Up to Me - By M. Leighton Page 0,4

left his car here last night and hasn't been by to pick it up yet."

"Why would he do that? Where was he going?" she asks, clearly puzzled.

"He didn't say. He just asked if he could leave it here for a day or two. That's all I know."

A sigh puffs out her cheeks. It's unlike Marissa to get so upset, to get so emotional. Normally her settings don't vary much. She goes from bitch to cold to luke warm and back again. There's very little else to her personality.

"I guess I'll just keep trying his cell phone," she says, looking at his car. When she turns back to me, there is suspicion in her eyes. "I'll find him. One way or the other. Sorry to bother you, Cash." That's a lie. She's not the least bit sorry to bother me. And that threat? Oh, how I'd love to address it!

She starts to walk away, but stops and turns back. "Is Olivia still here? I saw her car out front."

"Yeah, she's closing up. Why?"

"I left her a couple of messages, but she hasn't called me back yet. I drove from the airport straight to Nash's and then came here."

"Do you want me to give her a message?"

She frowns and purses her lips as she thinks. "No, that's okay. Just tell her I'll see her when she gets home. She shouldn't be much longer, right?"

I don't hit women. Ever. But Marissa makes me wish that, for about ten seconds, I weighed a hundred pounds less and had tits. Not only is her interruption untimely, now she's going to screw up the rest of my night, too.

"Uh, no. She shouldn't be too much longer. You go on ahead. I'll give her the message and see that she gets out of here before too long."

Marissa's smile is cool and satisfied, which set my teeth on edge. Being polite and unaffected, pretending I'm an uninvolved party, sucks ass!

"Okay. Thanks, Cash."

I smile tightly and wait until she turns away before I close the door. I'd really like to slam it and cuss a blue streak, but there's no point. Damn it.

Olivia is just putting the wrap on the liquor bottle pourers, the last task of every night, when I make my way out to her. She turns to look at me. For a fraction of a second, something feels different. Off. But then she smiles and I put it out of my mind.

That smile...Mmm, it makes my chest almost as tight as my jeans.

I walk over, stopping at the bar across from her. I watch as she wraps the last bottle and puts it back on the shelf. She looks around, making sure everything is done and the bar is clear before she turns to me. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"

Shyly, she looks away for a heartbeat before she brings her eyes back to mine. She's still not quite comfortable with compliments, which shocks me. How someone who looks like she does could ever feel less than drop-dead gorgeous is beyond me. Yet she does. In a backward way, that makes her even more appealing.

"You might've mentioned it once or twice before," she says coyly, biting her lip in that way I love. It makes me want to carry her into the back room again. But it would have to be quick. And a quickie isn't what I want with this girl. Unless it can be followed up with something much more...thorough.

Watching me from the corner of her eye, she turns and starts walking slowly toward the cut-out. With the bar between us, I walk with her.

"That's right. I did mention it before. I remember telling you how amazing you are. I think we were in front of a mirror." My dick twitches behind my zipper just thinking about sliding into Olivia from behind and coming inside her in the ladies' bathroom at Tad's. "Does that sound familiar?"

As she walks, she glances up at me from the corner of her eye. I see the flash of hot desire. I know she remembers it just as perfectly as I do.

She clears her throat. "Um, yeah. That seems vaguely familiar." Her grin is playful.

God, what