Her outfit made me look like a nun. Her little black Gucci dress was halter neck, displaying her ample assets, and had an open back which dipped almost to her butt. With red lipstick, red shoes and her red hair tumbling past her shoulders, she looked amazing. If I swung that way I would totally hit that. Alas, my taste veered towards sexy sociopaths.
We arrived at a restaurant called Valentines — it was out of town, on a hill where you could see a view of the twinkling lights below and the ocean beyond that. A friendly man working in the bookstore had recommended it to me.
The place was amazing, it had an open plan layout with a few booths scattered around and was on two different levels, decorated in black and white with splashes of red. Floor to ceiling windows gave an amazing view of the ocean. It was buzzing with people. Once we were seated by our young maître d’, whose eyes popped out after seeing Amy, we ordered our cocktails, obviously.
“So, how do you like Amber, Ames? Everything you could have ever wanted?” I teased.
“Well, since we spent most of the day in your store getting it ready, I haven’t really seen much of it. Scratch that, I took a walk down main street for about ten minutes so I guess I have seen it all,” Amy answered with dripping sarcasm. “And I did see those orgasms on a stick in the coffee shop so I am not writing this place off completely.”
I smiled and sipped my cocktail, assessing the people around the room. More than a few were trying to sneakily stare at us, which I could understand in a small town, newcomers stood out. Especially ones that looked, walked and talked like Amy.
“I think we have sparked some curiosity.” I smiled at a few people, coming from a small town I knew a smile would go a long way to stop people thinking I was an uptight bitch.
“Of course we have, babe. A town this small and women that look like us?” Amy rolled her eyes, taking a huge gulp of her drink.
“I’m so glad you’re so modest,” I told her dryly.
She flipped her hair. “I can’t help that I’m gorgeous.” She winked at me. “I wonder who I call to order a night with those Greek gods from the café today?” she pondered.
“I do not care, nor do I even want to think about men ever again. I’ll be quite happy living with you for the rest of my life.” I smiled sweetly at Amy while picking at some breadsticks.
Amy slapped my hand away. “Um ... carbs, girl? No. Drink your calories instead. And as much as I love you, and I really do, you will not keep me warm at night. Or give me mind blowing orgasms, so I think I am going to have to find a man toy to replace my B.O.B.” Amy patted my hand tenderly, as if she hadn’t just slapped it. “Speaking of man candy, check this out. Seriously, have all the hot guys been hiding in backwater towns my entire life?” Her face lit up, her eyes narrowing in on the newcomers.
I rolled my eyes, a smile playing on my lips, ready to sling out some sarcastic remark, but the words got stuck in my throat when I turned my head. There, at the door, stood Cade, looking imposing and far too sexy to be legal.
Who was I kidding? He probably wouldn’t know a law if it spanked him on his delightful ass. His casual stance exuded power. I battled against my stupid ovaries, which were tingling, threatening to explode actually. His buddies ranked similarly on the sex-god scale, meaning Joe Manganiello had some serious competition. I gave them a quick once over. Yep, all tall, built with rippling muscles and danger radiating off them. I started to have trouble breathing, feeling hot and sweaty as terrible images flashed through my mind.
“Gwennie, Gwennie, helloo? Earth to Gwen.” Amy waved her hand in front of my face. “Have those beautiful men stolen your ability to speak?”
I didn’t answer, my gaze was locked on the men, more specifically, Cade. I was pretty sure the universe hated me, because they were being shown to a table not far from ours. I tried to sink down in my seat, pulling my menu up over my face, praying he wouldn’t notice me. I was nowhere near that lucky.
Fuck you, universe.
His stormy grey eyes caught mine, and a weird spark ignited between us.
Don’t fall for it again, Gwen, you know how this ends.
I shook my head and tried to focus on steadying my breathing. Amy, who had been watching me the whole time like I was having some sort of seizure, finally caught on, noticing the cuts the men wore over their shirts.
“Oh shit,” Amy muttered. “Gwennie, it’s okay everything’s fine, we’ll just leave.” She motioned to stand up.
“No!” I damned near leapt over the table to grab her arm. “I will not leave just because of them, I will not let what happened to me make me terrified to eat in a fucking restaurant and enjoy a cocktail with my girlfriend!” I hissed, adamant I would not play the victim. I’d done that enough the past year.
“All right, let’s get another round.” Amy motioned for the waiter.
I peeked past my hair to see if Cade was still looking at me, and I caught his eyes once more. “Fuck,” I muttered, turning back to the table to down my drink.
“That’s my girl,” Amy cooed. “Cosmos make everything better.”
After a few – I may have lost count – more cocktails and a wonderful meal, I decided I was feeling much more confident. I had made it my mission not to gaze in his direction all night, ignoring the weird pull that tried to yank my eyes there.
Amy was telling me some stupid joke, so I was laughing when I felt it. The sizzle in the air, the hairs on my arms standing up in awareness.
I moved my gaze upwards to see Cade and his buddies standing at our table. I gaped at Amy in a panic, the numbness of the alcohol wearing off.
“Good evening, ladies.” Cade’s deep voice sent shivers down my spine. That feeling was quickly replaced by panic. Bikers were mere inches away from me.
Amy saw my reaction and tried to diffuse the situation. “Whatever you’re selling boys we ain’t buyin’, so run along and tinker with your Harley’s or whatever.” Her upper middle class breeding gave her excellent experience in a patronizing tone.
I clenched my shaking hands together meeting Cade’s eyes, giving him my best bitch stare.
“Well, well, we have a feisty one here,” one of the men drawled. He was huge and tan with a bald head, reminding me a lot of “The Rock” but a bit more rough round the edges. “No need for the sass, darling, we just seen you’re new in town and thought we would come and introduce ourselves, maybe we could buy you a drink, even that girly shit.” The Rock gestured to our cosmos.
“We are quite all right, thank you. Getting acquainted with the town’s friendly motorcycle gang isn’t really on our to do list, and I don’t drink hooch, Rambo, or whatever motor oil you think passes for alcohol.” Amy smiled sweetly. “You have a nice night now.” Acid dripped from her tone. She turned her head to me and remained picking at the remnants of her dinner, acting as if the four – albeit beautiful – brutes were not still standing right in front of our table, dripping testosterone all over the place.
During Amy and Dwayne’s (I christened him this) conversation, Cade’s eyes had been glued to me, registering my fidgety movements and panicked stare. A frown marred his attractive face. I could only stare back at him, feeling a strange mixture of attraction and fear.