I put my hand over my heart and felt how rapidly it beat in my chest. I didn’t know if sleeping with Omari was going to help my plan, but it definitely wouldn’t have hurt it. Somewhere in all his nakedness, my focus shifted from wanting him to get rid of Kim to wanting him toget onme. I smiled to myself as I started taking off my clothes. As much as I wanted him, I was certain that our close call was only going to help me in executing the main part of my plan.
A couple minutes later, my phone vibrated. It could only be one person calling me at five o’clock in the morning.
“Hello?”
“I made it just in time,” Omari announced, slightly winded.
“Good.” I paused for a moment. “It’s too bad it’s a street cleaning day…”
“I was thinking the same thing. Because I have plans for you.”
Grinning, I walked into the bathroom. “I can’t wait. I’m about to take a cold shower and then get in the bed.”
“Get some rest and give me a call if you need a ride tomorrow.”
“Thank you. Goodnight, Omari.”
“Good morning, Ebony.”
I hated that the man gave me butterflies. And it was getting harder to ignore.
Chapter Thirteen
“Thank you,” I told the driver again with a wave.
I walked into The Cask after managing to get a solid six hours of sleep. Dressed in a casual pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt, my festival outfit was draped over my arm as I looked around the bar.
“Looks good, right?” Alexis asked proudly.
I took in the amount of string lights layered against the back wall. “It looks amazing.” I turned in a circle. “Everything looks amazing.”
“I love festival weekend.”
Grinning right back at her, I couldn’t agree more. “Me, too.”
After I went downstairs to hang up my outfit and prepare everything for later, I secured my key, got a cup of coffee, and met with Alexis. We reviewed the menu, entertainment, staffing, and the new wine glasses people could buy.
“So now that that’s out of the way, what’s going on with Luchi?” Alexis’s question felt like it came out of nowhere.
I looked up from my tablet with my face scrunched in disgust. “Nothing.”
She laughed. “No need to look like that! I was just asking!”
“Yeah, well there’s no need to ask about him because he is where he has been this whole time—in the past!”
“Have you talked to him?”
“I had a brief conversation with him this afternoon. I told him I appreciated the flowers and the wine, but I wasn’t interested in getting together.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said that he had a great interview, so he’s going to take the day to meet with realtors and he’s going to give me time to reconsider his offer.”
Her eyebrows flew up. “He said what?”
“Yeah, you heard right. He tried to negotiate my rejection and probably plans to get on my nerves the entire weekend.”
“He’s so self-involved.”