"That's right, baby, say my name when you come. I want to hear you fall apart from just the thought of my cock inside you."
And that does it. With a final gasp of his name before again burying my face in the pillows and muffling my cries for him, my release crashes over me.
"Fuck,Hailey," I hear him groan. The sounds of his fist moving over his cock are clear, and I shiver in the aftershocks of my orgasm at the vision of him jerking off. And then the primal, and verymale,sound of his groan as he explodes on my name is enough to make me hot all over again.
The only sounds we're left with are those of our heavy breathing. After a moment, I hear Jax say, "Goddamn. The sounds you make are so beautiful. Even when you’re not in the same room as me, you make me lose my fucking mind, baby girl.”
A warmth—completely separate from the one caused by my mind-numbing orgasm—rushes through me at the awe in Jax's voice. I've started to notice that Jax is always full of praises after sex, and that in itself is enough to give me a rush of happiness that rivals that of the orgasm he just gave me.
It's yet another difference between Jax and what I'm used to, yet another reminder that this man is better to me than I could have ever imagined I would deserve.
24
HAILEY
“Hailey, do you have a minute to talk?”
I look up from where I’m checking vendor deliveries on my tablet and make eye contact with Stacey. “Yeah, of course.” I hand the tablet over to the on-staff manager, telling him, “Double check that what’s coming in is what I ordered. Let me know if there are any discrepancies.” When he nods and starts his count, I turn back toward my boss the café owner.
“Here, let’s go into the back room.” She ushers me past the kitchen and into the room that everybody uses for breaks. By the time we’re both inside and she’s shut the door, I’m looking around with a raised eyebrow, trying to figure out what’s going on. If I wasn’t curious before, I definitely am now.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on, so I’ll cut right to the chase,” Stacey starts. “You’ve been here for almost three years now, and a staff supervisor for almost two. Have you thought about where you want to go from here? What’s next for you career-wise?”
I blink. “Career-wise?” I echo, trying to wrap my brain around her question and somehow come up with a logical answer. “Honestly, I haven’t really thought about progression much. I’m pretty busy with school. Plus, I wasn’t aware there was anything to advance to after my position now.”
Stacey nods, as if she was expecting that answer. “Usually, there’s not. Staff supervisor in any restaurant is as high up as you can get without being an owner.” She pauses in wait, but when I can only blink again, she continues. “How long do you have left before you get your bachelor’s?”
“A year, maybe year and a half, depending on how I can fit my classes into my schedule.”
She just nods again. “Do you like working in this industry?”
I startle at the repeated change in topics. She’s bouncing around something, which isn’t like her. I feel like she’s trying to lead me to something and I’m not picking up on it. “In this type of restaurant, yes. I wouldn’t want to work in a bar, and I’m fairly certain a lot of dinner restaurants wouldn’t be the right fit for me. But in a brunch or café spot, absolutely.”
And just like that, she stops dancing around and instead shoves me face-first into her point.
“How would you like to take over the café for me?”
That actually manages to shock me into taking a step back. “What? Now?”
A slight smile twitches on her lips—part of her is enjoying throwing me off like this. “Not now. Not anytime soon. But I want to retire within the next couple of years, and I’d rather pass this place off than shut it down or sell it to a stranger. You’re the perfect choice.”
My eyes widen even further. “I’m twenty-one and I don’t have a business degree, how could I take over an entire restaurant?”
Her face sobers as my voice starts to take on a hysterical pitch. “Hailey, you don’t need a degree to run a restaurant. You already have more knowledge and experience than most people do when they open a restaurant. And I wouldn’t just drop it in your lap, I would help you transition into it. We could take a year or even two, whatever you felt comfortable with. I could train you on everything you need to know—although, you know way more than you think you do. You could probably take over in six months and be totally fine.”
“Six months?” I squeak.Am I really having this conversation right now?What the hell is happening?
“Like I said, I don’t want to just drop it in your lap. But Hailey, this has your name written all over it. I’ve known you’re the right person for this for longer than you probably want to hear. And you yourself just admitted that your ultimate dream is to open a café like this.”
My mouth snaps shut at that. She’s not wrong, thathasalways been my dream. I just didn’t expect a golden opportunity to pop up for it at twenty-one.
“I don’t have that kind of money,” I say quietly, grappling for some kind of argument that she can’t shoot down. Because this is insane.
That particular point seems to hold the most water because she nods in agreement. “I kind of assumed that. I won’t lie and say it wouldn’t require a bit of an initial payment, but it’s not nearly as much as you’re worried it is. We could work something out where I get a cut of profits over the next few months or years, so you pay it off that way. We could make it work.”
I have no more words left. No more questions or rebuttals. I’m at a total loss for words.
Stacey studies me for a moment, waiting for either my agreement or some more issues, and when she gets neither, she just sighs and rubs the back of her neck. “Look, I’m not expecting an answer right now. I don’t even need one next week. But I wanted to put the idea in your head and let you deal with it however you need to, because I really do think this is a great solution not just for me, but for you. I think this is where you always pictured yourself ending up—you probably just didn’t think it would happen like this.”