another month, I’m going to gouge my own eyes out.”
“I’m taking care of it,” Misha said.
I grabbed the milkshake and sucked on the straw so it made that annoying gurgling sound.
Then I smacked my lips together.
Jackson was not going to get credit for this one.
He wasn’t going to get in my way of this promotion either.
He was nothing more than a frenemy and I couldn’t wait to see him beg as he groveled before me for his job.
Chapter Three
Jackson
“Angela… I’m going to call you angel,” I said as I leaned against the bar.
“Does that mean I can call you devil?” she teased as she continued to swirl her hair around her finger.
I gently touched her wrist and pulled her hand away from her hair.
I then tucked her hair behind her ear and took notice of her earrings.
“Two piercings, huh?” I asked.
“That a problem?”
“No. I’m just following the story.”
“What story?”
“You’re a tough businesswoman,” I said. “Yet you let these subtle hints of who you once were show through. Playing with your hair, that’s your comfort. You’re nervous around me. You’re not sure if I’m some asshole looking for a quickie in the bathroom or if we’re going to be telling our kids about how we met.”
“Oh yeah?” Angela asked.
“Am I wrong?”
“I’m not answering that.”
She smiled.
I leaned toward her. “The bathrooms here are really nice.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she purred.
I gritted my teeth.
I loved the chase. The cat and mouse. The lion and the prey.
Dancing in circles for hours knowing what the payoff would be and what it would feel like.
There was no room for error or doubt.
I wouldn’t mess this up and there was no way Angela wasn’t going to be joining me for a little bedtime fun.
I’d gladly call for a ride to her place and leave her a sleepy mess of sex and be gone by morning.
Or maybe I’d stay and have coffee with her.
She was definitely the type to have coffee with the next morning.
“Keep going, Jackson,” she said.
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” I said. “Say that again.”
“Stop it,” Angela said with a laugh.
She playfully slapped my arm.
I inched closer to her.
“The earrings,” I said. “You won’t take that second piercing out. It means too much. Sure, it’s a reminder of that time at the beach when you got that second piercing done. Probably just around sunset. What, maybe, sixteen?” I snapped my fingers. “No. Fifteen. Right before all that pretty innocence was taken. And you were with your cousin. You both got your ears pierced like that. You both said no matter what you would never take them out. Right?”
Angela looked ready to cry. “You’re…”
“Spot on?” I asked. “I have a gift.”
“It’s not perfect,” she said. She fanned herself. “But wow…”
“Well, then tell me the story, sweetie. This isn’t all about wild sex. That comes later. Let me into your soul first.”
Cheap? Yup.
Angela looked at me. Her eyes were a dark blue color. “It was at the beach. Well, on the boardwalk. East coast though. With my best friend. Sharon. We weren’t supposed to get them done. Her aunt took us. My parents were really mad about it.”
“See?” I asked. “I was close. And now you and Sharon don’t talk. Like for ages. Right?”
“Try death,” Angela whispered.
“Oh, fuck. I’m sorry about that, sweetie.” I touched her hand. “Losing someone is so hard. My father died when I was sixteen.”
“Jackson, that’s terrible,” Angela said.
I inched even closer to her. “Look at us, Angela. This is just… it feels so right, doesn’t it? It’s easy to talk to you.”
“Maybe it’s the drinks,” she said.
That was the first hint at her putting up a wall.
Which was fine with me.
I didn’t give up easily.
I brought my tool belt. A hammer and chisel to get through the wall.
If it was too thick, I’ll get a ladder and climb it.
Still won’t work?
I’ll get my airplane and fly it over the wall and jump out of the plane.
I was too stubborn to just let a playmate go to waste.
“Maybe it is the drinks,” I said. “Or maybe it’s the fear.”
“Fear?”
“You’re afraid of me, sweetie. You like the way I make you feel. You want to know how someone you just met can make you feel the way you do. You’re tempted to join me in that bathroom over there. We both know it. And you want to know what I feel like… everywhere…”