by Stacy Eaton
Another round of pounding filled the air. “Hold your damn horses, I’m coming!” I partially shouted and growled at the same time as I glanced at the screen on my phone. There were a bunch of missed calls and texts, but I ignored them to pull open the door. “What?”
Alex stood on the other side. “You’re alive. You alone?”
“Yes, I’m alone. Did you forget that I was working on the cameras until after three in the morning?”
“No, I didn’t forget, but you never miss a text or call. I was just going to let you know that I was dropping your truck off, but you didn’t answer.”
“So you came over here to pound on my door? What if I wasn’t home?”
Alex cocked his head and started to smile. “Where else would you be?”
I glared at him and then walked away from the door. I needed coffee, and I wasn’t in the mood to play games. Yes, I had fallen asleep relatively fast, but I’d woken up about five or six times and hadn’t gotten all that much sleep.
“How is Lexi?”
“She’s fine,” he stated. “How did it go last night?”
I stared at him for a moment and then went back to pouring the water into the coffee maker. “Before I answer that, I want to know if Lexi really had an issue last night, or if that was a setup to get Ali and I together?”
“Did it work?”
“You’re an ass. All of you are assholes.” I grunted. “The system is up and running. It just needs Mike to make it live.”
“It’s already live.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, Mike did it first thing this morning.”
“Does it look alright?”
He shrugged. “I have no clue. I guess we will see how it does today when her employees are there. You might need to go in and adjust a camera or two.”
“Not me. Get someone else to do it.”
“Um…” He paused, and I stepped away and opened the fridge to pull out the makings of my green shake. “I thought that things were okay with you two. Did something happen last night?”
I wanted to burst out laughing. “No.”
“No?”
I grabbed the soy milk and put it on the counter next to my greens. “No, I would just prefer for someone else to do it.”
“Harv, did something happen last night?”
“I told you no.”
“Alright, well, I guess if you don’t want to see her again, I can do it.”
The idea of anyone else being around her in the middle of the night irked me something fierce, but Ali wasn’t my problem—and she sure as hell wasn’t mine to worry about.
“Where is the tablet?”
“In the top bin near the door,” I told him, and he went to get it while I put all my ingredients into my blender. I added protein powder to it and was getting ready to hit the button when Alex came back into the kitchen.
“Looks like the cameras are working.” He held the tablet out toward me, and I zeroed in on Ali moving around the kitchen.
She glanced up at one of the cameras, and her lips were moving. “What is she saying?”
“Don’t know,” Alex said and pushed a button on the screen to see if he could pick up the microphone. The small ones didn’t have sound, but the main ones did.
We could just make out what she was saying, and Alex turned it up. “I guess it doesn’t matter; you did it for your own reasons. I might never know what they were or why you demanded that I leave, but I have to respect your wishes.”
“I assume she is talking about you?” Alex said in question, and I hushed him as she continued.
“I wondered for a long time this morning if maybe I had been the only one to feel it, and that’s why you kicked me out.”
“You kicked her out?” Alex asked quickly.
“Shut up!” I hissed at him as I took the tablet from his hands and walked away. She looked like she hadn’t slept all night, either. That was no doubt my fault.
She sighed. “I thought you had, but I guess I was fooling myself.” She shook her head. “See, that’s part of my problem; I think that when I feel something, someone else might too. That’s why I decided to do this stupid dancing show anyway. I thought maybe without words, with just movement, I might find someone who was perfect for me.”
She frowned, and I sank onto my sofa. I felt Alex step behind the couch and knew he was watching. I didn’t care. I only cared what she had to say.
She glanced up, her green eyes wary. “I sure thought I did. I mean, I know I told you that I was sorry and that I had chosen wrong, but what Blake and I—”
I turned off the speaker before I could hear what she had to say. I didn’t want to know what Ali and Blake had together. It didn’t matter. Her words didn’t matter. I tossed the tablet to the couch cushion and started toward the stairs.
Alex grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing, I need a shower. I don’t have time to listen to her boohoo about how she picked Blake and doesn’t know what to do now.”
“What happened with you two last night?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
Alex laughed. “That sure didn’t sound like nothing. Did you sleep with her when she brought you home?”
“No!”
“Did you kick her out before you could sleep with her?”
I rubbed my hands up and down over my face and then sighed. “She came in, she pushed the limit. I didn’t give her anything she didn’t ask for.”
Alex frowned and shoved my shoulder. “Ask for? What the hell did you do, Harv? Did you hurt her?”
“Whoa, I would never physically hurt a woman.”
“Then what the fuck did you do, man?”
I turned and plopped my ass on the second step. “Ali pushed me last night, and I told her that she needed to leave, or I was going to have her screaming my name. She refused to leave, so I took her upstairs and made her scream my name. We didn’t have sex, though. That’s when I told her to leave.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because she’s still with Blake!” I jumped to my feet. “I don’t do cheats, Miller. I forgot about it just long enough to lose my head, but then I remembered before it was too late. I am not that kind of guy. I will not be that guy.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ali
What was going on? Why did he want me to leave? Was he seriously going to walk out of here? I stared at the empty doorframe, heard a board creak on the wooden steps, and realized he honest to god was.
What in the hell just happened? Didn’t he want this? Had I been mistaken?
Holy crap! I must have been! What a fool he must think I am to throw myself at him as I did. I gathered the rest of my clothes and quickly dressed. Where were my car keys? I looked around and then put my hands to my face. I had left them and my purse in the car. Talk about sidetracked!
He wanted me to leave, then fine, I would leave. I lifted my chin and went down the stairs. At the bottom, I stared at him from across the room. My body still screamed for him, my heart wanted to wrap itself around him, but it was so damn obvious that he didn’t want that. His features were hard, stormy almost, and they were like a knife to the heart.
I had been so wrong about this man. How could I have thought that we would be good together? How could I possibly have thought that dancing with a stranger would have found me someone to love. The blade in my heart twisted. As I continued to stare at him, there were so many emotions in his eyes, but his face was blank. I didn’t understand any of this. I realized that I was about to walk away from a man that I could have loved with my entire soul, and my heart ached. For that man, I might have done anything.
A tear crept out and slipped slowly down my cheek. Did he see it, did he care? I turned away and wiped it as I went to the door. I opened the door, but I didn’t bother to close it. I was too broken at the moment to care. It was drizzling outside as I rushed to my car and jumped inside.
; I turned the key with shaking hands, my eyes as blurry as the windshield before I turned on the wipers, and then I pulled out of his driveway and drove away. I didn’t stop driving until I arrived at my house, and then I grabbed my purse, went in through the garage door, and promptly slipped to the floor and sobbed.
After a few moments of self-pity, I picked myself up and went to take a shower. I forced myself not to think about Harvey—almost succeeded until I climbed under the sheets.
Then the entire night began to play over and over again, and it was just as I was falling asleep that I realized what had happened. He had mentioned Blake and me earlier in the night, and I hadn’t corrected him. Had he pushed me away because his conscience had gotten the better of him? Had he thought that I was still with Blake?
No wonder there was malice and disgust in his eyes as I left his place. He thought I was cheating on Blake. Holy crap. I needed to figure out a way to fix this. It was only after I thought I had it figured out that I finally drifted off to sleep.
The next day, I was up earlier than I wanted and headed straight into the restaurant. Today I needed to oversee the inventory and approve the menu for the next week. Once a month, we made significant purchases of all the dry ingredients that we would need for the coming weeks. Then every week, we brought in perishables, and meat arrived almost daily, along with more in-season vegetables.
When I stepped into the kitchen, I paused and glanced at the camera on the ceiling pointed at me. It was odd knowing that everything we did would be recorded now, but that was for the safety of our patrons. I winced as I walked under it and to my office.
Before I got busy with paperwork, I went into the kitchen and started preparing a brunch meal for my employees. They would be here soon, and those who volunteered to come in early today always received a free meal before we got to work.
I had pulled out my favorite knife and was starting to dice vegetables when I glanced up and noted the screw. An idea came to me of how I might be able to reach Harvey. I had no clue if there was any audio, but maybe there was. I also had no idea who would watch this, or if it was even on yet, but it was the least I could do. I would need to be careful in what I would say, though. I didn’t think he’d want his friends to know what happened between us.
Would he see it? I had no clue, but maybe if he wasn’t watching and someone else was, they would tell him. If there were no audio, then people would think I liked to randomly talk to myself—which wasn’t too far off.
I glanced at the screw again. “Alright, so maybe you are watching, and you can hear me, if not whoever is watching might think I’m crazy, but this is the only way I know how to talk to you right now.”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t know why you did what you did last night. Maybe I pushed you too hard, or maybe you had a weak moment and gave in. Who knows. I guess it doesn’t particularly matter; you did it for your own reasons. I might never know what they were or why you demanded that I leave, but I have to respect your wishes.”
I paused for a second. “I wondered for a long time this morning if maybe I had been the only one to feel it, and that’s why you kicked me out.” I sighed after a moment. “I thought you had, but I guess I was fooling myself. See, that’s part of my problem. I think that when I feel something, someone else might too. That’s why I decided to do this stupid dancing show anyway. I thought maybe without words, with just movement, I might find someone who was perfect for me.”
I thought over what I wanted to say next. “I sure thought I did. I mean, I know I told you that I was sorry and that I had chosen wrong, but what Blake and I had on the dance floor was exactly what you had said, it was safe. It was also very wrong. He isn’t the one that I want. He never really was. I want sexy and exhilarating, and a man who can make my toes curl with a kiss and someone who can make me scream their name.”
I pulled my bottom lip under my teeth as I felt my cheeks warm; that is exactly what he had done to me. I kept my eyes down on my task as I continued. “I wanted a man who wouldn’t try to make me change but would help me find ways to adapt my life into theirs. Someone who appreciated how hard I worked for my career and who saw eye to eye with me.”
I set the knife down and stared at the camera lens. “I found that. I found it in you, Harvey. I should never have picked Blake, but what you don’t know is that I broke it off with him several days ago, and today when the show airs, the entire world will know that I chose wrong. I should have gone with my heart and not my head. I should have chosen you, Harvey. I should have told you that I wanted the next dance with you, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one that lasts forever.”
I hesitated for a few seconds. “I hope you see this. I hope that whoever sees this will put your ass in a chair and make you watch it. I want what we started on that dance floor. I want what we shared last night so briefly. I want you.”
The back door opened, and I quickly glanced at the camera and whispered, “There is only one more thing for me to say. I want you to come to me, and I want you to ask me for the next dance, Harvey. Can you do that? Will you do that?”
I shifted away as Malick called out my name and said good morning.
“Hey, Malick, how are you this morning?”
He pointed at the ceiling. “Those went up pretty fast.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, they went up last night.”
“How late were you here?” he asked as he came around the counter. “What are we making this morning?”
“Three, and I thought I would do a quiche. Do we have any leftover ham? We could add some of that.”
“Yes, we do, on it, Chef!” he said. With that, I forgot about Harvey, the cameras tucked into every nook and cranny, dancing and the show, and focused on what mattered right now: cooking breakfast and taking care of my kitchen.
Dinner was in full swing when David popped his head into the kitchen. “Ali, you’re on television!”
I glanced at the clock, well, I guess it was on. Too bad I wasn’t going to be able to see it. I’d have to wait until I got home and watch the recording that I had set up earlier this week.
“Um, David, how do you know that I’m on television? Did you get one back in the scrub room?”
“Nah, I just got a text from my girlfriend. She said she’s watching it.”
“Alright, well, put your phone away and get back to work. You can see the rerun later.”
“You going to tell us which guy you picked?” Melinda asked. Because of our contracts, Blake and I had kept our relationship quiet from all our friends, except Charlie. She was the only one that knew. Everyone I worked with just knew that I was dating someone, and I would announce it when I could.
I pondered that question for a moment. “Let’s just say that I followed my head and not my heart, and I probably shouldn’t trust my head when it comes to romance.”
Melinda chuckled. “I saw the previews of it; was it the short brown-haired guy, the dark-haired guy, or the blonde that you did choose?”
I sighed. “I chose Blake, the blonde.”
“Oh, he was an attractive guy,” Melinda stated, and Wallace frowned at her.
“Hey, Wallace, you do know that we are allowed to look at other men, just like you are allowed to look at other women, right? You just can’t touch,” I said, and a few people laughed. Sadly, the comment out of my own mouth reminded me of last night and what Harvey must have thought of me.
“See?” Melinda glanced at her boyfriend, who rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, right, like that will happen. You just knocked me upside the head the other day for checking a woman out.”
“You were drooling over her, Wallace. There is a difference between checking someone out and saying they are attractive and undressing someone with your eyes.”
More laughter skittered around the room. “Okay, guys, can we get back to our jobs and leave the romance in the alley for a little while longer? We are really close to getting behind, and we can’t afford that
right now, not with everything else going on.”
“Yes, Chef.” A few people commented, and then the conversation was back to what was up, what was new, who needed what, why were the capers not where they were supposed to be, and so on.
Ricardo took my station a few times, as I hit the restaurant floor, speaking to patrons, checking things, and dealing with an inventory issue. By the end of the night, I was whipped, and I didn’t even bother to update reports.
After my lack of sleep last night, I needed to hit the sack early, and I could come in tomorrow morning and catch up. I barely made it back to my place before I couldn’t keep my eyes open, but once I was inside and climbing into bed, my gaze drifted over my television, and I remembered the show.
Yes, I had seen the dances, but I hadn’t seen during practices or before and after the dances. I grabbed the remote, fluffed up my pillow, and hit play. There would be no way to sleep knowing it was there on my recorder, not now. Not until I saw every moment I could of Harvey.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Harvey
I had turned the show on, then turned it off, then turned it back on again. I walked out of the room, returned, went to get a beer, sat down, stood back up, and then left my beer on the table, grabbed my keys and my phone, and walked out the door.
I couldn’t watch it. Part of me wanted to. The sick part of me wanted to replay the whole thing. Maybe I could evaluate everything I did and see where I screwed up? Perhaps I could understand why she chose the way she did. I could see what she saw in Blake, see the connection the two of them had.
And then there was the other part of me that said who the fuck cared. It wasn’t my problem. Ali wasn’t someone that I wanted in my life if she could cheat on a man she had only been with for a few weeks.
I drove down to the local tavern and grabbed a stool at the end of the crowded bar. I was about halfway through my beer when a woman tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see her looking excited but nervous. “Are you him?”