Bartender with Benefits

by Mickey Miller

“I thought I’d lost you, too,” I say.

  “It’s okay,” he says, and he wraps me up in the tightest hug I’ve ever had.

  I put my hand against his chest. “I don’t want to leave you. Ever again,” I say.

  “I know,” he says, and I can’t help but chuckle.

  “You know?”

  “It’s a long story. I know about your flight.”

  “Oh.”

  I sniffle, resting my hand on his shoulder. “I do love you, Mason. Sorry I couldn’t say it yesterday.”

  He pulls his head back. “And I fucking love you too, baby,” he says. Grabbing hold of me, he kisses the shit out of me.

  Holy freaking magic carpet ride.

  I have never been kissed like this before.

  For a minute, I’m worried I might just have an orgasm in the middle of the bar.

  Then I hear a throat clear, interrupting our make-out session. “Excuse me?!”

  It’s the man who was sitting next to me. “If you don’t like my stories, Miss, you don’t have to go to all this trouble of putting an act together. You know, you can just tell me politely that you’re bored.”

  Mason smiles at the guy, “It’s just so much more fun this way, though, isn’t it?” and goes back to kissing me.

  Epilogue - Mason

  Friends with benefits? Never

  One Year Later

  I think it’s a Tuesday, but I can’t be sure. I’ve kind of lost track here in Margharitaville.

  I mean Costa Rica.

  But wait, let me back up for a moment.

  The first summer Firehouse is open is the cherry on top of the best year of my life.

  Edgar recovered, which made me seriously happy. I know he won’t live forever, but he needs to see me walk down the aisle with Clarissa next summer. That is, if Clarissa says yes to the real proposal. Which I’m planning on doing soon.

  I had to take back Clarissa’s ring and give it back to him, which Clarissa was fine with after I told her the whole story.

  And then Edgar gave it right back to me when he realized how much Clarissa meant to me.

  It’s odd. I didn’t think I was totally unhappy before I met Clarissa. But after spending the summer together with her, I have this odd feeling that I’ve been missing something my whole life and just never quite understood what that was exactly, until she walked into my life.

  In fact, it was so busy that Clarissa never did even get to apply for the the job to be a social worker for Blackwell high. She volunteers after school sometimes, but other than that, the bar business has been booming and more than enough to support us.

  So come next January, I surprise her with a trip.

  We get the number of the volunteer organization her friend worked with in Costa Rica, and head down there for a full month while Roger takes over the management of Firehouse for the slow season.

  So late this afternoon, I’m leaning back in a hammock on our oceanside Cabin that we’ve rented.

  My phone buzzes. I look down, and it’s a call from Cole coming in over the wifi.

  “Buddy,” I say with a smile when I pick it up.

  “My man,” Cole says, his tone light. “How the hell is Costa Rica?”

  “Dude. Sun and surfing and relaxing. Feels so damn good to be here in the warm weather.”

  “I’m jealous. It touched down to freezing the other night here.”

  “Can’t say we’ve had to deal with much of that.”

  Cole clears his throat. “So, did you do it yet?”

  “Not yet. I’ve got the plan all set out, though. It’s going into action as soon as she gets back from her class.”

  “Good. Glad you are doing it, man.”

  “Thanks. I mean, she still has to say ‘yes.’”

  “I’m serious. I’m fucking thrilled that I’ll get to have you as a brother-in-law. You’re a great guy, Mason.”

  “Wow. I think I might cry. That’s such a nice compliment.”

  “Dude. Come on.”

  I laugh, spinning my drink in my hand. “Just kidding. It means a lot coming from you. Especially considering how weird it was when we started hanging out.”

  Cole takes a long pause on the other side of the phone. I sip my drink and readjust my body position in the hammock.

  “All good, Worthington. Although I have to admit, it seems like ancient history now but I was worried about you two for a little bit last year.”

  “Worried? What on earth about?”

  He chuckles awkwardly. “It’s seems dumb, in retrospect. But I kept getting this feeling you might just be like, her ‘friend with benefits’ or something like that.”

  I clear my throat. “Who, me? Friends with benefits with Clarissa? I would never.”

  “Now I know that. But I just worry about my little sister. She’s the only one I’ve got.”

  My throat feels clogged. I hate lying to Cole. But to explain the truth about Clarissa and I is a story for another time.

  Maybe I’ll wait until Christmas twenty years from now, and we’ll all have a big laugh about it. Instead, I focus on what’s true about all of my feelings now. Because I’ve never felt more resolved in my life about something.

  “Cole, you have my word I’ll take good care of her. Don’t you fucking worry.”

  There’s a long pause on the other end of the phone. I hear Cole breathing. And I hear Rose’s voice in the background.

  “Thanks man,” he finally says, he voice a tad hoarse. “Anyways, I’ve got to go. Give me a ring tomorrow or something and let me know how it goes.”

  “I’ve got my fingers crossed that she says yes.”

  “Shut up dude. You know she loves you.”

  I smile as I hang up.

  I turn back to the beach, and inhale a deep breath of fresh air.

  The sun sets over the Pacific Ocean, giving the sky an orange-red glow. A warm breeze hits my face and Margaritaville plays in the background as I sway back and forth a little. I sip my drink, slowly, and wait for my favorite part of the day.

  It starts when I see Clarissa, at least a football field away, walking nonchalantly down the beach. I can make out her unmistakable figure in the distance.

  Hey, call me a creep, but I love watching Clarissa when she doesn’t know I am. And from a distance right now, she can’t see me. She doesn’t know all the things I’ve seen her do while I’ve been watching her walk home on the shore from her job as a teacher these past couple of weeks.

  In no particular order, I’ve watched her:

  break into dance

  do cartwheels

  squat down and pet a dog

  twirl

  stop and stare out into the ocean for many minutes

  So yeah, watching her as she walks back on the sandy shores of Sámara is my favorite part of the day. Today, she’s got on her black and white bikini and a towel wrapped around her waist.

  Yes, a bikini. She teaches class on the beach.

  I really should have went to school in Costa Rica, I decide.

  As she comes closer, the smile on my face widens, and my heart thumps just a tad harder.

  I see a couple of the locals check her out as they pass her on the beach, and a strain of jealousy surges through me. It’s completely irrational, but it’s there.

  She pretends not even to notice them, though.

  I want to tell them, back off fellas. She’s mine. Very officially mine, now.

  From a hundred feet or so away, she spots me, and a giant smile spreads over her face. She changes the direction of her walk to head straight toward me, and in this moment I’m the luckiest man on earth.

  “Hey Baby.” She smiles as she sits on my lap for a moment so we can kiss.

  The bottoms of her thighs feel hot on top of my swimsuit. I wrap my hands around something like her waist.

  She moans a little and wraps her hand around my head. She lets her body fall onto mine and the hammock rocks back and forth.

  I run my hands along her hips,
and I smile while continuing to kiss her.

  Fuck yes. My girl. Mine.

  Officially and unofficially.

  Her hand runs down my stomach and slides it into my shorts.

  Standing up, she says “Well someone’s excited to see me.”

  “Always,” I smirk. A groan escapes me as she wraps her hand around my cock and plays with it.

  “Let’s take off those glasses, Mr. Bartender,” she says, grinning.

  “Damn,” I say in a foggy voice. “Guess I won’t be able to secretly check out your tits anymore.”

  She throws back her head in laughter as she removes my glasses. “Oh, is that what the glasses were for?”

  “Yes,” I say, grinning.

  “So you’re done staring at them, now?”

  Discarding her towel, she hops onto me and straddles my legs, grinding into my cock in just her bathing suit. My dick is so hard, it’s starting to hurt.

  “Nah,” I smirk as I reach behind her back and untie her top. “Now I’m just going to stare at them with your full knowledge.”

  “Just stare at them?” she chides as she runs her tongue along her lips.

  “Good point.” I growl as her bra falls away. I lick her stomach starting at her belly button, all the way up until my tongue is between her breasts. She arches back, her skin radiating heat.

  I roll my tongue over her breast and nipple, and she emits the cutest moan as her whole body shakes.

  Her body trembles as I roll my beard across her other breast and lick it, too.

  I’m gentle—up to a point. Clarissa has a tendency to tease me with her soft moans.

  “Clarissa, baby,” I growl, when my tongue has a free moment. “I love you. I really fucking love you.”

  “I love you too, Mason,” she mutters between broken breaths.

  I can’t wait any longer. I need to be inside the woman I love.

  I strip her bikini bottoms off, and she obliges me by pulling my swimsuit board shorts down, letting my cock spring free.

  I dangle my legs off the hammock and onto the ground for balance, and bask in the glory of this moment.

  The love of my life is stepping cautiously over me in all her naked glory. She pauses a moment, hovering just over my cock as though she just remembered something important.

  “You’re on the pill now,” I say. “Why are you hesitating?”

  “Not that,” she giggles. “My glasses are still on.”

  She starts to take them off, and I grab her hand.

  “Glasses on,” I say.

  “Really?”

  I nod. Her hair falls in a tangle of waviness to her shoulders. I grab a handful and, right as she’s lowering herself onto the tip of my dick, I kiss the shit out of her. My face knocks into her frames, and our make out is sloppy as she crosses the threshold. Pleasure shoots through me as she works herself down, inch by inch, until she’s swallowing me whole.

  And then the fun really starts.

  In the past year, I’ve learned just how she likes her cocktail.

  Tall, straight-up, and making her scream.

  And minus the tail.

  I know just what she likes. When I grab her hips and force her to fall back, I’m not surprised by her scream.

  Good thing our beachside cabin is isolated, hidden behind a couple of trees. You can see out, but it’s hard to see in.

  Even so, sound carries on this beach, so someone around here probably knows what we’re doing.

  Not like I give a fuck right now, though.

  Clarissa grinds back and forth on my cock, and I lightly wrap my hand around the back of her neck. Her eyes fall to mine.

  We stare into each others’ eyes, like a couple of teenagers locked into a staring contest who both want to win. Our sweaty faces knock together and her glasses tilt a little to one side, threatening to fall from her face. But they don’t.

  I wonder if she feels the same desperation I do. Desperate to know her inside and out. Desperate to give her all of the pleasure she’s given me, times ten.

  “I’m coming, Mason.” She bites into my shoulder and digs her nails up against my back. Her breasts press into my collarbone, and she clenches her pussy desperately. She mutters incoherent whispers against my ear.

  Her voice undoes me.

  I rock into her with all my strength, gripping her hips roughly as she slides up and down on the length of my cock, again and again.

  I snarl and grab her hair as I kiss her violently this time.

  Her whole body shakes, and maybe the earth does too, as my orgasm crashes through me.

  She rests her cheek on my shoulder, and I can feel the smile in her cheek against my beard, even though I can’t see it. I run my hand over every inch of her naked body I can reach. Her fingertips run across my tattoos, my shoulders, my ab muscles. Finally, she pulls off me and stands up. The sunset fades to light violet behind her. Her golden tanned skin is glorious in the warm light. Her hair is all messed up. Post sex hair. She still hasn’t bothered to straighten her fogged-up glasses.

  I wish I could freeze frame this photo for our grandkids.

  Wait—I take that back. Inappropriate.

  Just for me. This is the Clarissa I love. She’s the woman I’ve wanted since I was too young to know what it even meant to need to have a woman to be my partner and leave my legacy on the world.

  I stand up to kiss her once more, and we shower off in the outside shower.

  The night’s not over yet, though.

  We’re supposed to go to dinner, but before we do—I make her a pregame drink—a Jasmine.

  I make a tequila Negroni for myself.

  We sit back as a warm night time breeze sets in. Stars are just beginning to dot the sky. There’s no moon out tonight, so they’ll be sprinkled through the sky in short order.

  “Cheers, Honey,” she says in a soft voice as we clink our glasses together. Before she takes a sip, she pauses.

  “To magic carpet rides,” I wink.

  She rolls her eyes a little.

  But I know she enjoyed the ride she just took.

  She blows a breath of air out of her lungs. “It’s odd. I never drank as much as I have with you. Is it always going to be this way?”

  I shrug. “I’ll keep making the drinks as long as you’re enjoying them. By the way, drink your drink slowly tonight. Please.”

  She shoots me a suspicious look.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it. Please?”

  “You’re saying please? I’ve never known you to use such language. Of course I will, then!”

  She takes another long, slow sip of her drink, and then coughs, putting her hand over her mouth.

  “What the…” She spits something into her hand.

  Her eyes go wide when she sees it’s a giant diamond ring.

  I jump down to a knee in front of her, and take her hand in mine.

  “Baby, I know it’s been a messy ride with me. But you make life worth living. And it might be a bumpy ride with me, but I promise you’ll never be bored. Will you marry me?”

  She wipes a tear away.

  “What took you so damn long?” she whispers strongly as she falls into my arms.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” I say.

  Second Epilogue - Mason

  Hierachies

  Oh.

  So you thought you were done with me.

  Not so fast.

  That’s what I’ve been telling Clarissa for the last four days.

  She has silly requests like “let’s get out of bed” and “I’m hungry.”

  Okay, maybe the second request isn’t so silly.

  But there’s certainly a time in every relationship when the hierarchy of needs changes for a time, and for the remainder of our vacation, this is ours:

  Sex > drinking > sex > swimming > pineapples > Doritos > drinking > eating real food > occasionally breathing

  We’ll get back to real life when it suits us.

  I mean, we’re
going to be starving from all this physical activity at some point soon.

  The next morning, neither of us can sleep and we’re not sure why. Just excitement and antsy-ness.

  Before dawn, we go to the beach and make love at low tide as the sun is coming up, not a soul to be seen for miles around.

  We scribble a heart in the sand, with the letters C + M inside it. As the tide comes in we walk hand in hand on the empty beach, the sand in our toes and the saltwater washing over our feet.

  Friends with lots of real benefits, and no end in sight.

  THE END

  Also by Mickey Miller

  Blackwell After Dark - Small Town Romances

  Ballers Romance Series:

  Standalones:

  Time for a bonus novel:

  About the Author

  Mickey Miller is an emerging author of romance. This is Mickey’s tenth full length novel. You can sign up for his Newsletter here and get a free story: http://bit.ly/MickeyMiller

  Foreward

  Dirty CEO is a modern day Romeo and Juliet retelling that takes place in Chicago, IL—a city with a history of cultural conflicts between the Irish and Italians, especially in the 1920s when Al Capone reigned supreme.

  This is a re-release of a book put out last year. Why the re-release, you ask? Well, last year, when Dirty CEO came out, I didn't have near the fan base I do now. Many of readers said (and still say Dirty CEO was their favorite book). Therefore, I want to re-release Dirty CEO and put it at 99 cents to make sure my audience has the chance to read it. I also decided to take this opportunity to have my new cover designer make an awesome cover! Woot woot!

  Additional notes:

  Although this story includes historical allusions, this is completely a work of fiction. Any likeness to characters living or dead is pure coincidence.

  Kelly’s chapter numbers have been written in the Gaelic, the native language of Ireland. The numbers for Vince’s chapters are written in Vince’s mother language of Italian.