Page 9 of Five Days to Be Mine

“We chose these high back chairs with arms to give people more opportunities for bondage play. But now I realize I should have gone with a banquet or bench seating because I want to sit beside you and put my arm around you.”

Her cheeks turn bright red, and then she giggles, but I’m one-handedly texting Steff, my designer, because I’m serious.

“You can’t change your restaurant decor because you want to hug me," she leans back in her seat, shaking her head.

“Yeah, I can. I’m rich that way,” I grin.

Mara laughs a fully spirited sound that make her shoulders shake.

I finish texting Steff, and I set my phone aside.

“Mara, would you like to play with me tonight?” I’m not afraid of rejection, and when there’s something I want, I go after it.

I want this woman in my bed.

I want to feel her curves with my hands and worship her body like she deserves.

I want to know how she tastes and kiss her until those plush lips are swollen.

She reaches for her drink and takes a sip. “Evan, I don’t know.”

“We can talk about it until you figure it out.”

She rubs her arms, and I lean back, giving her space.

“You’re not pressuring me.” She says it almost to herself.

“No. Only giving enthusiastic encouragement.”

She blushes and nibbles her lip. “You’ve had orders with Sabrina and Kyle; you must have known how…”

“Unhinged?” I supply.

She shakes her head. “How creative they are before now.”

I sigh. “Sabrina is good at making sure the smell of the flowers doesn’t compete with the food. See that frame of flowers on the door? The little tiny white with the other flowers? And how they are wrapped with festive glass balls? Sabrina showed me that design, and it’s perfect. You can’t smell the flowers.”

“Us floral designers have all kinds of tricks.The flowers are mini roses wrapped with leather leaf fern around the glass-dropped ornaments.”

“Yeah. That’s exactly what I wanted, something to light the place up, but nothing that made it smell like walking into a florist shop.”

“Glad we met your expectations.”

“Working with Sabrina, I thought, was worth it. But after tonight, I don’t know.”

“Oh! Don’t let my interactions with them affect how you do business. I know it’s strange, but in a weird way, they are protective of me, and they’re showing it.”

I take a sip of my club soda, studying her. “How sure are you that you will look for employment elsewhere?”

“Very sure. Why?”

I lean forward, closing the space between us as much as I can with the table between us.. “I’m not cutting my business with them only because of how they treated you, though make no mistake, that is plenty of reason, but because unless I miss my guess, they’ve racked up a bar tab that they won’t pay.”

We don’t deal with money at Sinful Bites in our daily operations.

The guests are booked and paid for before they come in for their reservation, and usually, the price of the dinner includes the bar package, but on special occasions, like tonight, we allow guests to open a bar tab. Usually, it’s charged to their credit card on file with the hotel, but I don’t think the Wilsons are staying overnight, and I don’t think they are good for their tab.

You get a sense of people after a while, and I heard a rumbling about a supplier not being paid.

---