This Time Around (Maybe) (19 page)

“There you are,” I mumble, lowering my body onto the floor so I’m on my knees before him. I lick my lips and look up at him.

Then I rock his world.

*****

“Here’s your drink, thank you,” I tell the man, sliding over his scotch. I don’t know how I ended up working at the bar tonight, when I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. Jade is sick, Tag is off today and has gone away with his little girl, and Summer and Reid are on the other side of town spending some time with Sephie. That leaves Ryan and me at the bar. And it’s a disaster. I’m so lucky to have someone as patient as Ryan as my husband, considering I’ve only been here two hours and already have dropped a glass and made two wrong drinks. I turn to look at him, charming a group of people and making five drinks quicker than I make one. Yeah, I think I’ll definitely stick to dancing.

“You okay?” Ryan mouths, and I nod and force a smile, turning to serve the next person in line. She orders a cocktail I’ve never heard of, so I quickly look down at the laminated chart Ryan gave me to use, showing me what to put in each drink.

An hour later, the bar has died down and I smile when I see a familiar face.

“Hello stranger,” he says, and I instantly feel bad that we haven’t spent any time together since Ryan and I got back together, apart from one family dinner.

“Hey Scott, how are you?” I ask, leaning across the bar to give him a peck on the cheek.

“Good, how are you? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he says, drumming his fingers on the bar table.

I wince. “I know. I’m sorry. What are you doing tomorrow?” Ryan is just going to have to suck it up, because I don’t want to be the person that ditches her friends the minute she gets into a serious relationship. Marriage. Whatever. Scott was there for me when I was heartbroken and I’ll never forget that.

“I have work all day tomorrow, but I’m free on Wednesday,” he says, smiling welcomingly.

“Shame, you’re busy Wednesday night, Tay,” comes a smooth deep voice from behind me.

I turn and frown. “Busy doing what?” I have two dance classes and that’s about it.

“Busy fucking me,” he says in a serious tone. I look at him, blink twice. Open my mouth, then snap it shut. I swear I thought I just heard him say…

“Did you just say…?”

“Yes,” he says, before I can finish my sentence.

I tighten my lips and narrow my eyes. “Don’t be rude,” I whisper-shout, then turn back to Scott, whose wide
-eyes are solely on Ryan. “Sorry,” I mouth, trying to smile a little to make the situation less awkward. Which it doesn’t, at all. I clear my throat and then continue. “Wednesday works fine.”

“You’re not going out with him
, Tay,” Ryan says, his tone final.

I bite the inside of my cheek. “Since when do you control my life?”

“Since you’re trying to spend the day alone with a man who clearly wants in your pants,” he says, his eyes still on Scott, who looks like he wants to be anywhere but here right now. And I don’t blame him. Even I want to be anywhere but here. I turn my back to Ryan, hoping he gets the point. Of course, being Ryan he doesn’t, and decides to move in closer, getting in my personal space.

“I don’t want you going somewhere alone with him,” he says, his voice softer now. He must have noticed I was pissed off and is trying a different approach. Smart man.

I give Scott a drink on the house and he goes back to the table with his friends. I really don’t like being spoken to like that in public. If Ryan had his concerns, he should have pulled me aside and spoken to me quietly, not pee all over me in front of anyone within earshot. I serve another three people and I feel his gaze on me the entire time, but I don’t look at him. I just try and pretend he’s not there, which is pretty hard. It’s extremely difficult to ignore a tall, muscled, sexy man, standing there, watching your every move.

“How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?” he asks, standing directly behind me and gripping my waist gently.

I drop the tea towel in my hand and sigh. “And this is why husbands and wives shouldn’t work together.”

He kisses the top of my head, and turns me around to face him. “I was jealous,” he admits. I lift my gaze to him, surprised by his admission.

“Jealous?” I repeat softly, wanting more of an explanation.

“I know you two are just friends, but… he knows you. He knows you well, and I don’t like that. I want you to be only that close with me,” he says, pursing his lips.

“He’s just a friend, Ryan.”

He rubs the back off his neck. “A friend who you were around while we were separated. I don’t know
. I’m not good at explaining things. I just don’t like it. I know he has feelings for you; trust me I know. You can deny it all you want, and fuck, I don’t blame him because you’re amazing. But, you’re mine, and I don’t want him even thinking he has a chance.”

“Ryan--”

“And how would you feel if I was hanging around with a female friend?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

I puff out a breath, not liking that one bit.

“My point exactly,” he says, looking smug.

I suck in my cheeks. “He doesn’t want me. He knows that we’re only friends. Do you really want me to be the type of person that just ditches all the people that were there for her when my heart was broken?”

“At least I fixed it,” he mutters under his breath, looking down.

“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad
. I was just trying to get you to understand.”

“I know,” he says, placing his hand on my back. He’s about to say something else when more customers walk up to the bar, wanting drinks. “To be continued later.”

“Okay,” I say, sighing and looking over at Scott who has his eyes on me, a frown marring his expression. Great, he probably thinks Ryan’s controlling me and I’m some weak woman who lets him walk all over me. I stock up the fridge, and tidy everything up as much as I can. I’m collecting empty bottles from one of the tables when Scott walks up to me and pulls something off my back.

“What’s that?” I ask, looking at the piece of paper in his hand. He raises an eyebrow and hands it over to me. The paper reads, ‘property of Ryan’ and he’s stuck it onto my back with a piece of sticky tape, like one would a ‘kick me’ sign. I scrunch the paper up, n
ot knowing whether to laugh or yell. I catch Ryan’s gaze and he gives me a boyish grin and a wink. I shake my head at him, and throw the ball of paper, aiming for his head. He ducks, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“I’m heading out,” Scott says from next to me. I turn to him, and give him a chaste kiss on his cheek.

“Nice seeing you, Scott. I’ll message you about catching up, okay?”

He smiles and nods, waving once before leaving with his friends. I pick up another empty beer bottle and walk towards the recycling bin, putting them in. Everyone in the bar starts to clear out, and I for one am grateful.

“What time do we close?” I ask him as I approach.

“In about ten minutes. Are you okay?” he asks, taking me into his arms. “You look tired.”

I hide my face into his chest. “I’m fine. A little hungry.”

“Better go feed my woman then…
hmmm,” he rumbles, squeezing me tighter. “I’ll quickly close up and then we can go and get something.”

“What do you want me to do?” I ask, looking around.

“The place is sparkling; you’ve done enough. Why don’t you sit down and I’ll make you a drink?” he says, lifting me in his arms. He gropes my ass a little before placing me down on the seat.

“Perve!” I tease, sticking my tongue out.

He stares at my tongue. “Don’t give me any ideas.”

“Like I’d need to!”
  Let’s just say Ryan can be very… creative.

“True,” he says, smirking.

“And no thanks on the drink. I’ll grab something when we head out.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m not really thirsty. I’m sure I will be later though,” I say, my tone making an innocent sentence sound extremely dirty.

His lips curve into a panty-dropping smile, and I watch as he goes about his business, closing up and emptying the cash register. About fifteen minutes passes before he walks back over and lifts me off the stool.

“Let’s go feed my girl.”

Chapter Twenty
-Five

Taiya

The next morning, I don’t know why the fuck Sarah is standing by my car, but it’s taking everything in me to not jump into my car and run her over. I don’t know what went wrong along the way with our friendship, but as far as I’m concerned, she can go to hell. I know I’m a good person. I’ve never screwed anyone over or betrayed anyone. I’m as loyal as they come, and I deserve a friend that is more than a trifling whore with a thing for my husband.

“What do you want?” I snap, looking for my keys in my oversized
handbag.

She purses her lips. “Can’t an old friend say hello?”

I laugh without humour. “Cut the shit. What do you want? To convince me Ryan slept with you? Because we all know that’s bullshit.”

“You don’t know shit
, Taiya,” Sarah says angrily, her cheeks going red.

“I know that you can go get fucked,” I tell her, finally finding my keys, pulling them out and pressing the button to open the car door.

“Fine, we never slept together. I’ll admit it. I lied. But I kissed Ryan more than once. Maybe you should ask him about that?” she sneers, a look of hate appearing on her face.

“What the fuck did I ever do to you?”

She shrugs. “Everything came so easy to you. You deserved to be taken down a notch.”

“It’s not high school anymore
, Sarah. Grow the fuck up and move on with your life.” With that, I get into my car and drive off.

Her words run through my mind on the way home. Could she have been telling the truth? Ryan told me he hadn’t seen her again
. However, I suppose I’d be stupid to blindly believe everything a man tells me. I push Sarah out of my mind and turn up the volume on the radio. John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ plays and I sing along with the music. I drive to the supermarket to pick up a few things for the house, and then head straight home. Ryan said we can start fixing up the studio next week, and I can’t wait. I still can’t believe he did this for me, such a huge gesture. It’s like all of a sudden, everything is going perfectly in my life and I’m not going to let anyone walk in and ruin it for me. Ryan and I deserve our happily ever after.

*****

I can tell something has upset Xander by the way he’s brooding, but I don’t know if it’s my place or not to ask him. I’m at the bar, waiting for Ryan to finish work. I turn and watch Xander, who is sitting all alone at the farthest table. After he slams his phone down on the table, I slide into the seat opposite him.

“Is everything okay?” I ask softly, my g
aze dropping to the tattoos covering his neck. His whole neck is now pretty much covered.  I never thought I would have found that attractive, but on him, it looks hot. He also seems a lot older than his age. I know he’s a few years younger than me. He’s definitely an old soul; I can tell that by looking into his eyes. Xander is an enigma, that’s for sure. Something tells me there is more to him than his tough exterior.  

He sucks in his lips and eyes me warily. “Not really.”

Okaaaaay then. “If you want to talk, I’m a good listener.”

Silence. He picks up his beer and takes a sip, tilting his head back. The silence gets a little awkward, and I’m just about to stand and leave when he finally speaks.

“I like Sephie,” is all he says, looking down at the table.

I frown. “So that’s a good thing, right?”

He pauses, then leans back in his chair. “It was.”

“And now it isn’t?” I ask, trying to read between the lines of his vague comment.

He stares at me with his hazel eyes, and I shift in my seat, a little unnerved by being pinned by his steady gaze. “Ryan’s a lucky man, you know.”

My eyes widen. That’s not what I expected him to say at all. “Thank you.”

His lip twitches, before he slowly nods his head. “Summer really likes you.”

I smile. “I really like her too. By the way
, don’t think I didn’t notice the subject change.”

Xander chuckles, and it’s a deep husky sound. “I know. Bottom line is
Seph and I aren’t going to work out.”

“Why?” I ask nosily, probably overstepping
my bounds. I can’t help but be curious. They only met recently, so I don’t know what it could be that already has them pulling away.

His gaze darkens, and I instantly regret asking, not that he answers me anyway. Instead
, Ryan, who walks up to the table and tells me we can leave if I’m ready, saves him. I stand up, stop at Xander, lean down and give him a kiss on the cheek. Then I take Ryan’s hand and leave to go home.

*****

“Who are you again?” Isis asks me, standing at the door with her arms crossed.

I wince. “I know I haven’t been here and I’m sorry. I’m the worst roomie ever
. I know.”