Page 13 of Nick & Nora Martinis

“Yeah, you?”

He looks at the floor, shuffling his feet,

“Listen, I'm sorry about earlier,” he says to me with sincerity in his eyes. “If I overstepped the mark I'm sorry, but I like you Abi, from the moment I saw you outside and you offered me the job. I thought you liked me too but I guess my radar is off,” he says as he smiles at me, making me melt. He turns and starts to walk away. “Oh the bar has been cleaned so it's all tidy, ready for tomorrow,” he says nonchalantly.

“Stop,” I shout a little louder than I probably should have. Rob stops in his tracks looking ahead, not turning around. “Stay with me, if you want, I can't promise you anything, but you can stop.”

He turns to look at me, his blue eyes have turned darker. They are full of lust and hunger. He starts to walk towards me, not taking his eyes off me for a second. I'm frozen to the spot, nervous about what he's going to do. Without saying a word, he kisses me softly and gently, my hands go to his chest and then up to his hair. His right hand is in my hair, tangled around his fingers, the other rubbing and squeezing my boob through my top. He pushes himself against me. I feel him, his cock stiff against me. I feel myself deepening the kiss. My tongue sweeps inside his mouth, we moan in unison. I know what I want to do but I can't, not on the first night, can I? I want to devour him. Get lost in him.

Chapter Seven

“Ohhh fuckkk, shhhit sorry, I don't mean to interrupt,” I hear in the background, pulling me back to my senses. Opening my eyes I jolt my head back, moving it to the side, to see Jayne walking into the kitchen. “Shit, what the hell am I doing?” I go to move but Rob holds me in place with his body.

“Don't do this,” he says, looking at me full of lust.

“Do what?” I ask as I push on his chest trying to move him. “This is wrong, this isn't me.”

“Don't push me away, and you can be whoever you want to be,” bending to my ear he whispers, “So what if your mate has seen us, does it matter?” He moves his hands so they are on either side of my shoulders, blocking me in.

“Yes it does, it matters to me. Jayne may think badly of me or you could be a chatter telling all and sundry what we did or didn't do. I don't know what I was thinking, maybe you should go.” This time I push him a little harder. His arms move and I walk towards the kitchen where Jayne is drinking a glass of water. I stand beside her.

“Fucking hell, is it safe to turn round?”

“Yes, Rob's just leaving, I'm just going to let him out and I'll be right back.”

“Okay, I'll be right here.”

“You ready, I'll see you out, I've got to lock up.”

He walks towards the door. “See you tomorrow Jayne, oh and keep this one out of trouble and talk some sense into her,” he says as he points to me.

I look at Jayne bewildered, she just shrugs her shoulders. When we get down the bottom of the stairs he stops short in his tracks with me banging straight into him. “Sorry,” I say.

Turning towards me. “Abi, I like you and this ain't no one-nighter for me. If you're going to sack me from here I understand, but I'll still be in every night. I will go get a job elsewhere, I love playing. It's my passion. My life. But I want you too, I need you.”

I start to laugh. “You don't know me, you've only been here a few weeks, you know nothing about me.”

“Your favourite band is Simply Red, you love Chinese food and ice cream, and you hate liars and thieves with a passion. You only drink tea with three sugars. Your lucky num…”

“Wow, stop,” I tell him, interrupting. “I'm not sure where you've got your information from but you have certainly done your homework in a very short space of time.”

“Yeah sorry about that. Jayne likes to talk and as you can see I've taken it all in. As I said, I like you, Abigail Smith.”

“When did she tell you all this?”

“This afternoon, while we took five. Don't worry, it was only the two of us, though I do think that Owen thinks I'm hitting on her,” he says, sniggering. “The others went to make coffee. I know you feel it,” he says as he reaches out to touch my face.

I smile at him. “I've got the bar to look after. I've invested too much in it, and I'm not going to sack you, you're right, I like you too, but we will have to take it slow, see how we go and keep it on the down low.” I made these rules for a reason, so that I never lost any members of staff due to romantic complications. I was silly to think that I could do it like my old manager, but then, she was married, so it made life easier I suppose. I'm single.

He pulls me to him, taking me in his arms, hugging me, he kisses the top of my head, pulling away. “I'll see you tomorrow Abigail.” He winks, turns, opens the door and walks out, leaving me standing, gobsmacked and frustrated that he's left me.

I lock up and go back upstairs, dumping my ass on the sofa with a sigh. I look over to Jayne who's still in the kitchen.

“You fancy a sandwich?” she asks.

“No tar, I'm not hungry, but what I do want to know is how come you told Rob about me?”

I hear a utensil drop into the sink, she doesn't say a word, she turns with her plate and walks towards me. She sits at the opposite end of the sofa, picks up her sandwich and takes a bite. I sit staring at her. “Well.”

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