Page 7 of Vesper Martinis

“Oh, come on. I can’t take over your space. You know I come with a crap ton of boxes and shit.”

“It’s nothing. Seriously, it’s fine. Where’s your stuff now?”

Minnie does come with a lot of baggage—the literal kind. But she’s always been there for me, and I want to be there for her. Even if my apartment gets filled with a million boxes.

“The movers will be here in a couple of days, and some of my stuff is being sent by mail, so I have no idea when they’ll show up.”

“That’s fine. I have a storage unit and lots of room. It’s cool.”

“Are you sure?” she asks.

I can see in her eyes she really wants me to say yes.

“Of course, Minnie. What are friends for?”

Chapter 2

Pierce

Once again, I subject myself to watching Wesley flirt with customers. I know his charming demeanor is part of what has people coming back, but that doesn’t mean I like it.

Whiskey. Dominance in bed. Bachelor-hood.

Those were all that I cared about… until him.

Until the one night I went to Mackenzie’s bar in New York and saw the most handsome man I’d ever seen. The dark curls covered part of his forehead, brown eyes, and lips.

Fuck me. I wanted him. And the second I was inside him, I didn’t want to leave. He matched my dominance with his submission perfectly. But it was just a one night thing, so I left, thinking it was the right thing to do. After all, I don’t do relationships, and I didn’t want to string him along.

Though, judging by the way that I don’t want anyone else touching Wesley, there’s a chance that I’m lying to myself.

I’m already lying to Wesley, so it’s not a big leap that I would be lying to him and myself.

I keep telling myself it’s for the best. I’m his boss now. How the fuck that happened? I’m not sure. I just got a call from Alex one night saying that he was going to retire and he needed a manager. We met each other in college and chatted sometimes. We’re not exactly friends, but he knew me well enough to give me this job.

Anyway, Wesley and I can’t be together. It’s against the rules, and it’s better if we ignore our history.

But the possessiveness I feel over him, one that I didn’t know I was capable of, keeps me from making the right decisions, like constantly having him in my office to tell him off for things that don’t matter. I figure if he hates me, that’ll help both of us.

He won’t think about having another chance with me, and I would have blown another chance with him.

Simple. Easy. Utterly stupid, I know.

I’ve never had the best experiences when it comes to relationships. It all started with divorced parents and then a college relationship that went horribly wrong.

My mom and dad both cheated on each other. They didn’t speak to each other for years—to the point where I figured they knew about each other’s infidelity. Everything was fine until it all came crashing down. My dad wanted to marry his mistress of seven years.

Epithets were yelled, and things were thrown. Despite the fact both of them were doing the same thing, there were hard feelings. Mom was upset because she didn’t want to be a divorcee. Dad was upset because Mom was upset.

Either way, it made relationships so tricky that I didn’t want to be a part of it. People like honesty, and I don’t want to explain how my past has given me issues. Like I don’t want to talk about my past, and I don’t want to be vulnerable. That just opens me up to getting hurt, and I don’t care for that.

That’s what happened with my relationship in college. It ended with a teary speech by my girlfriend about how we couldn’t be together. I’d rather she had just said we’re done instead of giving me a list of why we wouldn’t work out because that list was brutal.

“Doesn’t talk about his feelings.”

“Doesn’t talk about his family.”

“Doesn’t talk about his trust issues.”

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