by Levine, Nina
I leant forward and demanded, “What fucking way, J?”
“Like you want to fuck her and not let her go, brother.”
I shoved my chair back. Standing, I muttered, “Not fucking likely. Told you before, that shit’s not for me.”
J laughed. “We’ll see.”
I left him there, laughing to himself. He had me thinking about Harlow though. And that pissed me off because I had so many other things I should be thinking about. This was one reason why I didn’t want to settle down. I’d watched friends settle down; it fucking consumed them and I didn’t have the time or desire for that.
***
The next morning, I still hadn’t heard from Harlow at eleven o’clock so I picked up the phone and called her.
“Sorry, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to scratch myself,” she answered the phone in a flap. It brought a smile to my face; couldn’t tell you why, but it did.
“All good. But I need the fridge details so I can get that organised for you.”
“I’ve got a line that’s six customers deep. Can I text you the info once I get through them?”
“Sure. And once I know what’s happening, I’ll let you know,” I said and hung up. I put the phone down and leant back in my seat thinking about her. I’d actually been thinking about her all last night and most of this morning. Fuck, I’d been waiting for her call. Not my finest moment; waiting for a woman to call me. I wasn’t sure what it was about Harlow that put her in my thoughts so often but I suspected it was how different she was to every other woman I’d ever met. Being VP of Storm, I’d had my share of women who just wanted in on the club. They were an easy lay; there was no challenge there. In fact, there was never any challenge from any of them. Harlow was the opposite; she’d questioned me repeatedly. It annoyed the shit out of me, and yet, at the same time, it turned me the fuck on. I wanted more of her sassy mouth.
***
At three o’clock I parked my bike outside her café. I’d organised the fridge delivery and even though there was no need for me to be, I found myself here for it. I stood outside for a couple of minutes assessing the outside of the café. The outside needed some work; a lick of paint and some new signs wouldn’t go astray. I pushed through the front door and was hit by the country feel they had going on; red and white checkered tablecloths and other random country knick knacks were impossible to miss. It seemed out of place in the middle of Brisbane.
My eyes landed on Harlow who was bending over sweeping dirt up. Fuck, she had an amazing ass and I couldn’t pull my gaze away. I planted my feet wide and crossed my arms across my chest, enjoying the view. She was wearing those tight jeans again and when she finally stood up straight and turned around, I sucked in a breath at the tight as sin red strapless top she had on. Christ, my dick jerked to attention at that.
She was momentarily caught off guard by my presence but quickly recovered, throwing a smile in my direction. “What are you doing here?”
“Came to make sure the fridge arrives okay.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” She walked away from me, towards the counter, and my eyes were trained to her ass again.
The sound of kids coming through the front door pulled me away from what I was doing. Harlow’s face lit up and she greeted the kids. “Hey, you two! Time for some red velvet cake?”
Their mother laughed and nodded. “Yeah, they’ve been hanging out to come and see you and also to have some cake. But mostly to see you.”
Harlow indicated to a seat in the front window. “Take a seat and I’ll bring cake and milkshakes for you.” She looked at me, her face flushed with delight, and said, “Do you want some cake while you wait?”
Not what I’d been expecting but fuck, I never knocked cake back. “Sure, thanks.”
She flashed me a brilliant smile and said, “Great! Grab a seat, I won’t be long.”
I did what she said and waited for my cake while I watched her interact with the kids. She was a natural with them and I found myself wondering why Lisa couldn’t have been blessed with a mother like her; a woman who genuinely loved being with children and gave them her full attention. While I was waiting, an older woman came out from the back area. She looked so much like Harlow that I knew she had to be her mother.
She came over to where I was sitting. “You must be Scott.” She smiled at me.
“I am. What was the dead giveaway?”
Now she laughed. “Could have been the tattoos, or the boots but it was probably the cut you’re wearing.” She winked at me. I liked this woman straight away and that was something that rarely happened.
“Harlow hasn’t told me your name.”
She extended her hand and shook mine. “I’m Cheryl. Nice to meet you. And thank you for what you’ve done for me with the fridge.”
“Good to meet you too, Cheryl. As I said to Harlow, you can’t run a café without the right equipment. Happy to help where I can.”
Harlow interrupted us at that moment when she called across the room. “Mum, can you get Scott some red velvet cake please?”
Cheryl smiled and nodded. “Absolutely. You want a coffee too? Or another drink?”
“Coffee would be good, thanks.”
“Coming right up,” she promised and left to go and make it.
I sat watching Harlow again after her mother left and didn’t realise that the time had passed when Cheryl came back to the table with cake and coffee. She actually had two coffees in her hand, and when she sat at the table with me, I realised she was settling in for a chat.
“Why do I get the impression this is going to be a heart to heart?”
“You’re a very intuitive man, Scott. And you’re a man who my daughter hasn’t stopped talking about for the past couple of days so I want to take this opportunity to find out why.”
I raised my eyebrows. Fuck, this woman was direct; another thing I liked about her. “What do you want to know?”
“The thing I want to know about you isn’t something I’m going to discover from a conversation over coffee. I just wanted to sit with you for a bit and get a feel for you.”
“You don’t pull any punches do you?”
“No, but especially not when it comes to Harlow. She’s been screwed over too many times in life and I don’t want to see that happen to her again.”
“Fair enough. I have to tell you though, that there’s nothing between me and Harlow, so you can rest easy.”
“See, I would have believed that if you hadn’t shown up here today. I would have believed it was all on Harlow’s end but you turning up to oversee a fridge delivery that didn’t need overseeing, that tells me a lot.” She drank some of her coffee and pointed at my cake. “Eat up, it’s good.”
This woman had managed to do something that most people couldn’t do; she’d stunned me into silence. So, I ate cake. It was the safer option. And fuck, it was good cake.
Smiling, she said, “Harlow’s a good cook. Would you agree?”
“Did Harlow make this?”
She nodded. “Yes, it’s her favourite cake.”
Damn, it was now my favourite cake too. It was fucking delicious; the best cake I’d ever had. We sat in silence, eating cake and drinking coffee until Harlow joined us a couple of minutes later.
“How was the cake?” she asked looking at my empty plate.
“Was just about to tell your Mum that it’s the best cake I’ve ever had.”
She fucking blushed. And then she gave me another of her mega watt smiles and I decided right then and fucking there that Harlow was a risk to my manhood. I wanted her in a way I’d never wanted a woman. I needed to get my shit together and get laid; that would fix the problem.
Before she could open her mouth and do further damage the front door opened and two delivery guys walked in. I stood and tipped my chin to them. “You here with a fridge?”
“Yeah, mate. Where do you want it?”
I nodded at Cheryl. “Ask the boss.”
I
drowned out the noise of their conversation as they worked out where the fridge was going and instead focused on Harlow as she cleaned away the cake and coffee dishes. She went out the back somewhere and when she didn’t return, I wandered out there looking for her. She was loading the dishwasher in the kitchen and I leaned against the doorframe, watching her quietly.
She knew I was there because without stopping what she was doing she said, “Thank you so much for getting us a fridge. My Mum really appreciates it.”
“Your Mum is something else.”
She finished with the dishwasher and closed it before turning to look at me. My eyes dropped to her chest. That top fit her tits like a glove; any man would struggle to keep their eyes off her chest. I wasn’t a saint and had no problem showing my appreciation so it took me more than a few moments to look back up to her face. She was shaking her head at me but there was a hint of a smile.
I smirked. “Sweetheart, if you’re gonna wear shit like that you’ve gotta expect men to stare.”
“Turn around.”
“What?”
She repeated herself. “I said, turn around.”
“Yeah, I got that but I’m wondering where you’re going with this.”
She walked over to me until she was in my personal space. A sexy smile came over her face and she said, “I want you to turn around so that I can check out your ass cause baby, a woman’s got needs and if you’re gonna wear shit like that, her needs are gonna be fulfilled.”
I reached out and curled my hand around her neck, pulling her closer. “Fuck woman, what are you doing to me?”
Her breathing became ragged. “The same thing you’re doing to me.”
Our eyes searched each other’s and I was just about to kiss her when Cheryl interrupted us. “Scott, the delivery guys need a hand with the fridge.”
Without taking my eyes off Harlow, I replied, “Be there in a minute.”
She left and instead of moving straight away, I held my hand steady on her neck. “This conversation isn’t finished; not by a long fucking shot.”
Harlow didn’t say a word; she just nodded. Reluctantly, I let go of her neck and left her to go and help with the fridge.
Chapter 11
Harlow
I held up the red leather dress and assessed it again. Bloody hell, I’d never fit in this tiny thing. And if I did, it was going to stick to me like cling wrap.
Amy laughed and I landed desperate eyes on her. “Do I really have to wear this?”
“Yes, you do. But we all do so you won’t be the odd one out.”
I blew out a breath. “Okay, give me a minute to put it on and then I’ll be out so you can show me around.”
She nodded and left me to it. I was staring my first shift at Indigo in the eyes and to say I was nervous was an understatement. After quickly undressing, I wiggled my way into the red outfit. Holy heck, it was the tightest and shortest thing I think I’d ever worn. I surveyed myself in the mirror. The dress was low cut so my cleavage was on display, and turning slightly, I noted how it hugged my ass. Thank God I kept myself in shape. I didn’t look too bad but I was a little self conscious. However, I put on my big girl panties and dealt with it; this was for my Mum and she’d given me everything in life so this was the least I could do in return.
A couple of minutes later I was out the front and Amy started showing me how they ran things at Indigo. I’d worked quite a few bar jobs in my time and I was pretty impressed with the smoothness of this operation; they had it fine tuned.
We spent a good half hour going over procedures before Amy surprised me by saying, “Scott shocked me when he hired you.”
I took in her serious face. “Why’s that?”
“Well he didn’t interview you and when I asked him about that, he got shitty with me for asking. He also didn’t get Griff to check you out; another standard procedure for him. But the strangest thing is that you pissed him off the other night when you were in here drunk and I’ve never seen someone get the time of day from Scott again after they piss him off like that. Not unless it’s his sister or a Storm member. People only have one chance with Scott.”
Wow. And she didn’t know that I’d upset him on more than one occasion now. I tried to play it off. “I guess I’d better not piss him off again, huh?”
She smiled at me now; just a small smile, but one nonetheless. “Oh, I think you’re good to go, Harlow. From what I’ve seen it looks like you could get away with it.”
I felt heat rise to my face. “Bloody men. He just brings it out in me; I don’t mean to argue with him.”
“Story of my life too. My hubby has this way of pushing all my buttons until I lose my shit at him. The make-up sex is off the charts though,” she said, winking at me.
I laughed and felt like we’d bonded a little. It was a good start to a new job; there was nothing worse than starting a new job and not getting along with your new workmates.
She checked the time. “Okay, we have about half an hour till opening time. Let’s go over a couple more things.”
***
Four hours later, I was sitting in the staff room on my break. So far, I’d enjoyed the shift. For the most part the customers weren’t too bad. They really only had eyes for the strippers anyway so they didn’t ogle me too much. Well not anymore than the average man in the street. What had taken me by surprise a little was the number of women customers; not the ones who were there with their men but rather the ones who were there to check out the strippers. I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was.
My break was almost over when Scott walked in. I was standing in front of the locker that each staff member had and turned when I heard him. He stopped abruptly and took in my appearance.
“Fuck,” he muttered and shook his head.
“What?” Geez, what had I done now? I placed my hands on my hips in a defensive stance while I waited for his answer.
He stalked over to where I was standing, and resting his arm on the locker above my head, he leant into me. I was intoxicated by his scent of leather and oil, and butterflies scattered in my tummy. “You’ve got no fuckin’ idea, have you?”
Hell, with him this close to me, I had no freaking idea about anything. My mind was completely lost to him at this moment. “Scott, can you give me a hint, because I’m drawing a blank at the moment.”
“Jesus,” he said and then stopped himself, pushing off from the locker and away from me. He took a step back, eyes burning into me, and then said, “Fuck.”
Now I was really confused but before I could say another word, he turned and stalked out of the room. I was left standing in a daze. What the hell?
Without thinking, I took off after him. I found him in his office; he’d just walked in and still had his back to me. “What was that?” I demanded.
He turned to look at me. “That was me walking away before I did something we’d both regret.”
I crinkled my forehead; he wasn’t making sense to me. “Why would we regret it?”
“Shit, Harlow, we’re completely different people from different worlds, for one. And two, if something was to happen between us, it would be a one off for me and I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t be that for you.”
How dare he presume to know what I wanted. “So you get to make these decisions based on presumptions you’ve made? Without asking me what I actually want? You really are a throwback to previous generations, aren’t you?”
Anger blazed in his eyes. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that women have come a long bloody way in the past couple of decades, Mr. Caveman. We’re quite capable of choosing what we want these days, and in case you missed it, we also don’t mind one off sex every now and then.”
“Babe, I’ve not met a woman yet who can do one night stands. They always want more and I’ve got nothing more to give.”
“Well, maybe you should try me. I don’t want the bullshit lies and excuses that men come up with after they promise you the wo
rld and then fail to deliver. One night, with no promises sounds like my kind of night.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not buying it, sweetheart. You’re too much of a nice girl.”
Bloody hell, I was sick of men dumping me in that category! I’d show him nice. I flicked my hair and plastered a sweet smile on my face. Walking towards him, I stopped when I reached him. “You ever had nice, Scott? Cause I’m betting you haven’t. And in that case, you’ve got no idea what you’re missing because nice is sweet and sweet hits the spot. Every. Fucking. Time,” I purred and then shrugged, “It’s a damn shame that you’re not into nice. But that’s okay, because I bet Nash would be.” I winked at him as I said that last bit and then walked out of the room. I had to get back to my shift but I also wanted to get as far from Scott as possible; I didn’t handle rejection very well. Especially not after I’d practically thrown myself at a man.
***
The rest of my shift went well. I didn’t see Scott again which was a blessing; I needed some time to get my shit together before I saw him again.
“You did good tonight, girl,” Amy smiled at me as she gave me a compliment.
“Thanks, Amy, that means a lot.”
“You coming back for some more tonight?”
“I’m not sure when Scott wants me to work again but I hope so because I need the money.”
“Well, we’re down staff so I reckon you’ll be called in for tonight.”
“Great.” I followed her and our security guy outside. There was a rule that he was to escort all the staff to their cars at the end of their shift. Amy took off to her car and I headed towards mine. I was stunned to see Scott leaning against it, arms crossed over his chest, and one foot casually crossed over the other. He nodded at the security guy who then left us alone. I just stood rooted to the spot, not sure what to do or say.
He slowly pushed off from the car and uncrossed his arms. “You’re right. I’ve never had nice,” he said gruffly.
I was still slightly annoyed at him. “Well, I can highly recommend it, and I’m sure I could suggest some places to go looking for it.”