“How about you eat your pie and I’ll order…” She skimmed through the menu. “The chocolate lava cake.”
The waiter nodded, but Roger held up a hand.
“Wait. That sounds great. One chocolate lava cake, two spoons.”
“No,” Jessica said, an edge in her voice. The waiter hesitated, confused. “I want my own. One spoon.”
The waiter smiled and scurried away.
“Your own?” Roger asked, as if she’d just admitted to being a Martian. But then comprehension dawned on his face. “I suppose it’s the craving you get for chocolate around menstruation. I understand,” he said.
At the end of dinner, he paid the bill and led her back to his car. The last place she wanted to go was home, especially since it was Friday night and barely ten o’clock. She was all dressed up, hungry, irritated, and confused from the earlier incident with Slade. And she definitely didn’t want to invite Roger back to her place. Actually, the only thing she really wanted was to see Slade, pull him close, and wring his goddamn neck! After he finished what he’d started, that is.
“Oh, look.” She reached for her phone and pretended to look at her text messages. “My boss needs me to come in tonight. The other bartender is out sick.”
“Really? I thought we could go back to your place and watch a movie…or something.”
She didn’t want to “or something” with Roger. Especially after having almost or somethinged with Slade. She was pretty certain she would be disappointed with Roger’s performance even if she did have an orgasm. Fucking hell—she was going to kill Slade. His non-orgasm was probably better than any orgasm she’d ever had or ever would have with Roger or anyone else.
“Sorry, Roger. Just drop me off. I have a change of clothes at my locker.”
“I can hang out while you work?”
“No. No. It’s a long shift. We close late. Sorry to cut the date short.”
“Okay.” He seemed disappointed as he drove her to the Pier.
When they arrived, he got out and hurried around to open her door. He extended his hand to help her out, and before she had a chance to make a quick exit, he moved closer. Luckily, she anticipated it and quickly turned her face so that his dry, rubbery lips met her cheek. She tried to pull away, but her back was to the car and he was in front of her. She raised her hands to his chest to try to push him away gently, but he didn’t take the hint. It was the world’s longest cheek kiss ever. Jessica squirmed inwardly—there was no possible way that this man could have felt anything but awkwardness from the kiss. But when he finally pulled away, there was something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Lust? No freakin’ way. “Can I call you tomorrow, Jessie?”
“Uh…yeah. Sure. Listen. I gotta run. Patsy and Jett’ll have my ass if I don’t get to work.”
“Call me.” He put his pinky finger and thumb out by his ear like a phone. Like a douche bag.
She didn’t even bother with a polite smile as she ran to the front door of the bar. As soon as it closed behind her, she leaned back against it, closing her eyes for a moment, catching her breath.
—
What the fuck is Jessica doing here? Slade thought as he looked through the window of the bar and saw her get out of the car outside the Pier.
Since leaving her house, he had been pissed at himself. He had left her wet and without relief on her way to a date with another man. He could still taste her, for Christ’s sake. What the fuck had he been thinking? Stupidest idea ever! He’d come here to play pool with Travis and Jack to get his mind off Jessica, but he’d done nothing but think about her.
Now she was coming into the bar with that douche bag? Slade made an excuse to the guys and walked closer to the window to see. The guy opened the car door and helped her out. Then he leaned forward and his lips touched her—not her lips, but still, any part of her was off-limits. Slade’s fists clenched as Jessica’s hands went to the asshole’s shirt, just as she’d done to him earlier. Was she pulling the asshole closer to her? Slade held his breath.
The moment the asshole’s mouth disconnected from her cheek, Jessica made a run for it. It didn’t seem as if she’d enjoyed the kiss.
Slade let out a