Page 15 of Plunge into Obsession

He had only worked there for a month, and already he had asked her out three times—and those were the only times I knew about.

The man didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

“Hey, Kaia.” He shot her a flirtatious smile before turning to me, his smile turning more platonic. “Bianca.”

At least the man was faithful. He was a good-looking man in his early thirties with caramel-brown hair and dark blue eyes, so it wasn’t like he was lacking in options for bed partners.

“Hey,” Kaia answered, sounding bored. I looked down, not wanting to witness the awkward interaction.

“Do you mind? My table’s getting impatient,” Rainey said when Miles just stood there, looking at Kaia, her brows pulled together in an annoyed frown.

He cleared his throat. “Right.”

We watched as he moved away to make the drinks. A few minutes later, he came back with all of our orders.

Rainey grabbed hers and rushed out of there.

Kaia was about to get her drinks when he stopped her with a hand on her forearm near her wrist.

She frowned at him. “I have to get back to work.”

“Wait a minute, Kaia. I want to ask you something.”

She rolled her eyes. “No.”

He opened his mouth, but I interrupted. “We’re going to get in trouble with Corey if he sees us just standing around. Especially with Gabriel here.”

Kaia pulled her hand, trying to get away from him, but I could see him tighten his hold marginally.

“Dude, let go,” I said, leaning closer to him and speaking softly so as not to draw attention to us.

He flashed me a look of annoyance. “Just go serve your drinks, Bianca. This doesn’t involve you.”

I felt anger pushing through and bubbling up to the surface. Kaia caught my eye, just as annoyed.

She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a large hand grabbed Miles’ wrist.

The hand squeezed, and Miles’ face turned red. I watched with wide eyes, following a trail up the arm from the hand, and found Raphael.

He frequented this place with Gabriel but had come in a few times by himself.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked, and though his voice was calm, there was no mistaking the menace in it. His light blue-gray eyes turned to Kaia, and I didn’t know what that look in his eyes meant. It was gone before I could really think about it, and he was back to staring Miles down.

Miles sputtered something incoherent, his face twisted in pain, before Raphael let him go.

Miles quickly pulled away and took a step back.

Raphael turned to us, and it might have been my imagination, but it appeared his gaze lingered on Kaia for a few seconds longer before he said, “Go back to work, ladies.”

We didn’t argue with him.

Grabbing the drinks, we quickly walked away.

I tried to catch Kaia’s eye, wondering what she thought about this entire thing, but she avoided it.

She squeezed my wrist briefly before she turned away and walked to her table.

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