I turned to look at him. His green eyes were watching me. "Are you watching me in my sleep?"
"Is it creepy?"
I laughed. "A little bit."
He leaned over to kiss me, and as his lips slid over mine, a little warning bell went off in my head reminding me that this thing between us needed to stay sexual. The bell encouraged me to get out of bed and leave before I fell for him any further.
"Spend the day with me, Kate. The Sea Siren’s closed today."
Ding, ding, ding. Warning. "Last night, you said just one night."
“And I meant it. But now this morning, I'm not ready to let you go."
I wanted to pull away, but I found that I couldn't.
His fingers stroked my arm. "I know where I stand. I'm not using some secret ploy here. I'm being brutally honest. I wanted you to stay last night, so I asked. Now, this morning, I want you to spend the day. So I'm asking."
The question was when would the asking end? Everything he'd asked me in the past, I'd said yes to wholeheartedly. The desire to do that now was so great, it was terrifying.
"Let me make us some coffee and breakfast, and we’ll take it from there, okay?"
I nodded in agreement, but only because he was moving to get out of bed and I needed space between us to think clearly.
I had coffee and some killer pancakes, and then when that was done, he suggested that we go for a walk on the beach. That seemed harmless, so I agreed.
Back at the house, I went to take a shower, and he made the point that taking it together would save time and water. That was true in theory, although I’m not sure it held up in practice when he fucked me from behind.
It wasn't until lunchtime that I realized I'd made the decision to stay for the day. With that, I leaned into it, taking as much from him physically as I could. And in between the rounds of sex, we talked about his plans for the new club, and I shared with him my plans to put him out of business by having a live band.
He laughed. "Thank God we’re not building in our original spot. We’d have probably been out of business before we even opened."
"That was the plan.”
When I left Sam's that evening, it was a little bit like leaving fantasyland. Because of that, I figured it would be easy to rebuild my guard against him. We had a moment in time involving carnal pleasures and some small talk, but now I was back in the real world.
Two days later, Sam called and asked if I would be willing to look at a property with him in one of the areas that I’d suggested might be good for his prohibition-themed club. By this time, I had decided that maybe Sam and I could be friends even though it could never be anything more. So I agreed as one friend and business owner to another.
But when it was time for me to leave the Sea Siren to meet him, Samantha called in saying she wouldn't be able to make it for her shift this evening. While we weren't expecting an enormous crowd like we had on Halloween, I still had the same challenge in finding somebody to take the night shift. I called Sam to let him know that I would need to stay.
Ninety minutes later, Sam walked to the door, rolling up his sleeves as he stepped behind the bar.
“What about your showing?” I asked.
“I saw it. I’d still like you to take a look sometime.” He reacquainted himself with where everything was and got ready for the evening club crowd.
"I didn't ask you to do this.” I stood on the other side of the bar, internally fighting off the warm fuzzies I was feeling at his actions. I remembered the story about his helping his brother. Then there was Halloween, when he’d stepped in to help me.
"No, you didn't. It sort of irks me that you didn't." There was an edge to his tone that suggested he wasn’t completely kidding.
"I should just hire you. You're a pretty good bartender, and then I wouldn’t have to worry about your club competing with mine."
He grinned at me from the other side of the bar. "I'm building my club far away from yours because I don't want to have to compete with you. You'd kick my ass."
That wasn't true, but it was nice of him to say it.
As the evening wore on, I occasionally looked over at him at the bar putting on his flair show. Bottles spun and flew in the air. As usual, the women flocked to him, but this time, while he might've smiled at them, he didn't give them the one that made them swoon. Whenever he caught me looking at him, he would wink.
At the end of the night, he stuck around until everything was cleaned up and the rest of the staff had left.