Interlude

by D. Kelly

  “Come on Al, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know, but even though I want to talk to you about this, I need liquid courage because Evan is a touchy subject. You can sleep with me tonight, Jordan. In the bed, I mean. It’s huge, and I trust you.”

  “You do, huh?” As I get to my feet, she grabs my shirt pulling me to her.

  “Yup, but maybe you shouldn’t trust me.” Her lips meet mine, and she dips her tongue into my mouth before pulling back too quickly for my liking.

  “Fuck, Allie.”

  Her eyes sparkle as they meet mine. “I just had to know.”

  Why is she speaking in code? “Know what?”

  “If the spark I felt the first night would still be there.”

  Now that should freak me out, but it doesn’t at all. “And is it?”

  She closes her eyes and nods. They flutter open slowly, and her beautiful blue eyes lock on mine. “I’m not sure it ever left.”

  The rest of the night passed in a blur. I couldn’t get her last comment out of my mind—or that kiss. Even when Tyler texted me “Merry Christmas,” I only replied with a similar greeting instead of engaging him in conversation like usual.

  By the time we went to bed, the two of us were both pretty well lit, along with all of my siblings. The kids were asleep, and Santa’s sleigh had delivered the goods before we all went our separate ways.

  “Your nieces are going to be so excited when they wake up in the morning,” Allie says while digging through her bag.

  “They sure will be—”

  “Why did you stop talking?” Allie turns toward me, and my cock twitches. She’s in her bra and in the process of kicking off her pants.

  “You’re practically naked. Why would I want to talk when I can watch?”

  She shrugs and smiles. It’s a beautiful sight. “Well, you’ve pretty much seen it all, so I figured why be modest?”

  I take a step toward her, and she holds out her hand. “Not so fast. You and I need to talk, and I can’t do that half naked.”

  “Really? I do some of my best talking fully naked.”

  Allie laughs as she puts on an oversized shirt and a pair of yoga pants. “Somehow, I don’t doubt that.”

  I strip down to my boxers, and she looks at me expectantly. “What?”

  “Where are your pajamas?”

  I laugh. “You’re looking at them.”

  “You can’t be serious!” She motions at me with her hands. “How am I supposed to keep away from all of … that … if you’re not wearing any clothes?”

  She’s adorable. “The same way you do when I am? I promise I won’t touch you, unless you want me to.”

  I get into bed and under the covers to prove my point, and as she slides in next to me, I turn off the light.

  “That’s the problem. I always want you to,” she grumbles.

  “Come again?”

  She huffs and flips onto her side, facing me. The room is dark, but the moonlight casts enough of a soft glow for me to see her. “That’s what I was trying to say earlier. When I was with Evan, I thought things were great until he started cheating on me. The last year and a half we were together, we never even had sex. I don’t know why I stayed with him, but complacency, like Mel said in her book, was the closest thing I could come up with to describe it.”

  “So you left.”

  “After some careful planning, yes. And the sex … I didn’t realize it was nice, not until you. Like, how did I spend so many years of my life with him and not understand our sex life was lacking? Not only was the O factor missing but the wow factor was too!”

  She’s uninhibited due to the alcohol. I could listen to her all night and not get bored. “The O Factor?”

  “Yeah, that’s what Mel calls the loss of orgasms in her book, The O Factor.”

  Wait … what? “Allie, are you telling me he stopped giving you orgasms?”

  “This is so embarrassing.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re you. All manly and six-packed and tattooed and fucking gorgeous. You’ve got women and men practically falling at your feet. Your cousins and best friends are famous, and you probably have more sex than anyone I’ve ever met. Your orgasm cup probably runs so far over that I could slip and fall just standing next to you.”

  She’s drunk and rambling and all I want to do if kiss the hell out of her. “Allie, please answer my question because your drunk speak is adorably cute and making my dick harder than a rock.”

  She gasps and leans forward as if she wants to see. “That’s so hot. See what I mean? You’re insanely experienced, and I just left a guy I was with for six years who never gave me an O.”

  Holy shit.

  My lips crash down onto hers, and she throws her leg over my hip. Our tongues meet, and her soft whimpers fuel my desire for her. She should know how much she’s desired and one idiot boyfriend won’t define how sexual she can be.

  Reluctantly, I pull away from her. I promised her nothing would happen, and she’s not sober. “Allie, you deserve so much better than someone who won’t take care of your needs, all of your needs. As much of a pleasure it would be to get you off … and I do mean my pleasure … you also deserve someone who will keep his promises to you. I promised nothing would happen tonight. I meant it.”

  She sighs. “I’m a turn-off to you now, aren’t I?”

  I take her hand and place it on my cock to prove one final point. “Does that feel like someone who is turned off by you?”

  “No,” she whispers.

  “Exactly. What do you want, Allie? Are you looking for a relationship? A fuck buddy? A friend? Honestly, most of my encounters, with the exception of Ty and now you, are random.”

  “Why me?”

  “I’ll let you know when I figure it out. Now, answer the question.”

  She flips onto her back and faces the ceiling. “I told myself when I moved here that I would give it at least six months before I jumped into any kind of dating or sex. A month of reflection for each year I spent with that asshole. Time to get to know myself and trust I’ll never put myself in that kind of situation again.”

  “So you want a six-month reprieve. I think that’s understandable.”

  “But then I met you and nothing has been the same since. You’re my boss and Sasha’s best friend, and you have this long-term, off-and-on boyfriend who is such a nice guy. I don’t want to come between any of that. I don’t want to move again or lose my job. I just want to live in my happy bubble with Sasha.”

  I pull her to her side and brush the hair out of her face. “Figure yourself out first, Allie. You are the most important thing in this equation. The rest will be there when you’ve got it all figured out. We’ll all still be here.”

  “You’re too hot to still be single by then,” she whines.

  I chuckle—it’s the alcohol talking. I see it all the time in the bar.

  “First of all, there’s no such thing as too hot to be single. I’ve been single for twenty-eight years, and I don’t anticipate that changing. If it does, it wasn’t meant to be. Ty and I have shit to figure out. Maybe your six-month window is exactly what I need to work things out with him one way or the other. We’ve been going back and forth for far too long, and it’s not fair to either of us.”

  She wraps her arms around me and snuggles close. “You’re right. Taking six months for myself is the best thing. We’ll still be friends, right?”

  “Yup.

  Allie yawns. “If you and Tyler work things out, I’ll be happy for you, Jordan. I promise.”

  I kiss the top of her head. “Thank you.”

  “Do you know what would make me happy though?”

  “Allie, I don’t have a clue, but I think you should tell me.”

  “Fat Bastard. Can I come over and hang out with him? Especially on the nights when you and Sasha close? I wouldn’t be so lonely.”

  She
wants to come hang out with my mean-ass cat? “You can come hang with FB anytime you’d like.”

  “Thanks, Jordan.”

  “Merry Christmas, Allie.”

  “Merry Christmas, J.”

  New Year’s Eve

  Sasha and I got to work extra early today. She and Jordan usually do a lot of the prep work themselves, but Noah is proposing to his girlfriend today. It must be epic because he recruited a bunch of help.

  Jordan laughed when I practically swooned over how romantic Noah is for going to such great lengths to win Mel’s heart. If he thinks that’s bad, he definitely doesn’t want to see me curled up on his couch with his cat watching a chick flick.

  “You are so distracted today. What gives?” Sasha hands me a bottle of gin to shelve. As soon as she got back into town yesterday, she crashed.

  “Nothing. Sorry.”

  She eyes me suspiciously but changes the subject. “Well, fill me in on Christmas with the Westons. How did it go?”

  Even thinking about Christmas has heat rushing to my cheeks for many reasons.

  “Allie … did you and J fuck?”

  “What? No!”

  “Then why did you go from pale to lobster in three seconds flat? Did he get you off again?”

  Why did I tell her about that night?

  “Sasha, stop. Nothing happened. Well, we might have kissed, but honestly, I was drunk and embarrassed myself more than anything. I’m surprised Jordan doesn’t laugh whenever he looks at me.”

  She stops unpacking the box of alcohol on the counter and turns to me. “What did you do?”

  “I told him about Evan.”

  She furrows her brow. “I’m confused. I thought he already knew about Evan. Isn’t that how you two got into the compromising position in the first place?”

  “No, I told him why I left Evan. About the lack of … well, you know.”

  Sasha doubles over in laughter. “You must have been drunk, and I have to say I’m a bit disappointed in my boy. You told him Evan lacked in the big O department and he didn’t make it his mission to give you as many as he could? Jordan is losing his touch in his old age.”

  As I wash my hands, I think back to that night. “I think he would have because the kiss he planted on me was … wow. But I also told him about my six-month rule. I think he was trying to honor that. He did say something, and I wasn’t sure how to take it.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Something like, he should try that with Ty. Give himself six months to figure out what they are or aren’t. I don’t know, Sasha. This whole thing is way more complicated than I want.”

  She clicks her tongue at me and goes back to the box. “You like him; it’s not that complicated.”

  “He’s my boss, and he’s obviously in love with Tyler. I’m not looking to be in a love triangle, and even though it doesn’t bother me in the slightest that J is bi, I definitely don’t have the right equipment to compete with Ty, even if I wanted to.”

  Sasha completely stops what she’s doing and hops up on the bar and sits, patting the spot next to her for me to join her. “I’m going to tell you this because I realize it can be a complicated discussion to have with anyone. Since I’m Jordan’s best friend, I know this answer inside and out because we’ve talked about it many times.”

  “Why do I have a feeling I’m about to be schooled?”

  “Because you are. Look, Jordan is a sexual person. He has been as long as I’ve known him. The thing about J is, he keeps his feelings on lock. If you ever hear him say, ‘It’s just sex,’ that’s because to him, it is. Maybe his casual encounters are a bit more mood-driven as far as guy or girl, but that’s the extent of it. When it comes to relationships, the closest he’s ever been to one is Tyler.”

  “Great.” I hop off the bar to get back to work.

  “Stop, Allie, and listen to me.” Sasha’s tone leaves no room for argument. I turn back toward her, and she nods. “Better. I don’t want you to hang your hopes on Jordan because, like I told you in the beginning, he’s dark and has more baggage than a loaded 747. But I’m not your father, and I’m not going to tell you what to do. The fact he’s setting boundaries with you, getting to know you, and kissing you, says more than you can begin to understand.”

  “Why kissing?”

  She squeezes my hand. “Because Jordan has intimacy issues that are wrapped around a bundle of trust issues. When he tells you his past, you’ll understand. He avoids kissing at all costs. That’s not to say he doesn’t ever do it, but his lips are usually reserved for Ty, and now, you.”

  I’m not sure why, but her words hit me low in my gut. “What does that even mean?”

  Sasha smiles. “I’m not exactly sure, but you guys will figure it out. Please just keep in mind that Jordan may not come across like it, but he’s fragile in more ways than most people.”

  Jordan, Sawyer, and Mac walk into the bar, cutting our conversation short.

  “Ladies, how is your day going?” Sawyer slides onto a barstool and flashes one of the sexiest grins I’ve ever seen. No wonder Sasha gets in his pants when he’s in town.

  “Better now that you’re here, sexy.” Sasha already has two beers open for them, and I make a mental note of what kind for later.

  “You always know just what I like.”

  Jordan holds up a hand as Mac laughs. “Stop it, you two. I’m serious, not tonight. It’s the bar’s biggest night of the year, and I can’t afford to lose my soon-to-be bar manager for the five minutes it will take to get your rocks off in my office.”

  “Fifteen,” Sawyer corrects as Sasha squeals and wraps her arms around J.

  “Are you serious? You’re going to give me an official title even though I’ve done the work for years?”

  “And a raise, but not until summer. I have a few things I have to work out first. If you still want the job then, it’s yours.”

  She leans in and kisses his cheek. “Of course, I want it, and once you realize how well I do at manager, you’re going to want me to become a co-owner one day. I just know it.”

  Jordan’s eyes grow wide, and Sawyer laughs at the two of them. “Since I won’t be the official owner for years to come, I’m not sure that will ever happen.”

  That’s when I see the similarities between the brothers for the first time. Sawyer’s eyes narrow into slits. “You are the only owner, J, and you know it. If Noah and I had our way, we’d rip up that stupid loan contract in a second.”

  Jordan storms off, and Sawyer starts texting on his phone. Sasha ignores the blowup and starts chatting with Mac. Stepping away to check on J, I find his office door half open and peek my head inside.

  “Are you okay?”

  His expression softens. “I’m fine. Come on in and have a seat.”

  “I don’t want to intrude. That just seemed intense, and well … here I am.”

  “Here you are, indeed,” he says with a smile, and I finally take a seat.

  “So, uh, any resolutions tonight?”

  His lascivious gaze rakes over me, making me wet between the thighs. Why does he affect me this way?

  “To finally make a go of this thing with Tyler or end it altogether.”

  His words do not even begin to match his expression, and it throws me. “Oh, well that’s good. I hope things work out for you, Jordan.”

  “They will, one way or the other,” he answers without taking his eyes off of me.

  Standing abruptly, he motions to the cabinet behind me. “Can you hand me the shirt on the top shelf? I can’t expect you guys to wear your shirts if I don’t wear mine.”

  We don’t have to wear a uniform, but on big nights, Jordan has us all wearing shirts with the bar name and logo. V-necks for the girls, unless they’re morally opposed, and regular for the guys. Sasha cut her V even lower; she says it’s great for tips, but she’s also an attention whore.

  “Yeah, sure.” I walk over to the cabinet, and wh
en I turn around, J is right behind me, shirtless, and I’m sure it’s payback from when I changed in front of him at Christmas.

  “Like what you see?”

  The glimmer in his eyes fades when he sees the worried look on my face. I reach for his left side by his ribs and caress his scar. How did I not see this at Christmas?

  “What happened?” The scar isn’t big, but it’s noticeable enough that I know whatever happened was painful.

  He reaches for my fingers and squeezes them gently before pulling them away. “Gunshot.” Then he tosses his shirt on and sits back down behind his desk.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry or step out of line. I should get back to work.”

  “Allie, wait …” He runs his hand through his hair and exhales. “It’s a touchy subject and not something I like to think about, but I’ll tell you about it one day. In the meantime, you should know Tyler will be here tonight.”

  I’m still stuck on the gunshot thing. “Okay, not a problem.”

  “One more thing before you go.” I pause at the door, and he continues. “What are your resolutions?”

  With a shrug, I flash him a fake smile. “Watch more chick flicks with a big fat cat.”

  Jordan laughs, and I make my exit and get back to work.

  By eleven thirty, the bar is standing room only. There’s a section of the bar that’s blocked off by three massive bodyguards surrounding Sawyer, Darren, Darren’s girlfriend Belle, their sister Rory, Tyler, and Rory’s date for the night, Eli Watts.

  I’m not star struck very often, but seeing Eli up close reminds my inner teenage girl she’s alive and well. Eli used to be in one of the biggest boy bands of all time. He’s a blond-haired, blue-eyed god, and from the way he looks at Rory, he’s also off the market.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Darren flagging me down. By the time I make my way to them, Tyler is noticeably absent. “I have a question for you,” he says.

  I lean in close so I can hear him better. There’s a live band tonight, so it’s louder than normal. “Well, I might have an answer for you if you ask nicely.”

  “I knew I liked you for a reason,” Belle says as Darren wraps his arm around her. They’re adorably cute together, and that baby bump she’s sporting makes them even cuter.