Either I’m not quiet enough or Sarah can read my concern because she pipes up. “Just bathroom gossip. Nothing serious.”
I give Sarah a nod but the only person I care to hear is Tiny.
“It’s nothing, Ian, really.” She slides into the booth next to Sarah. A server brings another round of drinks for the table, but Tiny doesn’t reach for her Singapore Sling. Instead she picks up my whisky and takes a deep gulp.
“Why don’t I show you the owner’s lounge,” Kaga invites Sarah, trying to give Tiny and me some privacy.
Sarah scoots out immediately. “I’m yours.” Before Kaga can take her away, though, she turns and leans across the table. “There were two women in the bathroom. One had dated you in the past. She started crying when she saw Tiny because apparently you were the best boyfriend she ever had. She’s never been able to maintain a steady relationship with another guy since you broke up.”
Tiny presses her lips together and nods her head in confirmation.
Sarah went on. “She wasn’t mean or anything. Just really, really sad. We all felt bad for her. She wished Tiny luck and said to do what she could to hang on to you.”
Kaga’s face is impassive but I sense humor lurking behind his eyes. I’m going to get shit about this at the next poker game.
“Come along, my dear,” Kaga murmurs, tucking the brunette’s hand into the crook of his elbow. “The two lovebirds need a moment.”
I lay my arm across the back of the banquette and curl my hand around her shoulder. “Is this something we should talk about?”
She tilts her head back and takes a deep breath. “I just felt bad for her. We all did. The entire bathroom started sniffling.”
“I hope you didn’t offer me up as appeasement,” I joke lightly.
“How long did you date Melinda?”
Melinda? I roll her name around in my head but it doesn’t ring any bells. “I can’t remember,” I say honestly.
“She’s gorgeous. Looks like a model. Probably six inches taller than me. Long brown hair. She had it in a high pony.” Tiny puts a fist on the top of her head to mimic the hair of this unknown girl.
“I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse, but I don’t actually know who you’re talking about.” A few stray blonde hairs have fallen forward on her face. I brush them back, dragging my thumb across her cheek.
“How can you not remember her? She said you were her best boyfriend.” Tiny’s frown is not soothed by a few tugs of my thumb.
Snatching up my drink, I down the contents before responding. “I didn’t have girlfriends, bunny. I dated women. We enjoyed each other for some period of time and then we went our separate ways. At times, we simply used each other for pure, safe physical release.”
“But you said you weren’t a manwhore.” She’s puzzled because her paradigm consists of a steady relationship or a nonstop stream of hookups.
“I wasn’t. I don’t enjoy casual sex. It’s better when you know the person, but knowing a person and sleeping with them doesn’t a relationship make.” I don’t like the distance she’s putting between us. I slide my hand around the curve of her waist and pull her to me. With a finger under her chin, I tip her head so she can look me in the eye. “I’m thirty-two, almost thirty-three, and I’ve had my share of encounters with the opposite sex and some have been more casual than others. But no one I’ve ever been with has been anything like you. I don’t remember other women. I don’t want to. Melinda obviously remembers me because she hasn’t had anything better. That’s on her.
“You’re the best I’ve ever had, Tiny. In bed and out of it.” I grin roguishly, memories of some of our activities outside the bed tripping through my mind. I can see by the flush in Tiny’s cheeks she’s sharing similar visions. “When I close my eyes, I think of you, and the only memories I have are those I’ve made with you.”
“How?” she looks bewildered.
“Because I make it so.”
She lets me capture her mouth for a long, drugging kiss. With steady pressure I affirm all the words I’ve just stated. She’s the only one I want now and forever. Beneath me she softens, her lips part, and her body cants toward me. Under the table, I press my palm against her cloth-covered sex.
“If you’d let me wear a skirt, you could be touching me right now,” she whispers naughtily against my mouth. Her words are like gasoline on a flame.
I grind the heel of my palm down and press my fingers tight against her. “I can make you come right here at the table.”
Her thighs tighten around my hand. “Without taking my clothes off?”
Is she issuing me a dare? Challenge f**king accepted.
“I can make you come at least once, no penetrative touching. No under the clothes touching.”
She laughs then, a low sultry sound that strikes me right in the groin.
“I know you can. This is why that girl is crying in the bathroom.”
“Back to that?” I sigh and withdraw my hand. “If you aren’t going to let me make you come here, then let’s go home where you can scream without anyone but me hearing you.”
“Can’t.” Her lips twist into a wry grimace. “Sarah.”
“Kaga will take care of her. He’ll make sure she gets home safe.”
“You should leave with the one who brought you,” she quips. I can tell I’m not moving her from this seat until we get some reassurance from her friend.
I pull out my cellphone and call Kaga. He answers at the first ring. “You need some pointers? Can’t close the deal?”
“Tiny lives with me. I’ve already closed the deal.” I wink at Tiny but she rolls her eyes at my comment. “Unlike you, whose girl is currently roaming the halls of an ivy-covered campus with feral frat boys chasing her down.”
“I’m going to take so much money from you at the next poker game, you’ll be in a fetal position begging for mercy after the first hour.”
“If money is going to make you feel better about your inaction, I’ll just leave some here on the table because I’m a good friend.”
“Fuck you, Kerr. What is it you called about?”
“Tiny won’t leave without knowing that Sarah is going to be okay, but if Tiny doesn’t leave now then we’re going to put on a show that will probably get your bar closed down for public indecency.”