K. Bromberg - Bend

The hostess, Adriane, remembered me from the day before and sat me in Hope’s nearly empty section. I vibrated just knowing she was near. When she came out from behind the kitchen door, I shuddered and adjusted my hardening cock.

She stopped a few feet from the table and stared at me. “What are you doing here?”

I had to bite my tongue to keep from moaning at the view of her cleavage in her tank top. A ripple moved through every nerve in my body.

“I can’t have dinner and a drink?” I quirked my brow at her. Her movements were slow and cautious as she closed the last few feet. “Why are you acting so afraid of me?”

She slammed a napkin down on the table in front of me and glared. “What can I get you to drink?”

I smirked at her. “I’m not sure I can have what I want.”

She looked away, the buzzing heat between us increasing. “Dos Equis?”

I was pleasantly surprised that she remembered. “Water will do me for now.”

She backed up, nearly tripping on her own feet as she turned to head to the bar, an embarrassed blush flooding her face. She looked over at me a couple of times, and I stared straight at her. Last time, I was unprepared to see her again, but tonight, I was going to make sure she knew I wasn’t afraid of the intensity between us.

When she returned with my water and set the glass down, it slipped, tipping over and sloshing water onto the table. We both reached for it, and I barely managed to keep from touching her. The static current was still through the roof with how close we got. I couldn’t image how bad it would be when I actually got some skin-on-skin contact.

“Sorry.” She wiped away the spilled liquid with some napkins.

“Nothing to be sorry about, Hope.”

Her eyes fluttered as I said her name, eliciting the response I was going for. The muscles in her jaw tensed.

“Are you ready to order?”

“I’d like the spicy veggie wrap.”

“For your side?”

“Chips are fine.”

I handed her the menu, and she started to go, then stopped. “Why?”

I sighed, knowing exactly what she meant—the same thing I’d given up on asking. “Fuck if I know.”

She headed back into the kitchen, and I was left with a nearly empty area, nothing good on TV, and a water. Maybe I should’ve gotten the beer. Then again, the calories alone from the other night equated to about ten extra hours of cardio for my week. As much as I loved their pizza, I couldn’t handle it twice in one week.

I pulled out my phone, distracting myself from thoughts of touching her, of letting my cock loose on her. Anything to keep me in check. Puppies seemed like a nice, safe subject.

“Fuck.”

My eye twitched, recognizing the voice of my vapid ex immediately.

“Really, Jared? You didn’t ruin things enough today, so you had to fuck up my dinner tonight?”

The hostess sat them directly across the empty space from me. Shone walked in behind her, ever the lost puppy.

“I was here first. Ignore me, and both our dinners will remain intact.” I glared at her, hoping my death ray beams would work, but they were fresh out of laser gas.

Unfortunately, Hope was their waitress as well. I hated that she was subjected to their poison. As she placed a napkin on their table, it fluttered to the ground. Without thought, she turned around and leaned over, giving me full view of her fuckable tits.

I groaned and palmed my cock, pressing against the hard-on coming back like it’d never gone down when Monica entered the room. The sight killed me and ended way too soon, so I focused on her round ass and fucktastic curvy hips.

Yeah, maybe not such a good idea with the hell-bitch so close.

Once she got their drink order, she came back to check on me. “Refill?”

I licked my lips. “I can’t stop thinking about what I really want.”

She reached out and grabbed my glass. “And for now, that means water.”

I leaned out of the booth to watch her ass as she walked away. No reason to be shy about it.

“A chubby girl, Jared? Really?” the evil voice called out from across the room.

“She’s not chubby.” I turned to glare at her, teeth grinding together.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “She’s packing on a few extra pounds.”

I swiveled in the booth to face her. “Are you saying that because you’re a super-skinny, muscle-obsessed bitch, you can’t see the beauty and sexiness in a soft, healthy, curvy body? I remember back when we met—when you were human—you weren’t too far off from her.”

“I was never that bad.”

“No, you were never that good . She’s a fucking goddess.” I smirked at her and grabbed my dick. “Are you jealous that she can turn me on just by looking at her?”

Her gaze narrowed. “Shouldn’t you be home with your mommy?”

“Shouldn’t you be shutting your fucking trap before you piss me off any more?” I turned to Shone, who sat there with stupid written all over his face, staring at us. “Dude, her pussy isn’t worth the hassle—I should know.”

Monica jumped up, hissing, her face red and angry. “You wouldn’t know good pussy if it jumped on your dick.”

I remained staring at Shone, ignore her tantrum. “And how the fuck do you put up with her bitchitude? I mean, there’s got to be tons of dim-witted girls out there that would be a perfect match for you color of crayon.”

“Man, shut up. Stop pulling me into it.” Shone shook his head and looked at her. “Babe, sit down and ignore him.”

“You should listen to your pup.”

“He’s twenty-four, asshole!”

“And you’re thirty .”

“Shut the fuck up.” She snarled at me, shaking, and by the expression on Shone’s face, he had no idea.

“That’s your comeback?” I quirked my brow at her and then tipped my head back, a strained laugh coming from my chest. “Thank God there are only ten months left on the lease.”

And there it was—the first hint of what was going down. She’d find out next week anyway.

Her expression was priceless—wide-eyed horror. It shocked me to see, because she was smart. How could she not see the writing on the wall? We were done as business partners.

“You think I’m afraid of you?” Her hand shooed at me. “Crawl on back to your mommy’s house.”

I stood up and faced her full on, every muscle tight. I was ready to fucking hit her, and there was no one to hold me back or calm me down—though Shone stood, moving to stand between us.

“Say another fucking word about my mom, bitch.”

“What? What will you do, dickwad?”

I’d become so lost in the blazing anger that I didn’t notice the surge of lust that suddenly pumped through me. It wasn’t until a scream echoed off the walls that my vision cleared and I saw Hope at their table.

“Oops,” she said, picking up a now-empty cup of soda.

“You idiot!” Monica’s screech could be heard blocks away.

“I’m sorry.” Hope remained calm and collected, nothing like when she was near me. A glance my way with a small smile was all I needed to understand she’d done it on purpose.

It was the first sign she’d given me to show she was interested in me for more than the strange, overpowering attraction between us.

The manager came out and asked us to either calm down or leave. There was no way in hell I was leaving, and Monica didn’t back down either. Instead, in her soaking wet clothes, she finally stopped talking and sat back down. She and Shone stayed on their side and left me alone.

Peace at last.

Well, as close as I would get to peace with the fire that ripped through me every time Hope came back in the room. Serving more tables meant she swung by more, and the lust was compounded with each pass. All control was fast slipping from me—I wanted to tear her apart. My muscles flexed, begging to touch her, consume her and burn together. I wanted to take her on the floor right there in front of Monica.