Page 35 of Be With Me

I leaned forward, my curiosity piqued. “And what kind of guy do you think I am, Ailee?”

She shifted in her seat, and somehow, I knew. I knew if we were anywhere but in this restaurant full of people who reeked like cigarettes and booze, I could find out that she was wet for me. My cock thickened and my nostrils flared with the memory of the scent of her skin.

“I don’t know. You come across more like a guy who likes to work with his hands.” Her cheeks flushed the moment the words came out of her mouth. “A blue-collar type…or something.”

I leaned forward and dropped my voice to a husky growl. “I am very good with my hands, Ailee.”

Her lips parted and her chest rose on a quick inhale.

“But that’s only one of my many talents.” With a wink, I sat back in the booth and grabbed another fry. I needed to lighten the mood, or I’d never be able to get up out of this booth without the whole place knowing how hard up I was.

The waiter came over with our check, breaking the last threads of tension.

“Are you finished?” I gestured to her empty plate.

Ailee nodded, and I paid the check with cash and gave it back to the waiter, thanking him. “Come on, ‘lee. Let’s go blow some money and have some fun.”

For the next two hours, we donated my hard-earned modeling pay to the casino. I taught her how to play Blackjack, which she lost and I won, and then we sat beside each other at the slot machines. We drank too much and laughed too much, trading stories from our teens and twenties. I told her how old I was after she coerced it out of me with a smile and a touch, and she was really surprised. I wasn’t as young as she’d thought. I was flattered to find out she thought I was still in my twenties, when I was actually thirty-four. Still a bit of an age difference, but not as bad as she’d first thought. But as I’d told her before, quite a few times, I honestly didn’t give a shit about it.

She pulled the lever down and we watched the fruit spin around and around. When it stopped, three 7’s were lined up across the front of the machine. I jumped up when bells started ringing and lights flashed in our eyes.

“You won!” I yelled when she just sat there frowning at the machine.

“I did?”

People all around us were staring. “You did!” Laughing, I pulled her out of her seat and spun her around, making both of us dizzy.

After collecting her winnings, I held her hand as we headed into the ballroom for the show. It was a natural thing for me, and I noticed she allowed me to take it now with barely any notice.

“I’ve never won anything before,” she admitted.

“And on the penny slots, too. That’s not a common thing.”

“I know exactly what I’m going to spend these two hundred dollars on,” she announced.

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“A bookkeeper. I hate doing the books.”

“I can’t say that I blame you, although that will only give you one for about…what? Two weeks?”

She scrunched up her face with thought, and I think it was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen.

“Yeah, I’ll have to figure that one out later.”

I led her into the ballroom. Small tables were set up with black tablecloths and cushioned chairs, two per table, set close together and angled toward the stage. We sat down toward the back just as the lights dimmed, and I helped her hang her jacket on the back of her chair before doing my own.

I leaned in so close I could smell the fresh scent of her shampoo. “I hope you like this.”

She didn’t have time to answer. Soft lights hit the stage as three guys and a girl dressed in classy punk took position behind their instruments. A sultry melody started, highlighted by the haunting strings of a violin. Five beats in, and I was lost to the music. The singer stepped up to the mic, a rugged looking guy around my age. Raw and full of angsty pain, his voice filled the room. Chills broke out all over my body, and I couldn’t take my eyes from him.

My arm was resting on the table, and I felt Ailee take my hand and squeeze. I glanced at our joined fingers. She felt it, too.

Another glass of wine appeared in front of me, and I absentmindedly picked it up and took a sip. The sweet notes of blackberries and chocolate slid down my throat, warming my insides and loosening my muscles. I switched the hand holding hers and put my arm behind her shoulders. She leaned back against me as I sang quietly along with the songs. Words of heartache, and want, and desire, and loss.

The song ended, and for a moment, no one made a sound. Then earsplitting applause filled the room. I didn’t join them. I didn’t want to move. I had one of my favorite artists in front of me and the woman I wanted more than anything in the world snuggled up against my side. My head was quiet, and though I was halfway hard, my soul was at peace. I wasn’t about to do anything to fuck that up.

The pianist played a few notes, and the room quieted again. The next song was different. Just as haunting. A controlled kind of chaos, like good sex, and I felt my body responding to the melody and the feeling of Ailee against me.

Music always affected me this way, especially when the songs call to the deeper, darker part of myself.

I pulled Ailee in even closer. She turned her face toward me, so close our lips would touch if I moved just a fraction of an inch. Her breath was warm on my face, sweetened from the wine.

I couldn’t take my eyes from her. In the light of the candle, she was both darkness and light, calling to the shades of my soul. My hand drifted up to cup her jaw, and she turned into it and kissed the center of my palm.

I felt the heat of her lips all the way to my cock.

And took her mouth with mine.

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