I peeked around the corner, and Rhian was holding out a mug, while Sadie had a croissant with what I assumed was raspberry jam—my absolute favorite. I hugged them both. “Aw, you do love me.”
“Not really, this was Rhian’s idea. She thought it would help pump you for more info.”
Rhian glared at Sadie. “Bitch, you weren’t supposed to tell her the plan. Ugh, sometimes I wonder if you’re all there upstairs.” She knocked on Sadie’s head, and I tried to hide my smile behind my mug.
“Shut the fuck up, Rhian. We all know I scored better than you on the SATs.”
Rhian shook her head while Sadie placed the croissant in front of me.
“So, what happened with the guy from the bar?” Sadie didn’t beat around the bush.
I ripped into my croissant and started talking with my mouth full—ladylike as always. “Nothing, I swear,” I said around a mouthful of pastry. “We left Barangas and walked over to eMZee’s to eat. Then I invited myself back to his hotel room.” I rolled my eyes at their collective oohs and ahhs. “Nothing happened.”
The silence was deafening. I didn’t want to look up because I knew I would see shocked faces. I wasn’t a whore, but I didn’t just hang out with guys for no reason, either.
“Aw, East, I’m sorry. He’s gay, isn’t he?” Sadie was the first to ask, of course.
“No! Jesus, Sade, not every guy only thinks of sex. He was—” I stopped myself before saying something that would give anything away, but what could I say? He was sweet? Fuck no. That was the last thing I could tell them, although it was true. “He was tired, jet-lagged from the time change. Guys can sometimes have problems in that department if you know what I mean.” I crooked my finger to emphasize my point.
They both threw their heads back in laughter.
“No way, you’re kidding, right?” Rhian was in complete shock.
“Oh my God. Yes, I’m fucking with you. He was tired, though.” I mean, it wasn’t a complete lie; he was tired. I was just leaving out the fact that he was trying to be a gentleman. I rolled my eyes internally.
“Anyway,” I shrugged, “I’ll see him again, and I promise I’m going to fuck his brains out.”
“So that’s it? We get nothing else? This is bullshit. I was expecting some steamy shit.” Rhian wasn’t buying it, but there wasn’t much to tell.
“We made out a little after we watched a movie and ate the best fucking chocolate in the world. But that’s it.” I shrugged again. “What’s the move tonight? Any plans?”
“Ugh.” Rhian groaned. “Whatever.”
“What Rhi really means is that we want all the details when you finally bone him. He was hot.”
“No, it’s not.” Rhian huffed. “Not sure about tonight yet. The guys wanted to night surf if you’re down.”
“I’m in.” I took the last sip of my coffee. “I’m going to head into work early. Joe always has a shit-ton to do after the charity event, so I figured since I’ve got nothing else to do, I would head over.”
“Love you,” they both said in unison as I walked out the door.
Boathouse didn’t open for a couple more hours, and as I suspected, Joe was grateful for the help getting the store put back together before we opened.
He flipped the sign in the window to open and turned to me. “Thanks for your help. I never would’ve had this place ready for customers had you not come in.”
“You do this every year; you refuse to schedule me before we open, and every year, you need me.” I shook my head, placed my hand on Joe’s shoulder, and looked him straight in the eye. “Admit it. you would just be lost without me.”
He shook off my hand. “You’re so full of yourself.”
“Am I? How would you have gotten the register set up?” I cocked a brow, daring him to say he could’ve done it alone.
“Fair enough, next year, you can be in at nine sharp.”
“Ten.”
He just shook his head as he walked to the back room. “You always do whatever the fuck you want anyways.”
He was right; I never listened, but Joe loved me anyways.
The day dragged, the weather was crappy, so the shop was pretty dead, leaving us with nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs. I told Joe to go home at three. There was no sense in us both wasting our day away at work. I hadn’t had more than a handful of customers, but of course, right before we closed, I had a group of girls come in and try on everything in the damn store and buy almost anything.
The moment I flipped the sign, the front door chimed. Ready to tell whoever it was to fuck off, I turned around to find Tanner standing there, looking shy.
“We’re closed.” I kept my face neutral, trying to hide my smile.
“Okay…” He drew out the word. “I’ll come back tomorrow?” It sounded like a question.
“I’m kidding, Tanner. Jeez, why are you so serious?”
“I wasn’t sure if it was too forward coming by. I know you said you’d text when you got off, but I was dying to see you.” He looked down at his feet.
“It’s fine. I still have a ton of shit to clean up, but you’re welcome to hang out. Would you lock the door for me, please?”
“Of course.” He locked the door and came to stand in front of me, clearly unsure of what to say or do.
It was awkward, mostly because I wanted to reach out and touch him but refrained. “So…”
“So…” He rocked back and forth on his heels with his hands stuffed into his pockets. “Anything I can help you with?”
“Sure, these little bitches came in and tore apart the store and wanted to try on every shoe we had. They ended up spending fifty dollars between the four of them.” I rolled my eyes.
“The dressing rooms have clothes everywhere. If you want to scoop whatever you can carry, we can take it into the back where there’s a folding table.”
It took three trips each to grab all the clothes and shoes; the pile on the table was ridiculous.
“That’s a lot of clothes. Did they come in just to torture you?” Tanner eyed the pile and then me, flicking his gaze between the two.
“You’d think, right?” I sighed. “This is going to take forever.”
“I’m not the greatest at folding, but I think I can figure out the shoes.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
We got to work, and less than an hour later, we had everything folded, boxed, and put away. We went to the front of the store so that I could count the cash, and then I locked up the safe in the floor. I let out a breath and leaned against the counter. “Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.”
“No problem.” He moved to stand in front of me, resting his hands on either side of my hips, caging me in. “Do you have plans tonight?” His eyes bored into mine.
“Not until later. What did you have in mind?” I smirked, knowing exactly what I wanted to do.
He looked around the store and then back, leaning in for a kiss. I didn’t waste a minute before wrapping my legs around his waist. The kiss turned hard, bruising. He picked me up and carried me back to the back room.