Page 7 of Wrong Place, Wright Time
“No one,” I moan.
“Well, ‘no one’ has a bit of a mouth on him.” She picks up the card and reads over Banks’s words again, sighing like she’s in the middle of a swoony romance novel. “Kind of reminds me of Andy in the beginning of our relationship. He used to leave me notes like this. He works at Starbucks, so he’d write them on the side of my coffee cup.” She places the card back on my desk and smiles. “Those were the days.”
“Wh-what did he write?” I ask, knowing I’m likely to regret my words the moment they fall from my mouth. Karen and her live-in boyfriend, Andy, have a peculiar relationship. When you first see them together, it kind of seems like they hate each other. But then you realize that they both get off on their weird dynamic, and then you just realize they’re super freaky.
“Well there were alotbut my favorite was when he wrote, ‘Tonight’s safe word is bananas’ because when I went to his place that night, he had ahugebanana that he used to fu—”
“La-la-la!” I stick my fingers in my ears. “I’m sorry I asked! I knew it was a bad idea, but…”
Karen laughs and pushes off the side of my desk. “I’m just happy you got laid well enough that you’re still flushed thinking about it,” she says. “It’s been far too long in between men.”
“It was nice and all. But it was just a one-time thing,” I say, taking the card and putting it in my top drawer.
“If you say so,” she says, looking like she doesn’t believe a word I’m spouting as she heads for the door. “And by the way, you’ve got about thirty minutes before you’re expected to meet with your father and uncles.”
I groan. “Did the invite say what it was about?”
“Nope. And you’re the only one invited, so I’m guessing they already know about your new man.”
“No. They can’t know about him. They’ll want to know why I went to lunch with Ash.” I sit back in my chair and groan.God I hate my family.
“I’ll have a stiff drink waiting for when you return.” She widens her eyes dramatically as she slips out of my office and closes the door, leaving me alone with the fragrant bouquet of flowers and the well-worded card sent by Banks Johnson himself.
With an unsteady breath, I pull the card out of my desk again, scanning over the neat handwriting and the phone number at the bottom. I get stuck on that number. My thumbnail between my teeth as I contemplate tapping it into the keypad and hearing the silky voice that’s filled my dreams for the last couple of nights.Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad this time?
The moment the thought enters my mind, I shove the card back in my drawer and close my eyes, shaking away the urge for more as quickly as it starts. While one night with Banks Johnson promises another will be just as good, I know myself well enough to hit the brakes before we’re moving so fast we end up crashing into a wall—or worse, married. And since I’ve made that mistake twice already, the lesson I’ve learned is that Isla Wright and relationships don’t mix. Like my father and his half dozen failed marriages, I’m better off alone.
Banks
“So…what happened to you on Friday night?” Tahlia asks at the start of her Thursday shift, the little redhead’s voice dripping with hopeful curiosity.
“Nothing,” I say from behind the bar. It’s about thirty minutes before the doors open, and I’m just doing my usual, checking everything is stocked and ready to go. Sure, I have employees for all of this, but I’m a hands on guy, and I find that participating in set up and close shows my workers that I’m willing to do the things I ask them to do. It sets us up for a better working relationship.
“Nothing?” She leans on the bar and smiles up at me. “You missed your cousin’s show fornothing?”
Pausing what I’m doing, I meet Tahlia’s blue eyes and maintain a stony expression. We may be friendly with each other—she’s very close with my cousin, Darren, who is the reason I hired her in the first place—but it doesn’t mean that I owe her any explanations for how I choose to spend my time. Hell, I don’t explain myself toanyone. So, despite the fact that she’s friends with a family member while also dating the brother of the woman I’m interested in, she doesn’t get any details. Those kinds of things are private, and whatever goes on between Isla and me from this point on stays between us. Especially since I’ve sent her two lots of flowers and an invitation to dinner in the last week and I’ve received nothing in return.
“I’ll make things right with Darren. I simply got caught up.”In your boyfriend’s sister…I feel my dick twitch as a sliver of a memory hits my consciousness. Then I squash it back down as fast as I can so I don’t end up with a full-blown hard on in front of my staff.
Tahlia keeps pace beside me when I make a break for the storeroom. “Interesting that Isla was missing on Friday, too.”
“Why would that be interesting?” I ask, grabbing a box of cocktail napkins and attempting to return to the bar, only to be blocked by the tiny cocktail waitress.
“I don’t know. I guess after witnessing the air-gasm you two had just looking at each other last Friday when you met, I kind of thought the fact neither of you showed might mean something.”
“Air-gasm?” I scoff, pushing past her with an excuse me. Of course she follows.
“Yeah. The charge in the air when you locked eyes, and if that wasn’t enough for Ash and me to pick up on, you let a couple of sexually charged innuendos fly too. It was pretty obvious the only reason you two agreed to come out was because you wanted to see each other again.”
I grunt a response as I put the napkins in the holders behind the bar.
“So, what happened? Did you both arrive at the same time then decide to go make your own fun? Or did you arrange to meet up secretly without us?” She grins as she follows me along on the opposite side of the bar. “Come on, Banks. You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone else.”
I let out a laugh at that one. “Except maybe Darren, who’ll tell Theo, who’ll tell Ruby, who’ll tell Tanner, who’ll mention it to Isla.Or, you’ll say something to Ash who will go directly to Isla and ask her what’s going on.” I shake my head as I finish with the napkins and start breaking down the empty box. “No thank you. I’ll keep my personal life personal thanks.”
“No problem,” Tahlia says as she steps away and giggles. “You just told me everything I wanted to know anyway.”
“What?” I gape, quickly running over what I said and realizing that by trying to say nothing, I actually admitted I was with Isla inadvertently. “Shit.”
