Page 24 of Good For Me

“Gina is spending the night tonight,” she says, referring to the girl she’s been dating for the last few weeks.

“And this is something to be nervous about?”

“She’s never stayed over before. We usually just hook up after work and both go our own way, you know?”

“Aw.” I grin at her. “Kim, are you nervous about a girl?”

She throws her towel down on the counter. “Yes, okay? I really like her and I don’t want to screw it up and I pretty much just feel like puking all the time. Happy now?”

I’d give her a lot more shit about this if I hadn’t just spent my entire six-hour shift staring at the door waiting for Jas. So instead I come around the bar and grab her shoulders. “Why don’t you head home.” I give her a gentle shove toward the back office. “I can handle clean up.”

“Yeah?” She shoots me a relieved glance. “That would be awesome, Riv. I would owe you one.”

“Consider it payback for making you close with Brad last night.”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh my God, he asked me where the dish soap was. Like, the dude has been here for two months and never washed a glass?”

I laugh, giving her another push. “Go on. I’ll be fine. Go try to be a cutesy couple type person.”

She groans as she walks away. “Oh, shit, I’m totally screwed. What if she wants to like, cuddle?” she says the word with so much derision I have to laugh.

“I think you’ll survive.”

I take my time with clean up after she goes. If I’m honest with myself, I’m hoping to drag it out long enough that Jas will eventually come back. She has to come back, right? She lives upstairs. The thought of her sleeping somewhere besides her own bed—or mine—makes me want to turn over one of the tables.

Or maybe she’s just staying away to avoid seeing you,I think glumly as I lock the register drawers in the safe.

No sooner does that thought cross my mind do I hear the sound of keys in the back door. I step out of the office into the hallway and a moment later, the door swings open to reveal Jasmine. My first thought is that she looks every bit as gorgeous as she did last night, even though she’s not wearing that lipstick and her sexy boots are tucked safely under her jeans.

My second thought is that she looks surprised to see that I’m still here. And not at all happy about it.

My stomach sinks to the floor as I face her. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Her voice sounds squeaky, unlike the husky tones I heard whispering in my ear last night. The memory makes my chest hurt as I realize it’s looking more and more likely that I’ll never get to experience that again.

For a long moment, we stand on opposite ends of the short hallway, staring at each other. Eventually she slips her keys into her purse and manages a tight smile. “You’re here late.”

“Kim needed to head out right after close.” I shouldn’t bother telling her that’s only part of the reason I stuck around. I have a feeling she won’t want to hear it.

“I was hoping to see you tonight,” I blurt out anyway, and she winces. Fuck. She actually winces.

“I, um, had a few things to do. Work.”

I raise an eyebrow. “On a Saturday night?”

She shrugs. “I help out another family member, like I do here for Dave.”

She had never mentioned that to me before. Then again, I don’t really know her that well, do I?

Bullshit, I think defiantly. I might not know all the details of her life, but I knowher. Especially after last night. I know that she works too damn hard trying to make up for her teenage mistakes. I know how much she loved her grandfather, and the exact pitch of her voice when she talks about him. I know that she’s funny, and wicked smart, and for all her drive and ambition she’s still trying to figure things out.

I know what her lips taste like. And I know exactly how it feels to look down on her blissed-out face, her hair spread out on my pillows, and know that I’m the one making her feel so good.

“You’re avoiding me,” I say. No point in dancing around it.

Her cheeks go a little red. “I had a busy day.”

A stab of hurt goes through me. I can be a patient guy. If she’s unsure about what we did, or needs some space, that’s fine. But I can’t handle her standing there lying to me about it.