of herself and that had him questioning everything.
“So, he’ll be here at seven?” Taz asked. He took a few steps in her direction, closing the distance between them. He had effectively backed Kai up against the counter and when she realized that she had nowhere to go, she stood her ground and defiantly stared him down as if daring him to make another move. Oh, he planned on making a move, and she probably wasn’t going to like it, but he didn’t care.
“Wh-what are you doing, Taz?” she whispered.
“I’m trying to figure something out,” he said.
“What are you trying to figure out?” she asked. He lifted her up onto the stainless-steel countertop and ran his hands up her thighs, lifting her tiny mini skirt as he went.
“I’m trying to see if you’ll stop me from tasting you, honey,” he breathed. He leaned into her and kissed her like he missed her over the past four days because he did. And God, she kissed him back the same way. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her, and Kai wasn’t stopping him from taking more from her, and that was exactly what he planned on doing.
He stopped kissing her pouty lips and grabbed a hold of her hips, pulling her to the edge of the counter. Taz quickly pulled her panties down her legs, leaving her bare ass on his counter. She looked good enough to eat too, and that was exactly what he planned on doing with her. He’d get her off and then, while she had dinner with that college asshole, all Kai would be able to think about would be him.