Page 44 of Wrecked By You
Oh, crap.I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have picked something else to share. Anything would have been better than the knife spearing my chest with every moment that passed without him saying a word.
“Sorry. Forget I spoke.” I reached for the door handle for a second time.
His hand snapped around the back of my neck, and he pulled me to him. His mouth collided with mine, and the world stopped turning.
Piece by piece, I crumbled, affection I’d craved for so long without being aware of it tearing me apart. I wrapped my arms around his neck, caressing the soft hair at his nape, pressing my body closer, closer, until an atom wouldn’t fit between us. Soft sweeps of his tongue against mine undid the remaining parts of me until I gave myself to him fully, showing him with my lips and my hands and my tongue that this wasn’t just a kiss.
It was the beginnings of a new life. One I’d never thought possible since fleeing my home in the middle of the night carrying my child in my arms and pulling a small suitcase behind me.
Johannes hadn’t just given me a job. He’d given me a future.
He’d given me hope.
His kiss wasn’t a promise of more. It wasn’t a promise of anything.
But it was a start.
Chapter16
Johannes
Unexpected visitors are not what I ordered.
I was a coward,and a terrible one at that. Since Ella and I had kissed last Friday night, I’d done my level best to avoid her. The weekend had been easy, as she didn’t work Saturdays and Sundays, and then I’d spent Monday to Wednesday visiting my other clubs in the area, and yesterday, I’d flown up to San Francisco to check on the Douglas situation, staying over a couple of nights.
But I couldn’t avoid her any longer.
We had an important meeting to prepare for. One of the judges from theHottest Nightspotcommittee was due to visit the club tonight, and therefore, it had to be in excellent shape. I’d asked all the staff to come in early so I could brief them, and, proof that my cowardly status was still very much alive, I made sure I turned up at the club when I knew Stan, Tiffany, and one or two of the others would be around.
I hated myself.
The cleaning staff were hard at work when I entered the main part of the nightclub. Tiffany was busy behind the bar, polishing the liquor bottles, and Stan had his ass crack on full display as he crouched to fill the fridges with beer and sodas.
I couldn’t see Ella. Which meant she was, in all likelihood, in my office.
Thank goodness I came here first.
“One of these days I’ll drop an ice cube down that massive ass crack of yours, Stan.”
“Already beat you to it,” Tiffany interjected with a gleeful grin. “Ages ago. He leapt in the air and smacked his head on the underside of the counter.”
“If hiring and firing were up to me, you’d have been out onyourass,” Stan said, rising to his feet.
“Lucky it’s not, then.”
She gave me an exaggerated wink, and I found my lips forming a smile. Showed how rare it was when Tiffany’s eyes widened. She stared for a few seconds, then shook her head, almost as if she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, and carried on polishing.
“When the rest of the staff gets here, let me know. I want to make sure they’re all aware of what I expect of them tonight.”
Stan saluted. “Will do.”
Unable to put it off any longer, I trudged toward my office, praying for an urgent phone call or an attack of appendicitis. Maybe a stroke would be preferable to facing up to a woman I shouldneverhave kissed.
Rule number one, dickhead. Don’t shit on your own doorstep.
Especially given my unusual proclivities when it came to sex with a woman—a fast fuck and an even faster goodbye.
The door to my office lay ajar. I pushed it open and entered. Ella was sitting in my chair, a typed list in front of her with boxes down the right-hand side. Some boxes had ticks inside them. Others did not.